Modern western literature about Kazakh life before the revolution

Abstract

This article is devoted to the process of studying Kazakhstan in the USA, complex research of
ideas, stereotypes and mode of thinking which have formed about Kazakh people abroad. The process
of studying other aspects of social and economic life of pre-revolutionary Kazakhstan continues
in modern Western literature. Materials about Middle Asia and Kazakhstan, having been published
in western literature, were generalized in substantial works of A. Hudson, E. Bekon, V. Ryazanovskiy,
L. Krader and others. K.L. Esmagambetov wrote about American scientist M. Danlop, who described
the story of Hazar Kaganate. For that time, these researches made a significant contribution
into Western oriental studies. Achievements, gaps and methodological limitedness of bourgeois
historic and ethnographic sciences in studying the problem of Kazakh national ethnogenesis were
reflected in general research carried out by Indiana University Professor Laurence Krader. The author
concentrates upon the information contained in Russian records about Kazakhs, bringing various
view points of pre-revolutionary and Soviet authors on problem of etymology and ethnic content of
the word “Kazakh.”
Key words: western literature about Kazakh, Kazakh life, A. Hudson, E. Bekon, V. Ryazanovskiy,
L. Krader.