THE LAST WORD OF THE BIY: COLONIALISM AND ADAT IN THE MIDDLE ZHUZ OF THE KAZAKH STEPPE

Abstract

The 19th century was a period of radical changes in Kazakhstan's traditional social and political culture, primarily related to the colonial policy of the Russian Empire. During this period, under the pressure of administrative and legal reforms, the Kazakhs experienced the destruction of popular institutions, which for centuries served as a support for the authorities and the people. Especially important in this context is the study of legal institutions, such as adat, a set of unwritten legal customs passed down orally from generation to generation. Adat regulated much of the nomads’ legal and cultural relations, from marriage to land division to cases of murder and theft. The practical implementation of the norms of adat was inextricably linked with biys, who were not only judges, but also authoritative leaders of their clans. They owed their titles exclusively to their knowledge of adat, folk customs, intelligence, and oratory. In fact, biys were endowed with both judicial and executive powers, which made them significant political players in the life of the steppe. However, as a result of the Russian colonial reforms carried out throughout the nineteenth century, this institution gradually began to decline and lose its former significance. This is particularly evident in the case of land disputes. Land, especially land suitable for nomadic pastoralism, had always been a valuable resource, as the survival of Kazakh tribes depended on it. There were traditional mechanisms for settling land disputes and dividing up land, in which biys played a key role. With the advent of the Russian administration, these mechanisms ceased to matter, and with them the status of people's judges decreased. The analysis of these processes will help better understand the essence of the social and cultural transformations that swept the Kazakh Steppe in the 19th century.