Women's Pilgrimage In North Kazakhstan: The Cases Of Qabanbay Batyr And Mäshhür Zhüsip Köpeyuly Shrines

Abstract

This dissertation examines the narratives and practices surrounding women’s pilgrimage in North Kazakhstan, focusing on the shrines of Qabanbay Batyr and Mäshhür Zhüsip Köpeyuly. Traditionally, pilgrimage offered women a space for prayer, interpersonal connection, and resolving family and personal concerns. Despite the growing availability of alternative religious and spiritual options today, pilgrimage remains a meaningful and widely practiced activity among women in the region. While women’s participation in pilgrimage is evident, scholarly research on this subject, especially in North Kazakhstan, remains limited. This study addresses that gap through extensive fieldwork, including participant observation at the shrines, interviews with pilgrims and shrine keepers and workers, digital ethnography, and archival research. These methods yielded rich, in-depth data, which are analyzed using a range of theoretical frameworks, including memory, liminality and communitas, agency, and others. The findings show that pilgrimage holds deep significance for women, who play different roles, from transmitters of religious and cultural knowledge to active agents in shaping sacred landscapes. These sacred spaces function as places of community building and social support through storytelling on history and genealogy, miracles and dreams, and the bata blessing practice. Additionally, they help with spiritual exploration and non-institutional worship, where women can access traditional healers and shamans and participate in New Age religious movements such as Ata Zholy. Pilgrimage allows women to create spiritual networks, negotiate their roles in Islamic and local traditions, and contribute to the ongoing vitality of sacred sites in North Kazakhstan. Generally, this research contributes original empirical data, highlights underrepresented regional case studies, and offers an analytical perspective on women’s religious practices in Kazakhstan.