Transformation of the Nomadic lifestyle of the Stavropol Turkmens in the XIX–XX centuries

10.54398/1818510Х_2023_2_62

Annotation

The purpose of this work is to determine the type of cattle breeding economy and society of the Stavropol Turkmens, as well as to identify the main factors influenced the transformation of the nomadic society, to assess the stability of the nomad tradition after the cardinal change of the type of economic. The research is based on the author's field materials, archival sources and literature data. It is concluded that the lifestyle of the Stavropol Turkmens in the XIX – early XX century corresponded to the characteristics of a nomadic society, which prof. A. M. Khazanov described in relation to the nomads of Eurasia. When the Turkmens moved from the Transcaspian lands to the Stavropol steppes, there was a reverse transition from a semi-nomadic to a nomadic type of economy among the Turkmens. At that the Turkmen society has returned from a proto-state social structure to a tribal patriarchal one. The events connected with the Sedentarization Campaign in the South of Russia (the second half of the XIX century) showed that the traditions and the "free spirit" of the nomads were very strong and significant for the Turkmens. They did not want to engage in farming and could not do it because of the lack of appropriate skills. After the revolution of 1917, the traditional mode of life of the Turkmens was destroyed, under the Soviet rule they were reoriented to farming as the participants of collective farms. However, some features of their nomadic culture are preserved among the Stavropol Turkmens in contemporary life.

Keywords

• Nomadic cattle breeding
• tribal relations
• social institutions
• nomadism
• nomadic culture
• ethnic group
• the Stavropol Turkmens
• transfer to settlement
• transformation of the type of economy
• social differentiation
* click on a keyword to go to the search

References

1. Bentkovskiy, I. V. Trukhmyane, kochuyushchie v Stavropolskoy gubernii [The Trukhmajne, wandering at the Stavropol province]. Sbornik statisticheskikh svedeniy Stavropolskoy gubernii [Collection of statistical data of the Stavropol province]. Stavropol: Stavrop. stat. kom.; 1869, vol. 2, pp. 181–216.
2. Brusina, O. I. Rossiyskie turkmeny. Tri veka etnicheskoy stoykosti [The Russian Turkmens: Three Centuries of Ethnic Resilience]. Moscow: IEA RAN; 2019, 372 p.
3. Vasilenko N. V. Perekhod k osedlosti turkmenskogo kochevogo naroda Stavropolya v gody stroitelstva sotsializma [Transition to settlement of the Turkmen nomadic people of the Stavropol province in the years of construction of socialism]. Istoriya gorskikh i kochevykh narodov Severnogo Kavkaza v XIX – nachale XX vv. (problemy sotsialno-ekonomicheskogo razvitiya) [The History of the mountain and nomadic peoples of the North Caucasus in the XIX – early XX centuries (problems of socio-economic development)]. Stavropol: Ctavr. GPI; 1980, pp. 16–20.
4. State Archive of the Stavropol Province. Found 249, inventory 2, case 2511.
5. Kadyrov, Sh. Kh. Mnogolikiy turkmenchilik. Etnograficheskie ocherki, ponyatiya i terminy [The many-faced Turkmenchilik. Ethnographic essays, concepts and terms]. Moscow: Institut vostokovedeniya RAN; 2010, 304 p.
6. Kurbanov, A. V. Stavropolskie turkmeny. Istoriko-etnograficheskie ocherki [The Stavropol Turkmens: Historical and Ethnographic Essays]. Saint Petersburg: Sankt-Peterburg State University; 1995, 240 p.
7. Field materials of the Author. Stavropol region, 2007–2013.
8. Prozritelev, G. N. Gibnushchiy narod. Turkmeny i ikh sudba [The dying people. The Turkmens and their fate]. Opalnye: Russkie pisateli otkryvayut Kavkaz. Antologiya [Disgraced: Russian Writers discover the Caucasus. The Anthology]. Stavropol: Stavropol State University; 2011, vol. 3, pp. 576–585.
9. Tokalov, I. T. Stavropolskie turkmeny v kontse XIX – nachale XX v. (Istoriko-etnograficheskiy ocherk) [The Stavropol Turkmens in the late XIX – early XX century (The Historical and ethnographic essay)]. Brusina, O. I. Rossiyskie turkmeny. Tri veka etnicheskoy stoykosti [The Russian Turkmens: Three Centuries of Ethnic Resilience]. Moscow: IEA RAN; 2019, application 1, pp. 239–294.
10. Tumailov, M. Turkmeny Severo-Kavkazskogo kraya (Kratkiy istoriko-etnograficheskiy ocherk) [The Turkmens of the North Caucasus Region (A brief historical and ethnographic essay)]. Poltorack (Askhabad): Turkmengosizdat; 1925, 35 p.
11. Farforovskiy, S. V. Narodno-yuridicheskie obychai turkmen Stavropolskoy gubernii. Etnograficheskij ocherk [Folk legal customs of the Turkmens of the Stavropol province. Ethnographic essay]. Opalnye: Russkie pisateli otkryvayut Kavkaz.Antologiya [Disgraced: Russian Writers discover the Caucasus. The Anthology]. Stavropol: Stavropol State University; 2011, vol. 3, pp. 249–255.
12. Farforovskiy, S. V. Trukhmeny (turkmeny) Stavropolskoy gubernii [The Turkmens of the Stavropol Province]. Kazan: Tipography Imperatorskogo Universiteta; 1911, 42 p.
13. Khazanov, A. M. Kochevniki evraziyskikh stepey v istoricheskoy retrospektive [A Historical Background for The Nomads in the Old World]. Kochevaya alternativa sotsialnoy evolyutsii [The Nomadic Alternative of a Social Evolution]. Moscow: Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies RAS; 2002, pp. 26–42.
14. Khazanov, A. M. Kochevniki i vneshniy mir [Nomads and the OutsideWorld]. Almaty: Dayk-Press; 2002, 3rd expanded ed., 604 p.
15. Shcheglov, I. L. Trukhmeny i nogaytsy Stavropolskoy gubernii: svedeniya o khozyaystve osedlykh i kochuyushchikh inorodtsev, russkikh krestyan i khutoryan ovtsevodov v Trukhmenskoy i Achikulakskoy stepi Stavropolskoy gubernii [The Turkmens and the Nogais at the Stavropol province: the materials about the economy of settled and nomadic aliens, Russian peasants and sheep farmers in the Turkmen and the Achikulak steppes of the Stavropol province]. Stavropol: Department of State Land Property; 1910, vol. 1, 529 p.
16. Yamskov, A. N. Ekologicheskie faktory evolyutsii form skotovodstva u tyurkoyazychnykh narodov Severnogo Kavkaza [Ecological factors of the evolution of forms of cattle breeding among the Turkic-speaking peoples of the North]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [The Soviet ethnography]. 1986, no. 5, pp. 22–34.
17. Yarkho, A. I. K voprosu o vymiranii malykh narodnostey (Demograficheskie issledovaniya sredi turkmen) [On the issue of the extinction of small nationalities (Demographic studies among the Turkmens)]. Sovetskaya Aziya [The Soviet Asia]. Moscow: 1931, book 1–2, pp. 245–262.
Read more

Popular articles