Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie (Sep 2014)
The Second National Research Conference “History, Economics and Culture of the Medieval Turko-Tatar States of Western Siberia” (Kurgan, 17–18 April 2014)
Abstract
The article summarizes the results of the Second National Research Conference “History, Economics and Culture of the Medieval Turko-Tatar States of Western Siberia”, which was held in Kurgan on 17th–18th April 2014. 38 researchers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine participated at the Conference. The Conference was focused on several topics. On the first day, the Conference started with the issues of the Shiban’s ulus history and a role of the Shibanids in the history of the Golden Horde, including the issue of the borders of these lands, the ulus of Jochi’s place in its administrative structure, the participation of representatives of the dynasty in the events of the Great Zamyatnya (i.e, the Great Distemper) and strives of the 1420’s. There were also discussed the ethnic and political processes in the Tyumen and Siberian Yurt. Considerable attention was paid to the Turkization of the Western Siberian population and formation of various groups of the Siberian Tatars. Researchers have noted the limitations of the source base of the late-medieval history of the region and the need for a comprehensive approach to the research involving experts in the fields of history, archaeology, ethnography, anthropology, linguistics. A separate debate was held on the role of the Nogai and Bukhara factor in the history of the Kuchum Siberian khanate. On the second day, there were discussed various aspects of the Turkic-Tatar peoples’ occurrence from the Ural-Irtysh interfluve to the Russian State. There were presented reports both on the policy and destiny of the Kuchum descendants and legal and military aspects of the Tatar yurtes’ subordination. There was held a discussion about two versions of the Ichkinski Tatar ethnogenesis as a special group of the Tatar population of the region. Thereupon, the conference participants called for a cautious stance on the use of ethnic reconstructions in Turkic history and their use in the construction of modern inter-ethnic relations in Russia. There were also presentations on issues of spiritual and material culture of the Tatar peoples of Western Siberia. Considerable attention was paid to the Islamization of the Turkish-Tatar groups in Western Siberia and the existence of Islamic institutions in the region by under Russian power.
