History of Kenesary Kasymov’s Rebellion in the Documentary Discourse of the 19th Century

ББК 63.3(5Каз)52 УДК 94(574)"18"

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of deconstruction of the documentary discourse of the Russian administration and the leader of the Sultan Kenesary Kasymov's rebellion in 1820-1840s in the Kazakh steppe. The 19^th century was a time of active interaction between the Kazakhs of the Middle Juz, the Cossacks and the Russian authorities on Russia's Siberian frontier with the Kazakh Steppe. A number of contemporaries of the events note the crucial role of Central Asian states — Kokand and Khiva — in organizing long-term resistance to the Russian administration on the part of Kenesary Kasymov. The Russian administration in the documents tries to emphasize Kenesary's connection with foreign powers, which financed the rebellion, supplied him with weapons; to show the sultan's perfidy, the rebel's refusals to comply with the agreements. In their documents, Russian military and administrators try to show that they acted against the rebellious Sultan Kenesary in alliance with the Kazakhs loyal to Russia, who was the majority in the steppe. In this way, a documentary discourse was created and public perceptions were formed that Russia was acting in the interests of the overwhelming majority of Kazakh society.