Dear Colleagues!
On April 21, 2026 the Ch.Ch. Valikhanov Institute of History and Ethnology will hold a Republican Scientific and Practical Conference on the topic:
“The Kazakh Ural Region: Historical Dynamics and Institutions of Interaction (16th – Early 20th Centuries)”.
The conference is planned within the framework of the grant-funded research project “The Specifics of Kazakh-Russian Relations in the Kazakh Ural Region: The Interconnection of Ideology and Practice in the Historical Aspect.”
Modern historical scholarship requires a profound rethinking of the processes that took place in transboundary regions, where the interests of nomadic societies and institutions of power intersected across different historical periods. Within this format, the Kazakh Ural (Zhaiyk) is viewed not merely as a geographical frontier, but as a unique historical and geographical area and a fundamental center for the formation of the ethnopolitical subjectivity of the Junior Zhuz.
The conference discussion platform covers a wide range of issues, beginning with an analysis of the geopolitical status of the Kazakh Ural Region in the 16th–18th centuries, the legacy of the Nogai Horde, and the legal nature of the Kazakhs’ rights to their ancestral nomadic lands in the interfluve of the Volga and the Zhaiyk. An important aspect will be the study of the stages and dynamics of Cossack colonization, the structure of the Ural Cossack Host, as well as the role of the Bukey Horde as a “political laboratory” that made it possible to preserve the institution of khan authority within the imperial legal framework.
Conference panels:
- The Cultural Landscape of the Kazakh Ural Region: A Dialogue of Traditions
- Zhaiyk – The River of Contacts: History, Society, Culture
- Discourses of Historical Memory: Historiography, Toponymy, and Folklore
- Socio-Political Processes in the Bukey Horde: Legal Status, Trade, Fairs, and Crafts (225th Anniversary of Its Foundation)
- Political History of Western Kazakhstan (Pre-Revolutionary Period)
Historians, ethnologists, legal scholars, cultural researchers, and scholars from related disciplines are invited to participate. Following the conference, an electronic collection of scholarly papers is planned for publication.
To participate, it is necessary to send the application form and papers by February 28, 2026 to the following e-mail address: malika-94kz@mail.ru (application form attached).
Working languages: Kazakh, Russian.
Opening time: April 21, 2026, at 11:00 a.m.
Format: offline and online.
Organizing Committee contacts: Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, 050010, 28 Shevchenko Street, 3rd floor (Room 309).
Contact persons:
Shotanova Galiya Aitzhanovna: +7 702 407 6240
Moryakova Malika Temirkhanovna: +7 771 749 1005
Appendix 1
Requirements for formatting articles:
When preparing articles, the following requirements must be observed: the length should not exceed 10 pages of typed text in electronic format. Font: Times New Roman, size 14 pt; line spacing – 1; alignment – justified; paragraph indent – 1 cm; page orientation – portrait; top and bottom margins – 2.0 cm, left margin – 3.0 cm, right margin – 1.0 cm.
Title formatting:
the TITLE OF THE ARTICLE should be written in uppercase bold letters, centered;
on the next line (bold italic, aligned to the right) – full name of the author;
on the following line (italic, aligned to the right) – academic rank, academic degree, position, place of work, city;
on the next line (italic, aligned to the right) – contact e-mail;
after one blank line – the main text of the article.
References in the text to the corresponding source in the bibliography should be indicated by Arabic numerals in square brackets, for example, [1, p. 277]. The use of automatic footnotes is not allowed.
At the end of the article, a summary should be provided:
in Kazakh and English for an article written in Russian;
in Russian and English for an article written in Kazakh.
The manuscript must be accompanied by information about the author, including surname, first name, patronymic, academic degree, academic title, place of work and position, city, country, as well as postal and electronic addresses and contact telephone numbers.
- Authors are kindly requested to carefully edit the submitted text for spelling, punctuation, and stylistic errors.
The Organizing Committee reserves the right to select articles that correspond to the announced theme and formatting requirements.
SAMPLE APPLICATION FORM FOR PARTICIPATION
| Full name | |
| Co-authors (if any) | |
| Place of work | |
| Position | |
| Academic degree, title | |
| Contact phone numbers | |
| Form of participation (online, offline) | |
| Section | |
| Title of the paper (in Kazakh, English, and Russian) | |
Respectfully,
Organizing Committee
