Ukrainians of Kazakhstan: History of Formation and Ethno-Cultural Features of National Minority

Author

Cherniyenko Denys

a Ph.D. in History, a senior research fellow at the Institute of State History of the Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Nur-Sultan)

Ukrainians of Kazakhstan: History of Formation and Ethno-Cultural Features of National Minority

Abstract

The history of formation of the Ukrainian population of Kazakhstan is considered in the article. Attention is paid to the main migration stages, determined by certain social-economic and political-ideological factors of their time. According to the data of population censuses, the peak statistical indices are given, the current state of affairs is analyzed, showing a rapid decrease of Ukrainians number in Kazakhstan. It is connected with migration, ethno-demographic, ethno-social and assimilative processes. The researches of leading Ukrainian scientists V. Biletska, O. Bezhkovych are attracted to characterize the main features of traditional national culture. V. Biletska and O. Bezhkovych are the first who have studied the resettlers life in the 1920s from the scientific point of view. It is noted that Ukrainians in Kazakhstan have preserved some ethnographic features till the middle of the 20^th century and even later, that is shown in housing, clothes, cuisine, rituals, etc. Linguistic assimilation is a significant component of substantial assimilation processes. According to the 2009 census, 15.8 % of Ukrainians in Kazakhstan consider the Ukrainian language as their native one.

Also an overall social picture of modern national minority is proposed on the basis of statistical materials. The activity of existing for today Ukrainian ethno-cultural centres, public associations and communities in Kazakhstan is aimed at the preservation of ethnic originality, the most distinct features of national culture. At the same time, historical experience and the current state of ethno-cultural interaction between the Ukrainian and Kazakh people are of great importance. It dates from the time of the first settlers. Many sources provide evidences that relations between Kazakhs and Ukrainians have been established as mainly friendly. In everyday life it has been shown in the adoption of various household traditions and knowledge, inter-ethnic marriages and languages mastering. Finally, it is concluded that the scientific experience of studying of Ukrainians of Kazakhstan is not sufficient and appropriate for such a large national group. The rapid disappearance of authentic culture and active assimilation processes make ethnographic, ethno-social, ethno-demographic studies extremely relevant.

Keywords

assimilation, ethnic culture, identity, Kazakhstan, migrations, national minority, population censuses, resettlement, Ukrainians.

References

1. (2019) Administrative Division of Kazakhstan. Howling Pixel [viewed 17 September 2019]. Available from: https://howlingpixel.com/i-ru/Admynystratyvnoe_delenye_Kazakhstana.
2. Bezhkovіch A. General Essay of the Life of Ukrainians-Resettlers of Semipalatinsk District of the KA SSR. Archival Scientific Funds of Manuscripts and Audio-Recordings of NASU IASFE, Fund 1, Unit of Issue 292.
3. Bezhkovich A. (1930) Ukrainians-Settlers of Semipalatinsk Governorate. Materials of the Commission of Expeditionary Researches. Leningrad, Iss. 16.
4. Biletska V. In the Steppes of Kazakhstan. [Place and year of edition are unknown].
5. Dautova S. (2006) “A Trip of Poltava Walkers to Semirechie” – a Time Travel. Dostyk – Druzhba, no. 9–10.
6. Eltin A. (2017) Ukrainians in Kazakhstan [viewed 15 September 2019]. Available from: https://yvision.kz/post/776304.
7. Zubyk A. (2019) Ukrainian Diaspora: Social-Geographic Research. Lviv: Vydavnytstvo “PROSTIR M”.
8. (2009) Kazakhstan – Ukraine: Roads and Crossroads, 1917–2008. Collection of Memoirs and Documents. Almaty.
9. Mazuka L. (2008) Foreign Ukrainians in Kazakhstan: History and Contemporaneity. Strategical Priorities, no.3 (8).
10. Mazuka L. (1996) Formation of Ukrainian Minority in Kazakhstan (the 1880s – beginning of the 1930s). Extended abstract of candidate’s thesis. Kyiv.
11. Makarenko A. (1998) Ukrainians. Almaty.
12. Makhanova A. (2010) On the History of Ukrainians Resettlement in Ural and Turgai Regions in the Late XIXth – Early XXth Centuries. Education and Science of the XXI Century – 2010 [viewed 10 September 2019]. Available from: http://www.rusnauka.com/28_OINXXI_2010/Istoria/72407.doc.htm.
13. (2010) National Structure, Religion and Languages Mastering in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Results of the National Census of Population of 2009 in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Statistical Collection. Astana. https://doi.org/10.31082/1728-452x-2019-200-2-8-12
14. Rezontova M. (2012) Features of Ukrainian Wedding in the East of Kazakhstan. History and Culture of the Nations of South-Western Siberia and Contiguous Regions (Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China): Collected Papers of International Theoretical and Practical Conference. Gorno-Altaisk.
15. Serhiychuk V. (2018) Deportations of Ukrainians to Kazakhstan. Kyiv.
16. Skrypnyk H. (2015) Ethnological Studies of Opanas Bezhkovych – a Scientist from Kuban. Folk Art and Ethnology, no. 2.
17. (2007) Ukrainians in Central Kazakhstan. Karaganda.
18. (2016) Ukrainians. People of Kazakhstan. Encyclopaedia. Almaty.
19. (2004) Ukrainians of Kazakhstan. Kyiv.
20. Chaban A. (2015) Farming Traditions of Ukrainians in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Ukrainian Peasant, Iss. 15.
21. Cherneha T. (2012) Ukrainians in Kazakhstan: From the History of Resettlements. Ukrainian News, no. 9.
22. (2019) A Number of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan according to Certain Ethnic Groups to the Beginning of 2019. Electronic Government of the RK. [viewed 10September 2019]. Available from: https://data.egov.kz/datasets/view?index=kazakstan_respublikasy_halkyny.