Registration REQUIRED by 4pm on September 17, 2026 in order to attend this event.
Please join the Harriman Institute for a Russian History Workshop with Nurlan Kabdylkhak. Moderated by Catherine Evtuhov.
Kabdylkhak's paper traces the emergence and development of Muslim charitable organizations in the late Tsarist Kazakh steppe. It examines the diverse roots of Muslim charitable practices and shows how local actors sought to formalize philanthropic initiatives in education, poverty relief, and communal welfare. At the same time, it analyzes the regulatory mechanisms through which the tsarist state attempted to monitor and restrict these efforts, revealing persistent tensions between imperial governance and Muslim communal self-organization. Beyond their social functions, these charitable societies became important vehicles for articulating forms of Muslim solidarity that transcended regional and ethnic boundaries, helping to shape a shared Muslim public sphere within a multiethnic empire. As ethnonational ideologies gained momentum in the early twentieth century, however, these organizations increasingly reflected emerging national distinctions.
Nurlan Kabdylkhak is Assistant Professor of History at Stony Brook University. His research explores the dynamics of colonial governance in Tsarist Central Asia and the ways local communities responded to the challenges and opportunities presented by imperial rule.
Interested participants should contact Erin Forrest ([email protected]) for a copy of the paper, to be distributed no earlier than two weeks before the workshop.
Please email [email protected] to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.