Local Politics and Patronage of a Sacred Lineage Shrine in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Pilgrimage to saints’ shrines is an important Islamic practice in Kazakhstan. Kazakhs go on pilgrimages seeking cures for disease, blessings for the future, and a connection to the past. Pilgrimage sites and those who control them are not, however, apolitical. The control of shrines and the business of pilgrimage are both connected to governmental nation-building policies. This paper shows that traditional shrine keepers from sacred lineages (qozha) in northern Kazakhstan seek patronage from political and economic elites in order to build, maintain, and expand shrine complexes. These patrons are often state officials who expect returns in cultural capital for investments of economic capital. The different goals of patrons and shrine-keepers occasionally lead to conflict. This paper examines one such conflict and explores what it reveals about the interplay between religion and local politics in Kazakhstan.

Why Soviet Islam Matters

“…More importantly, I argue that, like elsewhere in the Muslim world, be it in South Asia or Western China, shrines constituted a memory space, that is a cultural environment where Soviet Muslims were exposed to Islamic historical practices. This argument has been criticised for failing 22 Abashin 2014;Sartori 2019;Tasar 2020;Bigozhin 2023. to do justice to "a society that has undergone radical transformations in the last two centuries" and therefore for reifying "a highly essentialized version of Islam." 23 Adeeb Khalid is right, of course, to note the importance of the changes which the Soviet state wrought upon its citizens; and if one wants to read in 20 th -century Central Asia a history of radical transformations alone, one is best advised to turn to his work.…”

A Nation’s Holy Land: Kazakhstan’s Large-Scale National Project to Map Its Sacred Geography

“… 23 From the Arabic al awlia , the plural of wali (Muslim saint or prophet; in Sufism, one who has achieved perfection in religious practice). The universal quality of this term stems from the extensive spread of Sufi Islam in Kazakhstan and the popularity of pilgrimage to these places (Bigozhin 2018). It is worth noting that the approach centered on the concept of auliye gives priority, on the one hand, to Islam or Islamified monuments, and on the other hand, to sites sacred first and foremost to Kazakhs.…”

“… 41 Interview, Expert 2. Bigozhin (2018) also discusses the profound impact of collectivization and “virgin steppe” campaigns. Many holy places were abandoned or destroyed in connection as communities were forced to migrate, and permanent auls were established in the 1930s and 1950s. …”