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'Tribalism' and identity in contemporary circumstances: the case of Kazakstan*
Introduction
It is generally agreed that today the tribe as an actual social structure has declined in significance all over the world.1 In most cases tribes contributed to the creation of ethnicities, and were replaced by them. However, there are some societies where tribal attachments are still quite strong, and the tribe as a referent for social identity and loyalty has persisted. `Modern tribalism' could be understood as a transitional stage from the community to the society, although of course, a quite prolonged or suspended transition may call into doubt the definition of transition itself. The term 'tribe' originally came from tribus (Latin), a term denoting the three divisions of the population of Rome. This originally political term, referring, let us note, to an urban society, was revived in English in biology (especially in botany), and finally adopted as a scientificsounding term for anthropology to describe kin groups in primitive societies. Until a better term is found, the terms 'tribe' and 'tribalism' are still in use to describe some contemporary societies. However, along the way the term has acquired a certain negative connotation, so that modern 'tribal' identities (and some of them are quite recent creations) are reduced to a sort of primitiveness and deviance (i.e. tribal identities are supposed to disappear as soon as the society reaches a higher stage of development). This negative connotation could be particular relevant if the `nation-state' based on the conceptions of citizenship and societal homogeneity proves to be the only acceptable model for the future development of society. However, Middle Eastern countries, for instance, provide little evidence that the 19th-century `nation-building' project is likely to succeed in this region.
Kazakstan, on the other hand, presents a variation on this common theme. There has been much talk (in both Soviet and Western schools of thought) of divisions within the Kazaks along 'clan' lines, a `tribal-type' phenomenon which is recognized as still relevant to the modern Kazak society, and extremely exaggerated as a pervasive characteristic of the still 'tribal' Kazak society.2 The social structure, which first appeared as a universal functional means for people to survive in the cruel natural environment, was preserved for longer in nomadic society than...