The City and the Intellectual Class: Socio-Political Interconditionality in North Kazakhstani Region on the cusp of the XIX – XX c.

Abstract

City and urban environment as a multifunctional space play an important role in creation of social processes. Since it’s formation the city has become the focal point for innovations and a place where ideas are generated that change not only the landscape, but also the worldview in general. Kazakhstani cities at the turn of XIX-XX centuries during a long time has played a role of administrative and trade units. Integration of marginal cities into the system of socio-economical relations of empire brought to a formation of conditions where citizens become active not only in economic, but also in social aspect. Political segment of the city developed in the context of all-Russian situation. Systematic crisis of the XIX-XX c. required new formats of fighting for their rights. National intellectual class became one of the main subjects of urban environment and develops their own style of struggle which was expressed through cultural enlightenment and political activity. Complex study of the city environment through the historical lens allows to gasp the nature of changes occurring with the society and the state and identify possible scenarios of their interaction and development perspectives. The article made an attempt to throw light interconditionality of cityscape and intellectual class in the context of local processes. These processes are related to the formation of political space in the colonial city and the influence of city on social activity of national intellectual class. The article uses the materials of Kazakhstani and Russian archives, document of regional archives, such as the archive of Kostanay city and North-Kazakhstan region. The methodological basis of the research are institutional and frontier approach, which allow to identify the degree of urban environment and city space influence on formation of national intellectual class. Also, it allows to study the evolution and development of political ideas and focus of Kazakh intellectual class in the end of XIX beginning XX c. in the conditions of building relationship system between the empire and national borders. Historical and genetical method is also applied in the present study, which allows to consider the challenges of the development and identify patterns.