Terra Sebus: Acta Musei Sabesiensis,
Special Issue, 2014, p. 15-30
ASTANA THE CAPITAL OF KAZAKHSTAN AND
ASTANAS IN SIBERIA AS A LINGUISTIC-CULTURAL
ASPECT OF THE NATIONAL ISLAM OF EURASIA
Irina Sovetovna KARABULATOVA
Elena Nicolayevna ERMAKOVA
Galina Alexandrovna SHIGANOVA
Introduction
Sufi brotherhoods (Naqshbandi, Yasaviyya, Kadiriya) played a major role in
introducing the steppe nomads to Islam. They began their journey from the
sedentary urban centres of Maverannahr (such as Bukhara) and spread
across the steppe. This determined the predominant influence in nomadic
environments of a heterodox form of Islam. This Islam of nomads
organically combined elements of pre-Islamic traditions with Sufi ideas.
Such an attitude toward religion allowed the formation of a positive
perception of the ideas of Sufism on Turkish soil. The Türks of Asia and
Siberia did not consider Sufism as a heretical movement, not sharing the
views of popular Islam and official Islam.
1
Thus, Islam’s further penetration
into the region and its influence on political life took place in close
connection with pre-Islamic traditions, including the traditions of the
neighbouring Mongols.
2
These processes were not the result of an
ideological battle, but rather a flexible acculturation and adaptation of
different ideas.
3
This work was funded by a subsidy allocated to Kazan Federal University from a state
assignment in the sphere of the scientific activities.
Institute of Social and Political Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian
Federation, Moscow; Kazan Federal University, Republic of Tatarstan,
Russian Federation;
e-mail: radogost2000@mail.ru.
Tobolsk State Socio-Pedagogical Academy named after D. I. Mendeleev, Tyumen
Region, Russian Federation; e-mail: elenaermakovats@gmail.com.
Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University, Russian Federation; e-mail:
galinashiganovats@gmail.com.
1
Trimingham 1989, p. 23.
2
Ibid.
3
Golden 2011, p. 192; Esposito 2002, p. 256; Cribb, Herrmann 2007, p. 30; Sayfulina et al.
2013, p. 492-496; Robinson 2000, p. 187.
I. S. Karabulatova, E. N. Ermakova, G. A. Shiganova
16
Take, for example, the Tyumen region, the nearest neighbour to
Kazakhstan, where Turkic peoples make up more than half the population,
balancing on a thin structural line of languages and cultures. In the 18
th
century, Archbishop Cyprian wrote a special decree forbidding Russian
people in Siberia from marrying adherents of different faiths because they
did not comply with the laws ofthe orthodox faith.
4
This example
demonstrates “the potential of creating a new type of linguistic identity”
because it combines the worlds of different ethnic cultures.
5
Nursultan Nazarbayev defined Kazakhstan’s newly-created capital,
Astana, as “the heart of Eurasia.”
6
This designation continued the tradition
of the Siberian Tatars and Siberian Kazakhs of giving the name Astana to
holy places, places heartfelt prayer. The sacred space can be multiplied, but
draws particularly on duality, as doubling carries a metaphysical meaning.
For example, in ancient Egypt the temple was the “ka” of God, his
counterpart (analogue), and was portrayed by a glyph representing two
raised hands. In ancient Israel, the letter “beit” (which also means house)
simultaneously denotes the number two. In addition, many modern states
have two capitals: Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia, New York and
Washington in the United States, Astana and Almaty in Kazakhstan,
Istanbul and Ankara in Turkey. Apparently, “if the capital is the heart of the
country, we can compare the image of” two capitals “with the two parts of
the heart.”
7
The attitude toward magic, holy and sacred elements in the new state
symbolism of Kazakhstan is not accidental. Our research has direct
relevance to anthropolinguistics. The term “anthropolinguistics” was
introduced by American academics F. Boas and E. Sapir, who showed the
relation between ethnos, culture and language, triggering much discussion in
academic community.
8
Materials and Methods
Today we are witnessing an intensified search for new, fundamental
mythological and philosophical elements in the changed geopolitical space.
This paradigm makes it possible to consider the name of the capital as a
social and cultural - as well as mythological - phenomenon. Thus the name
of the state capital performs the direct function of a toponym, and also
contributes to the ethnic cohesiveness of the nation. Although, there was a
4
Karabulatova 2009, p. 176.
5
Karabulatova 2013, p. 792.
6
Nazarbayev 2005, p. 5.
7
Karabulatova et al. 2010, p. 70.
8
Lewis 2011, p. 381.