Scientific Seminar “The Social Organism of the Golden Horde”

On October 28, 2025, the Institute hosted a scientific seminar on the topic “The Social Organism of the Golden Horde” as part of the grant-funded project “The History of Settled Communities of Western Kazakhstan during the Golden Horde Period: Reconstruction of the Material Culture of Everyday Life”.

The purpose of the seminar was to explain the significance of the role and everyday life of the urban population in the Golden Horde Empire, to share key research findings on the evolution of sedentary life in Western Kazakhstan during the Golden Horde period, and so on. The seminar emphasized the relevance of applying new discoveries and methodological approaches in domestic historical scholarship that can contribute to a deeper understanding of the everyday culture of the Golden Horde.

The project’s scientific supervisor, E.M. Uzhkenov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, and Leading Research Fellow of the Institute, acted as moderator. He delivered an opening speech and a report titled “The Methodological Basis for Understanding Everyday Culture and the Specific Features of Studying the Golden Horde”, introducing the participants to the main objectives of the research project.

During the event, a report was presented by F.M. Shamshidenova, Candidate of Historical Sciences and Associate Professor at the Department of Ancient and Medieval History of Kazakhstan, Faculty of History and Law, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University. Her presentation was titled “Women of the Golden Horde in Sources: Chronicles, Archaeology, and Folklore”.

In the subsequent discussions, the following scholars spoke: A.K. Zhumadil, Candidate of Historical Sciences and Associate Professor at the Kazakh-British Technical University; G.A. Shotanova, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, and Leading Research Fellow at the Ch. Ch. Valikhanov Institute of History and Ethnology; S.N. Usoltsev, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, and Head of the Department of World History at Altai State University; A. Korablev, Chairman of the Russian Ethnocultural Society “Bylina”, and others.

The seminar provided an opportunity to analyze the main methodological approaches and the sociocultural processes that took place in the Golden Horde.