One of the largest Soviet Orientalists, Academician V. V. Bartold, classified the Kyrgyz among the ancient peoples of Central Asia. Indeed, more than two thousand years ago, written sources began to mention ethnonyms and toponyms that are somehow associated with the territory and ethnic communities directly or indirectly related to the distant ancestors of the modern Kyrgyz people.
The ancient origins of the Kyrgyz, their difficult and complex historical fates, their unique culture, which synthesizes the achievements of Central Asian and Middle Asian civilizations, culminating in the creation of a world-renowned monument such as the national heroic epic "Manas," have all generated and continue to generate enormous interest in the problems of Kyrgyz studies from the perspective of the humanities, including ethnography.
The study of the Kyrgyz from an ethnographic perspective began to develop in the 19th century, especially in its second half. Sources from the first half and mid-19th century provide interesting notes by a participant in the Russian military-diplomatic mission, physician Zibberstein (1825), as well as valuable information about the Kyrgyz collected by the first scholarly travelers in the Tian Shan — P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky and Chokan Valikhanov.
The Kyrgyz became the subject of close ethnographic study after Kyrgyzstan voluntarily joined Russia. Unfortunately, most ethnographic materials were collected by people who were either poorly prepared or lacked the ability to conduct systematic observations of the life and culture of the Kyrgyz. Most often, these materials were random and superficial, recording fragmented, isolated facts. However, thanks to the relatively small number of works by Russian scholars and objective observers, the foundations were laid for subsequent, more in-depth ethnographic research. Among these works are those by V. V. Radlov, N. A. Severtsev, M.I. Venyukov, G. S. Zagriazhskiy, N. I. Grodekov, N. A. Aristov, and F. V. Poyarkov.
Certain issues, such as clan and tribal divisions, aspects of economic life, social relations, religion, and folklore, were covered better than others. Information on material culture, family and marital relations, remnants of the patriarchal-communal structure, applied arts, and other aspects of folk life is extremely fragmentary. The unevenly collected material did not provide a clear picture of the everyday life of the Kyrgyz, nor could it serve as a solid foundation for scientific conclusions. Ethnographic studies of the Kyrgyz people in the pre-revolutionary period can be viewed primarily as a period of accumulating factual material, introducing into science, albeit not always complete and accurate, but still useful information of great cognitive significance.
After the Great October Socialist Revolution, a new stage in the ethnographic study of the Kyrgyz began. The work of collecting ethnographic materials gained broader scope, and the acquisition of collections for museums commenced. The activities of scientific institutions in Moscow, Leningrad, Tashkent, and emerging scientific cells in Kyrgyzstan were united. Ethnographers no longer limited themselves to observations and simple fact recording; they began to generalize and interpret these facts. Their research is characterized by a deeper approach to the phenomena studied, applying Marxist-Leninist methodology, especially in analyzing social relations among the Kyrgyz. Representatives of related scientific disciplines — historians, sociologists, philologists, economists, and art historians — also engaged with and developed ethnographic materials in their research.
Among the first Soviet ethnographers conducting their research in Kyrgyzstan according to modern scientific requirements were employees of Leningrad ethnographic museums F. A. Fielstrup and N. P. Dyrenkova. The second half of the 1920s is characterized by intensive expeditionary and collecting activities. Most expeditions did not pursue independent ethnographic goals; they conducted sociological and socio-economic research. However, they collected and published valuable data directly related to ethnography. Notable among these are the studies by N. X. Kalemin, M. F. Gavrilov, P. I. Kushner, P. Pogorelskiy, and V. Batrakov. In 1928, the Kyrgyz Anthropological-Ethnographic Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR conducted its work. Ethnographer A. S. Bezhkovich thoroughly studied Kyrgyz agriculture and animal husbandry.
The first years of the national-state existence of Kyrgyzstan were marked by the establishment of the Republican Museum (1927) and the Scientific Research Institute of Local Lore under the Council of People's Commissars of the Kyrgyz ASSR (1928). In connection with the organization of the museum, ethnographic research began as early as 1926, carried out by local scholars. The first Kyrgyz researchers who showed great interest in the ethnography of their native people and made ethnographic records were Belek Soltonoev, S. I. Ilyasov, B. D. Jamgyrchinov, and B. M. Yunusaliev.
The establishment of the Kyrgyz branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1943, including the Institute of Language, Literature, and History, served as a stimulus for the expansion of ethnographic research. Starting in 1946, the branch conducted several expeditions that collected material on various issues of Kyrgyz ethnography. In 1954, the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR was established based on the branch. Since that time, the Institute of History of the Academy has had a sector for archaeology and ethnography, organized ethnographic expeditions, and prepared ethnographers. Local ethnographers (A. F. Burkovskiy, A. Dzhumagulov, L. T. Shinlo, K. I. Antipina, K. Mambetalieva, Z. L. Amitin-Shapiro, T. Bayalieva, M. Aitbaev, B. Alymbaeva) published and prepared for print a number of studies on domestic crafts, hunting, material culture, applied arts, religious remnants, and the life and culture of Kyrgyz kolkhozniki and workers, the life and culture of Dungans, and some ethnographic groups, as well as on bibliography.
Certain aspects of the ethnography of Kyrgyzstan were also covered in the works of historians (K. Usenbaev, D. Aitmambetov, etc.), linguists and philologists (K. K. Yudakhin, I. A. Batmanov, B. O. Oruzbaeva, etc.), art historians (V. S. Vinogradov, D. Umetalieva, etc.), and philosophers (B. Amanaliev, etc.). A valuable source for ethnographic Kyrgyz studies is the "Kyrgyz-Russian Dictionary" compiled by K. K. Yudakhin. The reconnaissance trip to Lake Issyk-Kul in 1925 marked the beginning of the author's research in the field of Kyrgyz ethnography. From 1926 to 1931, he conducted fieldwork to collect ethnographic materials and collections in the Pre-Issyk-Kul region, the valleys of Alai, Susamyr, Chon-Kemin, and Kochkor. These works were combined with activities to organize the aforementioned Republican Museum and the Institute of Local Lore and to lead these institutions. From 1946 to 1948, the author led ethnographic expeditions to Central Tian Shan and Southern Kyrgyzstan (two of which were conducted jointly by the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Kyrgyz branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences); from 1950 to 1951, he directed the work of the ethnographic team of the Pamir-Fergana complex archaeological-ethnographic expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1952 to 1955, the comprehensive study of the life and culture of kolkhozniki in the Kyrgyz villages of Darkhan and Chichkan (Pre-Issyk-Kul) was conducted by the joint efforts of ethnographers and folklorists from the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR under the author's leadership. From 1953 to 1955, the author headed the ethnographic team of the Kyrgyz archaeological-ethnographic expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR, which covered all the main areas of settlement of the Kyrgyz in the Kyrgyz SSR.
Participants in several of the aforementioned expeditions included ethnographers E. I. Makhova and K. I. Antipina. The materials they collected and processed were published in both collective and monographic studies. The assistants of Saul Matveyevich Abramzon in the expeditions were graduate students and students from the Kyrgyz youth: Dzh. Shukurov (1927), U. Abdukaimov (1928), S. Tabysaliev (1946), K. Kupmanov (1947), K. Dykhanov (1948, 1953), R. Rustemova (1950), Z. Turdukulov (1951), A. Niyazov (1951), Sh. Bekeev (1954), Dzh. Kerimbekov (1955), and others, as well as the connoisseur of Kyrgyz life Abdykalyk Chorobaev (1946, 1954). The author received particularly valuable assistance from the multiple participant in the expeditions Z. Belekova (1948, 1952, 1953, 1954).
Participation in the listed expeditions and the use of available historical, archaeological, folkloric, and other data allowed for the exploration of various aspects of the development of Kyrgyz culture under feudalism and the transition to socialism. The development of these issues required the illumination and resolution of many unclear questions, including theoretical ones, concerning the clan-tribal structure of the Kyrgyz ethnicity, its social order, ideology, etc. The results of the research were reflected both in individual articles and in sections of collective works and monographs.
These works examine the ethnogenetic connections of the Kyrgyz with several peoples and the formation of some features of Kyrgyz culture, providing a historical-ethnographic characterization of both Soviet and foreign Kyrgyz, highlighting the contemporary life and culture of Kyrgyz kolkhozniki and the working class, revealing the progressive influence of Russian culture on the culture and life of the Kyrgyz, and investigating some issues of national rapprochement in the context of Kyrgyzstan.
