Anthropology of the «gift method» of tsarist power(on the example of the sword of the XVIII century)

Abstract

Currently, from the point of view of the anthropological position in the historiography of Kazakhstan the study of the policy of the Russian Empire on awarding the Kazakh aristocracy is becoming increasingly important. The authors focus on the influence of “gifts” in the relationship between the social groups of Kazakh society. The process of attracting the Kazakh elite to their side by the Russian Empire in the XVIII century is analyzed. The article presents an overview of materials based on epistolary sources, analyzes the characteristics given by the tsarist government to individual persons, and determines an influence of the “gift” policy on their behavior. The article notes that one of the types of gift was a sword, which taken as a subject of research. Special attention paid to the analysis of the symbolic meaning of this gift in the relationship between the two parties.