CINEMA AS BRANDING - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 193

The latter development motivated Russia to increase its presence on
the steppe and, finally, to incorporate the unruly Kazakh neighbors into its
political orbit (Khodarkovsky, 2002). Before this occurred, Ablai finally
fulfilled his dream of becoming the khan. The ritual took place in 1771, i.e.,
ten years before he died at the age of 80, and, in 1778, he was confirmed by
the Russians who wanted to demonstrate that he was a subject of the Rus-
sian Empire (Appolova, 1960). In a Russian discourse, his title received
an interpretation as the khan of all three Kazakh jüzes , a position that the
Russians thought would have granted Ablai definite power over his people
and made his politics more disciplined. 32 And yet, Ablai khan continued his
usual course, receiving salary and gifts from the Russians and using green
pastures and markets that belonged to the Chinese. In 1824, less than 40
years after his death, the Russians who were disillusioned about the steppe
leaders and their politics abolished the institution of traditional authority
altogether dispelling the Töre as a political stratum among the Kazakhs
and, more broadly, the Mongol supremacy in Central Asia. 33
The story of Ablai thus is a story of one of the most critical periods in
the history of Mongol domination in Central Asia. The power of Genghis
Khan and his house was rock-hard at the time of the centralized empire
but by the 18th century it outlived its relevance as the individual khans
and sultans grew apart. Their governance techniques and their claims to
exclusive power, which among other things made the alliance of Töre with
Jungars impossible, became outdated. Personified by Ablai, his story is
about the Töre's frantic attempts to uphold their power and the dignity
of their house. But the situation dictated that their rule and their societies
were to be reformed. In the Soviet thought, cultural and political change
on the steppe was a key function of the Russian civilizing mission, a he-
gemonic view that blocked other visions. And yet, the idea of change had
emerged long before the colonial power came to define this mission. In
the Yessenberlin's novel, it originated within the society, among the Töre.
Here is Ablai's part from his final dialog with Bukhar zhirau to which I
referred earlier:
32 Not all Kazakhs of the Orta jüz accepted Russian suzerainty. Bokeikhanov argues that “naimans
and the kereits … moved from the present day Akmolinsk oblast to their old lands - the Tarbagatai
and Black Irtysh, and from there to China” ([1903] 1995: 49); similar information is provided in
Khodarkovsky (2002: 172).
33 Babur's descendants reigned in India until 1857 and Alim Khan, the emir of Bukhara, until 1920
(Weatherford 2004: xx).