Kazakhs

Not to be confused with Cossacks. For other uses, see Kazakh (disambiguation).

Kazakhs
Қазақтар
Qazaqtar
قازاقتار

Total population
c. 15 million
Regions with significant populations
Kazakhstan 11,244,547 (2014)
China	1,500,000
Uzbekistan	800,000
Russia	647,732
Afghanistan	440,000
Mongolia	101,526
Kyrgyzstan	33,200
United States	24,636
Turkey	10,000
Canada	9,600
Iran	3,000 - 4,000 to 15,000
Ukraine	5,526
United Arab Emirates	5,000
Czech Republic	4,821
Austria	1,685
Belarus	1,355
Germany	1,000
Languages
Kazakh
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Muslim
Related ethnic groups
Karakalpaks, Nogais Other Turkic peoples

The Kazakhs (also spelled Kazaks, Qazaqs; Kazakh: Қазақ, قازاق  qɑzɑ́q , Қазақтар, قازاقتار  qɑzɑqtɑ́r ; the English name is transliterated from Russian) are a Turkic people who mainly inhabit the northern parts of Central Asia (largely Kazakhstan, but also found in parts of Uzbekistan, China, Russia and Mongolia). Kazakh identity is of medieval origin and was strongly shaped by the foundation of the Kazakh Khanate between 1456 and 1465, when several tribes under the rule of the sultans Zhanibek and Kerey departed from the Khanate of Abu'l-Khayr Khan.

The Kazakhs are descendants of the Turkic and medieval Mongol tribes – Argyns, Dughlats, Naimans, Jalairs, Khazars, Qarluqs; and of the Kipchaks and Cumans, and other tribes such as the Huns, and ancient Iranian nomads like the Sarmatians, Saka and Scythians from East Europe populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea and remained in Central Asia and Eastern Europe when the nomadic groups started to invade and conquer the area between the 5th and 13th centuries AD.

Kazakhs were one of the nations most severely affected by the Soviet famine of 1932–33, with 66% of the total population dying.

Etymology of Kazakh

The Kazakhs probably began using this name during either the 15th or 16th centuries. There are many theories on the origin of the word Kazakh or Qazaq. Some speculate that it comes from the Turkish verb qaz (to wander), because the Kazakhs were wandering steppemen; or that it derives from the prototurkic word khasaq (a wheeled cart used by the Kazakhs to transport their yurts and belongings).

Another theory on the origin of the word Kazakh (originally Qazaq) is that it comes from the ancient Turkic word qazğaq, first mentioned on the 8th century Turkic monument of Uyuk-Turan. According to the notable Turkic linguist Vasily Radlov and the orientalist Veniamin Yudin, the noun qazğaq derives from the same root as the verb qazğan ("to obtain", "to gain"). Therefore, qazğaq defines a type of person who seeks profit and gain.

Kazakh

Kazakh was a common term throughout medieval Central Asia, generally with regard to individuals or groups who had taken or achieved independence from a figure of authority. Timur described his own youth without directory authority as his Qazaqliq (Qazaqness). At the time of the Uzbek nomads' Conquest of Central Asia, the Uzbek khan Abul-Khayr had differences with the Chinggisid chiefs Giray/Kirey and Janibeg/Janibek, descendants of Urus Khan.

Kazakh family inside a Yurt, 1911/1914

These differences probably resulted from the crushing defeat of Abul-Khayr Khan at the hands of the Qalmaqs. Kirey and Janibek moved with a large following of nomads to the region of Zhetysu on the border of Moghulistan and set up new pastures there with the blessing of the Moghul Chingisid Esen Buqa, who hoped for a buffer zone of protection against the expansion of the Oirats. It is not explicitly explained that this is why the later Kazakhs took the name permanently, but it is the only historically verifiable source of the ethnonym. The group under Kirey and Janibek are called in various sources Qazaqs and Uzbek-Qazaqs (those independent of the Uzbek khans). Later Russian language sources incorrectly termed them Kirghiz and Kirghiz-Kaisak.

The word Kazakh stems largely from a Russian convention seeking to distinguish the Qazaqs of the steppes from the Cossacks of the Russian Imperial military.

• Kazakh – Казах
• Cossack – Казак

The Russian term Cossack probably comes from the same Kypchak etymological root, i.e. wanderer, brigand, independent free-booter.

Oral history

Due to their nomadic pastoral lifestyle, Kazakhs kept an epic tradition of oral history. The nation, which amalgamated nomadic tribes of various Kazakh origins, managed to preserve the distant memory of the original founding clans. It was important for a Kazakh to know his or her genealogical tree for no less than seven generations back (known as şejire, from the Arabic word shajara – "tree").

Three Kazakh Zhuz (Hordes)

Approximate areas occupied by the three Kazakh jüz in the early 20th century.

Junior juz

Middle juz

Great juz

In modern Kazakhstan, tribalism is fading away in business and government life. Still it is common for a Kazakh man or woman to ask another one which tribe he or she belongs to when getting acquainted with each other. Nowadays, it is more of a tradition than necessity. There is no hostility between tribes. Kazakhs, regardless of their tribal origin, consider themselves one nation.

Those modern-day Kazakhs who yet remember their tribes know that their tribes belong to one of the three Zhuz (juz, roughly translatable as "horde" or "hundred"):

• The Senior Horder (also called Elder or Great) (Ulı Juz)
• The Middle or (also called Central) (Orta juz)
• The Junior (also called Younger or Lesser) (Kişi juz)

History of the Hordes

There is much debate surrounding the origins of the Hordes. Their age is unknown so far in extant historical texts, with the earliest mentions in the 17th century. The Turkologist Velyaminov-Zernov believed that it was the capture of the important cities of Tashkent, Yasi, and Sayram in 1598 by Tauekel Khan that separated the Qazaqs, as only a portion of the Century possessed the cities. This theory suggests that the Qazaqs then divided among a wider territory after expanding from Zhetysu into most of the Dasht-i Qipchaq, with a focus on the trade available through the cities of the middle Syr Darya, of which Sayram and Yasi belonged.

Language

Main articles: Kazakh language and Kazakh alphabet

Kazakh eagle hunter in Altai Tavan Bogd National Park, Mongolia.

The Kazakh language is a member of the Turkic language family, as are Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Uyghur, Turkish, Azeri, Turkmen, and many other living and historical languages spoken in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Xinjiang, and Siberia.

Kazakh belongs to the Kipchak (Northwestern) group of the Turkic language family. Kazakh is characterized, in distinction to other Turkic languages, by the presence of /s/ in place of reconstructed proto-Turkic */ʃ/ and /ʃ/ in place of */tʃ/; furthermore, Kazakh has /dʒ/ where other Turkic languages have /j/.

Kazakh, like most of the Turkic language family lacks phonemic vowel length, and as such there is no distinction between long and short vowels.

Kazakh was written with the Arabic script during the 19th century, when a number of poets, educated in Islamic schools, incited revolt against Russia. Russia's response was to set up secular schools and devise a way of writing Kazakh with the Cyrillic alphabet, which was not widely accepted. By 1917, the Arabic script was reintroduced, even in schools and local government.

In 1927, a Kazakh nationalist movement sprang up but was soon suppressed. At the same time the Arabic script was banned and the Latin alphabet was imposed for writing Kazakh. The native Latin alphabet was in turn replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet in 1940 by soviet interventionists. Today, there are efforts to return to the Latin script.

Kazakh is a state (official) language in Kazakhstan. It is also spoken in the Ili region of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China, where the Arabic script is used, and in western parts of Mongolia (Bayan-Ölgii and Khovd province), where Cyrillic script is in use. European Kazakhs use the Latin alphabet.

Religion

A Kazakh wedding ceremony in a mosque.

Ancestors of modern Kazakhs believed in Shamanism and Tengrism, then Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Christianity including Church of the East. Islam was firstly introduced to ancestors of modern Kazakhs during the 8th century when the Arab missionaries entered Central Asia. Islam initially took hold in the southern portions of Turkestan and thereafter gradually spread northward. Islam also took root due to the zealous missionary work of Samanid rulers, notably in areas surrounding Taraz where a significant number of Turks accepted Islam. Additionally, in the late 14th century, the Golden Horde propagated Islam amongst the Kazakhs and other tribes. During the 18th century, Russian influence toward the region rapidly increased throughout Central Asia. Led by Catherine, the Russians initially demonstrated a willingness in allowing Islam to flourish as Muslim clerics were invited into the region to preach to the Kazakhs whom the Russians viewed as "savages" and "ignorant" of morals and ethics. However, Russian policy gradually changed toward weakening Islam by introducing pre-Islamic elements of collective consciousness. Such attempts included methods of eulogizing pre-Islamic historical figures and imposing a sense of inferiority by sending Kazakhs to highly elite Russian military institutions. In response, Kazakh religious leaders attempted to bring religious fervor by espousing pan-Turkism, though many were persecuted as a result. During the Soviet era, Muslim institutions survived only in areas where Kazakhs significantly outnumbered non-Muslims due to everyday Muslim practices. In an attempt to conform Kazakhs into Communist ideologies, gender relations and other aspects of the Kazakh culture were key targets of social change.

In more recent times however, Kazakhs have gradually employed a determined effort in revitalizing Islamic religious institutions after the fall of the Soviet Union. Some Kazakhs continue to identify with their Islamic faith, and even more devotedly in the countryside. Those who claim descent from the original Muslim soldiers and missionaries of the 8th century command substantial respect in their communities. Kazakh political figures have also stressed the need to sponsor Islamic awareness. For example, the Kazakh Foreign Affairs Minister, Marat Tazhin, recently emphasized that Kazakhstan attaches importance to the use of "positive potential Islam, learning of its history, culture and heritage."

Pre-Islamic beliefs—the worship of the sky, of the ancestors, and of fire, for example—continued to a great extent to be preserved among the common people, however. The Kazakhs believed in the supernatural forces of good and evil spirits, of wood goblins and giants. To protect themselves from them, as well as from the evil eye, the Kazakhs wore protection beads and talismans. Shamanic beliefs are still widely preserved among the Kazakhs, as well as belief in the strength of the bearers of this worship—the shamans, which the Kazakhs call bakhsy. In contradistinction to the Siberian shamans, who used drums during their rituals, the Kazakh shamans, who could also be men or women, played (with a bow) on a stringed instrument similar to a large violin. At present both Islamic and pre-Islamic beliefs continue to be found among the Kazakhs, especially among the elderly. According to 2009 national census 39,172 Kazakhs are Christians.

Genetic studies

A full study of the genetic makeup of the Kazakh population is far from being finished. According to mitochondrial DNA studies (where sample consisted of only 246 individuals), the main maternal lineages of Kazakhs are: D (17.9%), C (16%), G (16%), A (3,25%), F (2.44%), which is of Eastern Eurasian origin (58%), and haplogroups H (14.1), T (5.5), J (3.6%), K (2.6%), U5 (3%), and others (12.2%) of western Eurasian origin (41%). An analysis of ancient Kazakhs found that East Asian haplogroups such as A and C did not begin to move into the Kazakh steppe region till around the time of the Xiongnu (1st millennia BCE), which is around the onset of the Sargat Culture as well (Lalueza-Fox 2004).

In a sample of 54 Kazakhs and 119 Altaian Kazakh. The main paternal lineages of Kazakhs are: C (66.7% and 59.5%), O (9% and 26%), N (2% and 0%), J (4% and 0% ), R ( 9% and 1% ).

In a sample of 409 ethnic Kazakhs the main paternal lineages of Kazakhs are C, R, G, J, N, O, Q:

1. С2b - 36.4% (149/409)
2. R1a - 13.9% (57/409)
3. G1 - 10.3% (42/409)
4. R1b - 7.1% (29/409)
5. C2d - 5.6% (23/409)
6. J2 - 5.6% (23/409)
7. O - 5.1% (21/409)
8. N1 - 5.1% (21/409)
9. J1 - 2.7% (11/409)
10. Q1 - 2.2% (9/409)
11. R2 - 1.7% (7/409)
12. D1 - 1.7% (7/409)
13. E - 1% (4/409)
14. I2 - 0.5% (2/409)
15. L - 0.3% (1/409)
16. T - 0.3% (1/409)
17. I1 - 0.3% (1/409)
18. G2 - 0.3% (1/409)

Kazakh people

Population

Main article: Demographics of Kazakhstan

Ethnic Kazakhs in percent of total population of Kazakhstan

1897	1911	1926	1939	1959	1970	1979	1989	1999	2009
73.9%	60.8%	59.5%	38.0%	30.0%	32.6%	36.0%	39.7%	53.4%	63.1%

Historical population of Kazakhs:

Year	Population
1600	1,200,000?
1900	2 million? (1,5-3 million)
1939	4,000,000?
1970	6,500,000?
2013	13,600,000

Kazakh minorities

Russia

Shoqan Walikhanov and Fyodor Dostoyevsky

In Russia, the Kazakh population lives primarily in the regions bordering Kazakhstan. According to latest census (2002) there are 654,000 Kazakhs in Russia, most of whom are in the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Altai Krai and Altai Republic regions. Though ethnically Kazakh, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, these people acquired Russian citizenship.

Ethnic Kazakhs of Russia
national censuses data

1939	%	1959	%	1970	%	1979	%	1989	%	2002	%
356 646	0.33	382 431	0.33	477 820	0.37	518 060	0.38	635 865	0.43	653 962	0.45

China

Kazakh family in Xinjiang, China

Main article: Kazakhs in China

See also: Kazakh exodus from Xinjiang

Kazakhs migrated into Dzungaria in the 18th century after the Dzungar genocide resulted in the native Buddhist Dzungar Oirat population being massacred.

Kazakhs, called Hāsàkè Zú in Chinese (哈萨克族; literally "Kazakh people" or "Kazakh tribe") are among 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. Thousands of Kazakhs fled to China during the 1932-1933 famine in Kazakhstan.

In 1936, after Sheng Shicai expelled 30,000 Kazakhs from Xinjiang to Qinghai, Hui led by General Ma Bufang massacred their fellow Muslim Kazakhs, until there were 135 of them left.

From Northern Xinjiang over 7,000 Kazakhs fled to the Tibetan-Qinghai plateau region via Gansu and were wreaking massive havoc so Ma Bufang solved the problem by relegating the Kazakhs into designated pastureland in Qinghai, but Hui, Tibetans, and Kazakhs in the region continued to clash against each other.

Tibetans attacked and fought against the Kazakhs as they entered Tibet via Gansu and Qinghai.

In northern Tibet Kazakhs clashed with Tibetan soldiers and then the Kazakhs were sent to Ladakh.

Tibetan troops robbed and killed Kazakhs 400 miles east of Lhasa at Chamdo when the Kazakhs were entering Tibet.

In 1934, 1935, 1936-1938 from Qumil Eliqsan led the Kerey Kazakhs to migrate to Gansu and the amount was estimated at 18,000, and they entered Gansu and Qinghai.

Tibetan troops serving under the Dalai Lama murdered the American CIA agent Douglas Mackiernan and his two White Russian helpers because he was dressed as a Kazakh, their enemy.

In China there is one Kazakh autonomous prefecture, the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, three Kazakh autonomous counties, Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu, Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County and Mori Kazakh Autonomous County in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Many Kazakhs in China are not fluent in Standard Chinese, instead speaking the Kazakh language. "In that place wholly faraway", based on a Kazakh folk song, is very popular outside the Kazakh regions, especially in the Far Eastern countries of China, Japan and Korea.

Mongolia

In the 19th century, the advance of the Russian Empire troops pushed Kazakhs to neighboring countries. In around 1860, part of the Middle Jüz Kazakhs came to Mongolia and were allowed to settle down in Bayan-Ölgii, Western Mongolia and for most of the 20th century they remained an isolated, tightly knit community. Ethnic Kazakhs (so-called Altaic Kazakhs or Altai-Kazakhs) live predominantly in Western Mongolia in Bayan-Ölgii Province (88.7% of total province population) and Khovd Province (11.5% of total province population, living primarily in the Khovd city, Khovd sum and Buyant sum). In addition, a number of Kazakh communities can be found in various cities and towns spread throughout the country. Some of the major population centers with a significant Kazakh presence include Ulaanbaatar (90% in khoroo #4 of Nalaikh düüreg, Töv and Selenge provinces, Erdenet, Darkhan, Bulgan, Sharyngol (17.1% of population total) and Berkh cities.

Ethnic Kazakhs of Mongolia
national censuses data

1956	%	1963	%	1969	%	1979	%	1989	%	2000	%	2010	%
36,729	4.34	47,735	4.69	62,812	5.29	84,305	5.48	120,506	6.06	102,983	4.35	101,526	3.69

Uzbekistan

400,000 Kazakhs live in Karakalpakstan and 100,000 in the Tashkent province. Since the fall of Soviet Union, vast majority of Kazakh people are returning to Kazakhstan, mainly to Manghistau Oblast'. Most Kazakhs in Karakalpakstan are descendants of one of the branches of "Junior juz" (Kişi juz) -Adai tribe.

Iran

Iranian Kazakhs live mainly in the Golestan Province in northern Iran. According to ethnologue.org, in 1982 there were 3000 Kazakhs living in the city of Gorgan. Since fall of the Soviet Union number of Kazakhs in Iran decreased due to emigration to their historical Motherland."

Afghanistan

Afghan Kipchaks are Aimak (Taimeni) tribe of Kazakh origin that can be found in Obi district to the east of western Afghan province of Herat, between the rivers Farāh Rud and Hari Rud. Afghan Kypchaks together with the Durzais and Kakars, two other tribes of Pushtun origin, constitute Taymani tribe. There are approximately 440,000 Afghan Kipchaks.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Kazakhstan

National Kazakh Wear

Kazakh horseman

For centuries, Kazakh national clothes were simple and rational. It was characterized by common forms for all segments of the population, but with a certain social and age regulations. Elegance and beautiful elements to dresses were given by fur trim, embroidery, jewelry. Traditional materials for the clothes were leather, fur, thin felt, cloth, which was produced by the local population. Clothes sewn from imported materials - silk, brocade, velvet, were a kind of measure of wealthiness of their owners. Cotton was also widely used. Kazakhs have always valued animal skins and furs as sewing material. Coats, or so called Tons, were sewed from animal skins, and fur coats, such as Shash were sewed from furred animals, which were perfectly suitable for weather conditions in Kazakh Steppes. Outerwear was prepared from skins and furs of wild and domestic animals, according to the names of which, clothes were called: Zhanat tone - a coat of raccoon fur, Kara tulki ton - of a black fox fur, Kamshat boryk - a beaver hat, Bota ton - a coat from camel skin, Zhargak tone - from a foal skin, etc. Many kinds of clothing were made from felt. Predominantly white coat was used for its production, and thin fur from sheep's neck was considered particularly valuable.

National clothes of Kazakh women

A Kazakh woman traditionally wore a dress with a waistcoat. Generally, outerwear of women was similar to that of men: similar jackets, waistcoats, gowns, wide leather belts, it differed from men's only in colours and some decoration details.

Headwear of Kazakh women, similar to many other nationalities, was also a kind of indicator of their marital status. Headwear of married women differed in different tribal groups, but girls' headwear was comparatively similar throughout the territory of Kazakhstan. Girls used to wear hats of two types: skull cap (Takiya) and a warm hat (Borik), decorated with otter, fox or beaver fur. A tuft of owl feather was often sewed to the top of takiya for decoration purposes, which also played a role of a talisman. Gimp, tassels, gold embroidery and even silver coins were also used for decoration.

Kazakh women's national bridal headwear Saukele, which is a high (70 cm) conical hat, is of particular importance (see pic. on the left). The most expensive of them were evaluated in a hundred selected horses. Saukele was a mandatory part of girl’s dowry, and was prepared long before the girls reached the age of marriage, together with a wedding gown, which was often made of expensive fabric, usually red coloured. Bride was supposed to wear a saukele during the wedding ceremony, then it was worn on holidays for some time after the marriage.

Saukele is decorated by metal fishnet tops, tiara (sometimes made of gold with inlays of semiprecious stones or strings of pearls, corals, etc.), temple pendants and chin decorations. Saukele cone is covered with cloth, which was sewed by metal badges of different configurations, into bezels of which precious and semiprecious stones are inserted. A broad ribbon of expensive fabric, decorated with fringes of gold thread, was also attached to the back of saukele, which went down to cover a part of the back of a girl. Compulsory supplement to saukele is a long suspension, called zhaktau, which is attached to it from both sides, reaching the waist of a girl. The most skilled craftsmen participated in saukele manufacturing: cutters, embroiderers, jewellers, who applied the moulding, embossing, stamping, etc. during the process of manufacturing. It took a year or even more to prepare one such saukele.

With the birth of the first child a woman put a headwear of a married woman on (see pic. on the right), which was worn until her old ages. The details of this vary a little depending on the age of woman and region she came from. This headwear consisted of two parts: the bottom - kimeshek worn on the head, and the top - in the form of a turban, wound over the bottom part of the headwear. Both parts were made from white fabric. These types of headwear are worn by older women even today.

National clothes of Kazakh men

Kazakh men used to wear different skullcaps (takiya), summer and winter hats. Summer hat - kalpak was sewed from thin felt, mostly white, and had a specific ancient cut. Borik and tymak were worn in winter. Tymak is a warm winter hat with earflaps and neck flaps made from fox, which is popular among Kazakh men even nowadays.Bashlyk is another national headwear, made of camel cloth, which was supposed to be worn on top of other hats, to protect from dust, sun, rain and snow.

Men's clothing consisted of the following components: Double under vest (zheyde), lower pants - made of light fabric and the upper - of cloth, suede, sheepskin or thick cotton fabric. From the early ages, when the Kazakhs used to go horseback riding, trousers were a necessary and important part of their clothing. The main type of outer clothing was shapan, a kind of robe.

In old times men's and women's footwear were also similar, though girls’ boots were often decorated with embroidery and appliqué work. Footwear differed according to seasons. For example, winter boots were tall, broad-shafted, worn over the felt stockings. Also there were differences between footwear of older and younger people. Young people often wore boots with high heels (up to 6 – 8 cm), older people – with low heels. Another common type of footwear among Kazakhs was light boots without heels, tight fitting on legs, called ichigi or masi. Leather kebis was worn over them, which was supposed to be put off at the entrance to the house.

Decorations

A great variety of different decorations - great applications, patches were used on clothing, headwear, footwear. Carnelian, coral, pearl, pearl, coloured glass were used to decorate gold, silver, copper, bronze jewellery of women. Earrings, flat and wrought bracelets and rings were extremely beautiful. Rings depending on their traditional forms have specific names, such as a Bird's beak ring. Belts - a compulsory element of both male and female clothing - were decorated especially: it was ornamented with embroidery; silver badges were sewn on it.

Types of jewellery usually depended on age, social and marital status of those who wore them. Some of them were typical for certain territorial groups.

People's clothing is constantly being targeted by fashion designers, designers. Contemporary clothing, created using national motives, is always original and unique.

Music

Many are also skilled in the performance of Kazakh traditional songs. One of the most commonly used traditional musical instruments of the Kazakhs is the dombra, a plucked lute with two strings. It is often used to accompany solo or group singing. Another popular instrument is kobyz, a bow instrument played on the knees. Along with other instruments, these two instruments play a key role in the traditional Kazakh orchestra. A notable composer is Kurmangazy, who lived in the 19th century. After studying in Moscow, Gaziza Zhubanova became the first woman classical composer in Kazakhstan, whose compositions reflect Kazakh history and folklore. A notable singer of the Soviet epoch is Roza Rymbaeva, she was a star of the trans-Soviet-Union scale. A notable Kazakh rock band is Urker, performing in the genre of ethno-rock, which synthesises rock music with the traditional Kazakh music.

See also

• Turkic peoples
• List of Kazakhs

Notable Kazakhs

Main article: List of Kazakhs

External links

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan
• Kazakh Language Courseware from University of Arizona Critical Languages Series
• Ethnographic map of Kazakhstan
• Kazakhs in France – AKFT
• World Association of the Kazakhs
• http://sana.gov.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=342
• Massagan.com (The largest web site in kazakh language)
• Suhbat (Atameken Toby)
• Kazakh tribes
• ‘Contemporary Falconry in Altai-Kazakh in Western Mongolia’The International Journal of Intangible Heritage (vol.7), pp. 103–111. 2012. [4]
• ‘Ethnoarhchaeology of Horse-Riding Falconry’, The Asian Conference on the Social Sciences 2012 - Official Conference Proceedings, pp. 167–182. 2012. [5]
• ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage of Arts and Knowledge for Coexisting with Golden Eagles: Ethnographic Studies in “Horseback Eagle-Hunting” of Altai-Kazakh Falconers’, The International Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences Research, pp. 307–316. 2012. [6]
• ‘Ethnographic Study of Altaic Kazakh Falconers’, Falco: The Newsletter of the Middle East Falcon Research Group 41, pp. 10–14. 2013. [7]
• ‘Ethnoarchaeology of Ancient Falconry in East Asia’, The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies 2013 - Official Conference Proceedings, pp. 81–95. 2013. [8]
• Soma, Takuya. 2014. 'Current Situation and Issues of Transhumant Animal Herding in Sagsai County, Bayan Ulgii Province, Western Mongolia', E-journal GEO 9(1): pp. 102–119. [9]
• Soma, Takuya. 2015. Human and Raptor Interactions in the Context of a Nomadic Society: Anthropological and Ethno-Ornithological Studies of Altaic Kazakh Falconry and its Cultural Sustainability in Western Mongolia. University of Kassel Press, Kassel (Germany) [ISBN 978-3-86219-565-7].