Posts

Mythologies of the Kazakh Tribes

Image
Kazakhs  are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia and Eastern Europe . They share a common culture , language and history that is closely related to those of other Turkic peoples. The majority of ethnic Kazakhs live in their transcontinental nation state of Kazakhstan .  Ethnic Kazakh communities are present in Kazakhstan's border regions in Russia , Kyrgyzstan , northern Uzbekistan , northwestern China ( Xinjiang ), western Mongolia ( Bayan-Ölgii ), and northern Iran ( Golestan ).   The Kazakh people were formed as a result of the merging of Mongol, Turkic, and other Eurasian groups between the 13th and 15th centuries. In the 15th century, under the leadership of two sultans Janibek Khan and Kerei Khan Kazakhs founded the Kazakh Khanate , which existed until the mid-19th century.  The term Kazakh is used to refer to ethnic Kazakhs, while the term Kazakhstani refers to all citizens of Kazakhstan, regardless of ethnicity.  The Kaza...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mythologies of the Kreung Tribe

Image
  There are around 25,000 indigenous Kreung people in Cambodia and perhaps a few hundred in Laos. In Cambodia they live mainly in the northeastern part bordering Laos and Vietnam. Until recently it was not easy to reach this area. When I first visited twenty years ago, all the roads in the region were dirt roads. Public transport did not exist. Unless you flew in on a small plane, reaching the provincial capital, Ban Lung, could take days. That's all changed in the last few years. The airport has been abandoned and the roads are all paved. Once a predominantly indigenous region, Khmer people have recently begun moving into the area. That has also meant that indigenous groups like the Kreung have had more exposure to outside and mainstream influences. The net effect has been a dramatic loss of many aspects of indigenous Kreung knowledge and culture. The elderly Kreung lady pictured above was likely one of the last to weave her own yarn. And the young girl pictured below is unlikely...
Post a Comment
Read more