Medical and Cultural Narratives and Practices of the Russian Empire in the Kazakh Steppe (19th century)

The article deals with Russian medicine in the Kazakh steppe in the context of the interaction of traditions and cultures. It attempts to more fully reveal the role of Russian medicine in the development of new territories in the 19th century. In particular, in addition to the actual medical practices introduced among the nomadic Kazakh population and the administrative measures of medical control, attention is also paid to the "accompanying" functions of Russian doctors, as ethnographers, collecting the most detailed information about the new territories of the empire and their inhabitants. Accordingly, their medical practice is considered in the context of a dialogue of cultures and the development of newly annexed lands. In addition to highlighting the main stages of Russian medicine's penetration into the Kazakh steppe, the work attempts to trace changes in cultural narratives, highlighting their main features: the romanticization of the nomadic population due to their proximity to nature, the formation of Russian orientalism and, over time - from the middle of the 19th century - increasing attention to the intellectual and moral abilities of the nomadic population, which distinguished them from all neighboring peoples and which were considered by the Russian administration and doctors in the formation of cultural policy in the newly annexed lands. The mention of such abilities from the middle of the 19th century occurs in the narratives of Russian doctors already in a more functional context, with the inclusion of local culture in the general socio-cultural space and its corresponding transformation and cultural transfer.