Lecture 10

Summary

The lecture presents freedom in Kazakh thought not simply as being left alone, but as self-command and responsible connection to one’s people, land, and conscience.

Main Ideas

• Freedom is tied to relationships. The lecturer describes three central connections:
  • Yel — one’s people.
  • Jer — one’s land.
  • Ar — honor and conscience.

In this view, freedom is not isolation; it means being rightly connected while remaining responsible.

• Freedom begins with self-mastery. The lecture links yerkindik (freedom) to yerk (will), emphasizing that being free requires power over oneself—not merely the absence of outside control. It distinguishes this from azattik (release or emancipation), bostandik (being unbound), and tauelsizdik (independence or freedom from dependence).

• Leaving can be an act of creation. The story of Kerei and Zhanibek leaving Abulkhair’s khanate is presented both as an escape from something and as a move toward building something new: the Kazakh Khanate. The lecture suggests that freedom can begin with the courage to leave and start again.

• Open space does not mean disorder. The steppe offered room to move, but pastoral life depended on knowledge of seasonal pastures and the land. The lecture describes this as disciplined freedom: having choices while learning how to use them wisely. The lecturer compares this to university, where education helps students choose and follow a path.

• Freedom also means inner struggle. In Yasawi’s Sufi teaching, the hardest constraint to escape is the nafs—the ego, appetite, and impulses. A person ruled by impulse is not truly free, even if they claim to be.

• Freedom includes speaking truth to power. The zhirau poets are presented as critics of their age:

  • Asan Kaigy searches for Zheruiq, a homeland of happiness.
  • Shalkiyiz refuses to flatter the powerful.
  • Bukhar advises and criticizes Ablai.

The lecture urges every generation to have people brave enough to speak honestly. It invokes the proverb that a head may be cut off, but not the tongue, and notes that under Tauke Khan, the Zheti Zhargy could use the word of a wise bi to resolve disputes.

• Knowledge is a means of liberation. The lecture describes nineteenth-century enlightenment as a new way to defend freedom. Shoqan Walikhanov argued that reforms should meet people’s real needs and supported education, including schools for girls. Mashkhur Zhusup treated knowledge, rather than livestock, as true wealth. Learning is framed as a way to understand freedom and recognize its cost.

• A whole person joins will, reason, and virtue. Abay’s teaching is described as a dialogue among will, reason, and the heart. Will without virtue can serve cruelty, and reason without virtue can become cunning; the heart’s moral guidance helps bring these faculties together. Shakarim’s account of three certainties connects belief in a creator, the immortality of the soul, and conscience—understood through integrity, fairness, justice, and compassion.

• Freedom can be written into law. The Alash movement sought to express freedom through legal and political rights, including equality regardless of religion, nationality, or gender; freedom of speech, press, and assembly; and the secret ballot. The lecture links this effort to the call Oyan Qazaq (“Wake up, Kazakh”), associated with Mirzhakyp Dulatov and other reformers.

• Independence and individual rights both matter. The lecture describes modern freedom as having two sides: the sovereignty and stability of the state, and the rights and self-determination of its citizens. Holding these together is a responsibility for the present generation.

• Symbols express the lecture’s vision of freedom. The steppe represents the horizon; the shanyraq represents a shared home supported by its members; the tulpar represents movement and development; and the eagle on the flag represents sovereignty. The eagle’s return to the falconer illustrates the central idea of freedom within a bond. The lecture concludes that independence and sovereignty help protect cultural identity.

Figures, Traditions, and Sources Mentioned

• Speaker: One lecturer addressing students; no other speaker is clearly identifiable in the subtitles.
• Kazakh traditions and concepts: Yel, jer, ar, yerkindik, azattik, bostandik, tauelsizdik, nafs, Zheruiq, Zheti Zhargy, and the proverb about the head and tongue.
• Historical and intellectual figures: Kerei and Zhanibek; Abulkhair Khan; Tengri; Al-Farabi; Khoja Ahmed Yasawi; Asan Kaigy; Shalkiyiz Zhirau; Bukhar Zhirau; Tauke Khan; Shoqan Walikhanov; Mashkhur Zhusup; Abay; Shakarim; Mirzhakyp Dulatov; and Mukhtar Auezov.
• Movements and events: The Kazakh Khanate; the Dzungar invasion and Aqtaban Shubyryndy; the Alash movement; the Oyan Qazaq reformist message; and Kazakhstan’s declaration of independence.