The historicity of Kazakh genealogy story telling (zhyr).

Abstract

Genealogy storytelling (zhyr) that has survived until nowadays – is essential centuries-old oral historiography of Kazakh people passing from one generation to another, and telling about the development
of Kazakh people as a coherent nation. Originally they were created in the form of genealogical tables
(tree) of each clan, tribe, and then they were complemented by a variety of legends and stories which
were transferred from grandparents to children, serving as a bridge between generations. Thus, this genre
has reached nowadays from the depths of the centuries, and has been transmitted from fathers to their
children as a testament to the descendants and can be reasonably attributed to the folklore heritage of
the people and considered as an object of a scientific study. Kazakh folklore is replete with genealogy
storytelling. National (historical) memory of Kazakh nation has been lingered until today mainly due to
genealogy storytelling. This genre has not only kept in the memory, it has been also transformed into epic
at some extent. The old genealogy tellers (shezhireshi) possess unique information on their family. It is
evident that they know more than anyone else about their forefathers, outstanding personalities (batyr,
poets, judges, orators, etc.). Genealogy, stories about great forefathers has being passed from generation
to generation through legends and storytelling. The kazakh genealogy storytelling (zhyr) mentioned in
the article, has primarily taken as a subject of research