The Everyday Survival Practices of the Kazakh Aul During the Crisis of the Early 1930s

The article examines the everyday survival practices of the Kazakh aul in the context of the socio economic crisis of the early 1930s. The aim of the study is to identify the main forms of adaptation of the Kazakh population to administrative pressure and the destruction of the traditional economic system. In contrast to approaches that view population behavior primarily through the lens of adaptation and open resistance, the article focuses on everyday actions that helped people conserve resources and keep Kazakh auls viable. The source base consists of archival materials and published documents, and the analysis shows that survival included practices such as preserving and redistributing food and property, hiding some livestock, forced relocation, and changing usual farming practices. These actions did not always take the form of open protest; however, they testified to the Kazakh aul population's desire to seek opportunities to save their family and household independently. At the same time, everyday survival practices could be combined with collective action and other forms of resistance. Using problem-chronological, historical-genetic, and historical-comparative methods, the study traces how families and individual farms used available resources and social connections amid the growing crisis. It shows that survival strategies varied with the specific circumstances these families and households faced. Everyday actions aimed at preserving the family and household could be combined with collective action and other forms of resistance. This lets us consider survival and resistance not as mutually exclusive behaviors, but as different ways the population acts in a crisis. The study examines migration movements, kinship and neighborly forms of mutual assistance, the preservation and concealment of food resources, the search for alternative sources of livelihood, and changes in economic practices. It has been established that in times of crisis, the population used available material resources, kinship ties, and spatial mobility to preserve the family and householfile. In conclusion, it is stated that the everyday survival practices of the Kazakh population in the auls varied depending on the specific circumstances and opportunities available to each individual family.