TRADITION AND MODERNITY IN KAZAK NOMADISM IN MONGOLIA

The paper presents some thoughts on the present-day life of the Kazak stockbreeders who still migrate in Mongolia's westernmost province, Bayan Ölgiy. Some basic features of their life and professional activities are typical of nomadic patterns, but many aspects of life in yurt have changed with the progress in modern technology. Children of nomadic stockbreeders all go to schools and they stay in the steppes with their parents only in the time of summer vacation and holidays. Car has become a normal means of migratory transportation and camel is rarely used for that. In winter, some people stay in permanent flat-roofed stone houses at the foot of mountains. The methods of stockbreeding are traditional. The livestock grazes in the open air throughout the year and only some winter quarters have fences and sheds. The paper also presents the most up-to-date general information on the Kazaks in Mongolia.