Sean McDaniel, a 2019 Ph.D. graduate from Michigan State University’s Department of History, was recently featured in Túrkistan, a Kazakh newspaper. The interview was conducted by journalist Duisenali Alimakyn, who discovered Dr. McDaniel’s dissertation while pursuing his own graduate studies at George Washington University.
Alimakyn was struck by the fact that an American historian had taken interest in Kazakhstan, its history, culture, and people. To better understand the translated article (included below), it helps to know more about Dr. McDaniel’s work and academic journey.
Dr. McDaniel’s Research
Dr. McDaniel, now an assistant professor of history at Cumberland University, focuses on the role of horses in Central Asian culture and how that relationship was disrupted by Russian imperial expansion. His research centers on the Kazakh steppe, a vast grassland ideal for horses and historically central to the mobile pastoralism (livestock herding) that sustained Central Asian societies for centuries.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Central Asia had the largest horse population in the world. As the Russian Empire consolidated its power over the region, it altered the relationship between Central Asian communities and their horses in profound ways. Dr. McDaniel’s work examines the consequences of this disruption from the late imperial period through the early years of communist rule (roughly 1880s–1920s), tracing its impact on Kazakh economy, society, and culture.
How the Dissertation Took Shape
Dr. McDaniel’s dissertation at MSU emerged from many long conversations with his advisor, Dr. Lewis Siegelbaum and inspired by the work of both Dr. Siegelbaum and Dr. Leslie Page Moch. Initially drawn to Russian migration patterns, he began encountering frequent references that eventually led him to Kazakhstan — a place he did not originally consider.
“I was always interested in the movement of people,” he said. “As I continued my research, I began to encounter all sorts of references to horses. The thread started there, and I followed it.”
In 2017, with support from a Fulbright-Hays fellowship, Dr. McDaniel conducted fieldwork in Almaty, Kazakhstan and St. Petersburg, Russia. His time abroad was pivotal, both professionally and personally.
Why It Matters
Dr. McDaniel’s research sheds light on how the Russian Empire functioned in Central Asia, drawing parallels to the actions of other empires within their own colonial spaces. One key theme is the imperial pursuit of “horsepower,” a resource sought by the British and French (among others) for military and economic advantage.
On a local level, his work analyzes the dramatic upheaval of Kazakh culture and the ways in which they are attempting to reclaim it in the post-Soviet period. “Kazakhstan was never really on my radar,” he noted. “But when I traveled to Almaty, Kazakhstan, in the summer of 2013 for language study and preliminary research, I fell in love with the country.”
Dr. McDaniel’s interview in Túrkistan highlights the global impact of his scholarship and the meaningful connections academic research can create across borders.
To see the original interview, please go to: Шон МакДэниэл: Жылқысын зерттеп, елін жақсы көріп кеттім: 22 тамыз 2025, жаңалықтар Turkystan.kz. A Google-translated version of the article follows.
Sean McDaniel: I studied horses and fell in love with the country.
When a Kazakh child is pampered, he often says the affectionate word “my colt.” Why? Of course, this is a sign that the history and culture of our people are closely connected with the horse. Otherwise, the Kazakh language would be enough for people to call their children “my cat,” “my puppy,” “my sparrow,” like other peoples. In any case, when writing or telling something about the Kazakhs, we cannot bypass the horse. That is why in fairy tales, poems, and heroic epics, along with heroes, his swift horse and beautiful wife are mentioned.
Poet Yesengali Raushanov sings in one of his poems, “Whatever there is in the Kazakhs, there is a steppe…” And we would like to add to this phrase that there is a horse that gallops in that steppe, its golden breast adorning the steppe. Two years ago, I went to a scientific meeting at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I spent two days in the library of the mentioned university doing my own research. My goal is to find records related to our nation in English documents stored in the libraries of a giant country.
How did McDaniel’s interest in Kazakh horses begin?
After reading thousands, even millions of books, the wise saying “The happiest people are those with many books” came to my mind. During that search, I came across a scientific paper written by an American historian about the Kazakh horse. The author is Dr. McDaniel. He has been studying Central Asia for some time. McDaniel’s research is mainly devoted to migration and environmental issues in the Kazakh steppe. Dr. McDaniel’s first major project was about the crucial role that horses played in the interaction between the Russian and Soviet authorities, Slavic settlers, and local Kazakh society. His research was funded by the US Department of State’s Fulbright-Hays program. Within the framework of this grant, he studied archives in Almaty and St. Petersburg in 2017. I was lucky enough to interview him. First, I asked the scientist how he became interested in studying Kazakh horses.
– My interest in Kazakh horses did not arise immediately, but gradually during my research. When I first started my PhD program, I had not even thought about Kazakh horses. But I have always been interested in the topic of migration, migration, so I turned to the history of Kazakhstan. As a child growing up in the United States, we read a lot in school about the westward expansion of the country to the Pacific Ocean in the 1800s and the people who migrated to start a new life. When I was studying for my PhD at Michigan State University, my supervisor Lewis Siegelbaum and his wife, my thesis advisor Leslie Page Mock, were writing a new book about migration in the Russian and Soviet political space called “Broad Is My Native Land: Repertoires and Regimes of Migration in Russia’s Twentieth Century” (Cornell, 2014). It mainly deals with the migration of Russian and other peoples who settled in Siberia and the Kazakh steppes. It seemed interesting to me because of the similarities with the history of the United States. So I began to focus my research on that period. While studying historical data and documents, my supervisor and I noticed that horses were often mentioned. This is, of course, a natural phenomenon. At that time, settlers needed horses like air for work such as transportation, farming, and herding. The Kazakh steppe at that time had the largest horse population in the world. Moreover, local Kazakhs widely used horses in their daily lives. This is a very interesting historical situation. I was also interested in the difference between a group that needed bristle-tailed animals and the local population that had been living closely with horses for a long time. After that, I devoted my research to studying the role of the horse in this historical period. I even paid attention to how the horse influenced the interaction between Kazakhs and outsiders.
“Silk Road” or “Horse Road”?
In his above-mentioned answer, he mentioned that he conducted research based on historical data and documents. Indeed, it is clear that there is a lot of data about horses in our archives and libraries. But it is very disappointing that only a few scientific works have been written about the Kazakh horse so far. As a nation that knows the secrets of horses the most, we do not know why our scientists have not been willing to write substantive research works about horses. Of course, you are delighted that a distant American historian has written a scientific research work about the Kazakh horse. In awe, I asked him, “What do you think was the historical significance of the horse in the nomadic culture of the Kazakhs?” The scientist, whose research was successful, gave a consistent answer to this question as well.
– The horse is the most important animal not only in the Kazakh nomadic culture, but in the history of all of Central Asia. Since the first domestication of the horse, many sources are directly related to the Botai culture in northern Kazakhstan. The horse has shaped the history of Central Asia. The Scythians were not only the first great warriors on horseback, but also the first professional horse breeders. Other peoples came to this region specifically to buy their horses. For example, Emperor Wu of the Chinese Han Dynasty sent special envoys to bring fast horses from the Fergana Plain in the 2nd century BC. This event is one of the historical milestones that gave rise to the formation of the Silk Road. Some modern works even write that the Silk Road should be called the “Horse Road”. This is how Kazakh nomadic culture is based on such a deep history. The “Golden Man” monument on Republic Square in Almaty is evidence of this historical continuity. The Kazakh Khan Kassym Khan, who lived in the 16th century, said: “We are a steppe people, we have neither valuable things nor rare wealth. But our most precious treasure is our horse.” Horses played an important role in every moment of the life of Kazakh nomads, from the wooden cradle to the earthen cradle. I am a historian, so my research is based exclusively on historical methods. The main part of my research was carried out in the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty, the Presidential Archive, as well as the State Historical Archive of Russia in St. Petersburg and the National Library of Russia.
Many peoples in the world have a horse culture. But their knowledge and understanding of horses are different. In this regard, a legitimate question came to my mind: how did historian McDaniel, in his study, compare the horse culture of our people with the horse traditions of other regions of the world, for example, in the culture of Mongolia or American Indians.
– I don’t know much about Mongolian culture, but they are also a people who grew up on horses. The nomadic cattle breeding that has survived from the time of Genghis Khan’s cavalry to the present day is proof of this. Some American Indian tribes also have a close connection with horses, but their horse culture is much less than that of the Kazakhs, other Central Asian peoples, and the Mongols. Although the ancestors of the horse appeared in North America, it became extinct there long ago, and modern horses were brought to this continent only by Spanish colonists at the end of the 16th century. Since the nature of the western United States and the Kazakh steppe is similar, the number of horses also increased rapidly. In the 1900s, the Kazakh steppe ranked first in the world in terms of the number of horses, followed by the American plains. But the way the horse breed was used was different: the Kazakhs used horses mainly to herd livestock, while the Indians used them to hunt bison that roamed the vast steppes. The horse was the basis of the life of the Kazakh nomads. Crossing the vast steppe, herding cattle, raising livestock, bartering and trading, war, drinking koumiss, eating meat, in short, all life could not continue without horses. Ancient warriors were buried with their mounts, and if the person was a very important person, then several horses were sacrificed and buried in large mounds.
Every study has its own impact. Newton, who amazed the world with his scientific discoveries, once said something along the lines of, “I am like a boy who finds a single gem on the shore. And God knows how many gems and pearls lie deep in that shore.” As he said, Dr. McDaniel does not hide that through this study, while searching through archives, he was convinced that one of the main resources of the vast Kazakh steppes is the horse. If a person knows how to search, then he is lucky. “What surprised you or was there an unexpected discovery during this study?” This is the question we asked to find out his impression and mood.
– While studying the Kazakh horse, I didn’t even notice how much I loved Kazakhstan and the Kazakh people. I was very surprised by this phenomenon. Before starting my research, I never thought that I would go to Kazakhstan. And now I always want to go there again, to study and learn more about its culture. There is very little information about Kazakhstan in the United States, so I never tire of telling my students and others how interesting and hospitable this country is. Unfortunately, I was not able to talk much with Kazakh horsemen or shepherds. I will definitely continue this direction when I visit Kazakhstan in the future. However, I realized that I had a lot to learn from historian Akhmet Toktabay. He is a scientist who has written a lot about the history of the Kazakh horse. I got to know his works mainly through his books, but in 2017 I had the opportunity to meet him at the National Academy of Sciences in Almaty. He gave me his book “The History of the Kazakh Horse” with his autograph. Now I am proud to say that it is on the shelf in my office. My interest in horses has never faded. In my childhood, my sister used to ride horses, and even though I couldn’t ride myself, I would never leave a horse. Even then, I knew that horses are noble animals. You know that Americans love horses and are proud of the era of “cowboys” and “the West”. But I realized that the Kazakh horse culture is even deeper. For example, the Kazakhs’ use of horses as food, drinking koumiss and eating horse meat is unacceptable to Western society. In the US, this behavior is viewed negatively, and they criticize: “How can you eat a horse?!” But this is evidence of the special respect Kazakhs have for horses. In my opinion, the love and respect for horses among Kazakhs is much higher than in other cultures of the world. In short, studying the Kazakh horse was a particularly fascinating experience for me.
This is how the short interview ended. But the scientist’s respect for the Kazakh people and his boundless love for his research did not leave me indifferent. As the old saying goes, “The one who seeks is the one who achieves.” I repeated those words in a whisper and put the last point in my note. For us, Kazakhs are always horses, and horses are Kazakhs. And I hope this concept will now reach the minds of the world’s intellectuals as well.
By Duisenali Alimakyn