Joo-Yup Lee. Qazaqlïq, or Ambitious Brigandage, and the formation of the Qazaqs (2016)

Joo-Yup Lee. Qazaqlïq, or Ambitious Brigandage, and the formation of the Qazaqs: state and identity in Post-Mongol Central Eurasia. Series: Studies in Persian cultural history, vol. 8. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2016, XVI+238 p. ISBN 9789004306486, ISBN 9789004306493

In Qazaqlïq, or Ambitious Brigandage, and the Formation of the Qazaqs Joo-Yup Lee examines the formation of new group identities, with a focus on the Qazaqs, in post-Mongol Central Eurasia within the context of qazaqlïq, or the qazaq way of life, a custom of political vagabondage widespread among the Turko Mongolian peoples of Central Asia and the Qipchaq Steppe during the post-Mongol period.

Utilizing a broad range of original sources, the book suggests that the Qazaqs, as well as the Shibanid Uzbeks and Ukrainian Cossacks, came into existence as a result of the qazaq, or “ambitious brigand,” activities of their founders, providing a new paradigm for understanding state formation and identity in post-Mongol Central Eurasia.