Dear Readers!

We present to your attention the second issue of the interdisciplinary journal Uly Dala: the Journal of Urban and Social Research. Being a new journal, we cast a wide net — attracting both established and new authors to the journal. However, without much effort on our part, the issue turned out to be “concentrated” around the problem of the symbiosis of tradition and modernity, as well as the historical reworking and reinvention of farming, petroglyphs and genres of urban folklore.

From September 8 to 13, Astana hosted the World Nomad Games. The emblem of the games was an artistic reinterpretation of Bronze Age rock art from Tamgaly, which is the subject of Adia Baimurzina's article.

The Fifth World Nomad Games became the first in Kazakhstan and, at the same, time the first “Nomad Games” in the urban space. In Kyrgyzstan, the games were held in the Issyk-Kul Lake Valley, and in Turkey, on the shores of Lake Iznik, in the province of Bursa. In both Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, the games were held in what is called “outdoors” in the natural environment, far from the big cities. However, in Astana, the organizers of the games attempted to synthesize and show the guests both our country's aspiration for modernity and its commitment to the spirit of tradition. Competitions in most disciplines were held at Astana's new stadiums on the Left Bank, and the main equestrian games were held at the hippodrome located on the southern edge of the city. Both the games themselves and criticism of the “inauthenticity” of the games in the urban space renewed the public debate about the symbiosis between tradition and modernity. This topic is discussed most fully in an article about the revival of horse breeding, as well as in a documentary about the Egyptian architect Abdelwahad El-Wakil. We thank the filmmakers Olga Korchuk and Furkat Palvan-Zade for permission to print the film transcription in Russian. We thank all the authors of the original articles, as well as the authors who gave permission to translate their works.

Associate Professor of Anthropology, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Nazarbaev University

Alima Bissenova