Until modern times, Kazakh Turks, who are strong representatives of oral tradition due to historical, geographical, social and political conditions, have a rich narrative tradition and repertoire like other Turks. Kazakh heroic tales, which seem to be a mixed genre between prose and verse, epic and fairy tale in terms of form, and which are a different example of the tradition in question, are oral works that convey the hero's personal adventure, the difficulties faced by smaller groups and the main hero's struggle for life in this context, rather than the problems that concern a whole nation, although they are close to epics in terms of subject matter. The main purpose in Turkish epics is to protect and watch over the interests of the nation in question. The protector of the nation is the epic hero created and shaped by its own mental universe. The hero of the epic draws a different profile from other characters in the narratives with every phase of his life from birth to death; for, he is the person who embodies the ideals of nation and has the power to reify them. In this study, gender elements in Kazakh heroic tales will be analyzed with an interdisciplinary approach in the context of family sociology.

Epic, fairy tale, heroic tale, Kazakh Turks, roles, gender.