Information to Users

INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9* black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contaci UMI directly to order. Beil & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permission permission of the of copyright the copyright owner. owner.Further reproductionFurther reproduction prohibited without prohibited permission. without permission. RECONSTRUCTING KAZAKHSTAN: CREATING BOUNDARIES AND NATIONAL IDENTITIES - A BRAUDELIAN ANALYSIS By Michael T. Fink submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service American University in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in International Affairs Comparative and Regional Studies; Russia and Central Eurasia Linda Lucia Lubrano, Chair ______ Randolph B. Persaud U P C y-t - p i'T V Louis W. Goodman, Dean ao AP.-.t 1311 f l n # A ' CO 1M8EICAK UHIYEP.SITY LI2RKW ^ j Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1395937 Copyright 1999 by Fink, Michael T. All rights reserved. UMI Microform 1395937 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © COPYRIGHT by Michael T. Fink 1999 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. RECONSTRUCTING KAZAKHSTAN: CREATING BOUNDARIES AND NATIONAL IDENTIES - A BRAUDELIAN ANALYSIS By Michael T. Fink ABSTRACT The subject of this thesis is the reorganization of national identity in Kazakhstan. The dimensions of change I examine concern the formation, legitimation, and reproduction of Kazakh national identity vis-a-vis post-colonial and post-Soviet histories. My scope will subsequently look at Kazakh relations with a substantial Russian population. I investigate the empirical levels of Kazakh tribal structure, the impact of Russian and Soviet colonization, and the post-independence period, which addresses how Kazakh identity is informed through official practices, in order to understand the diachronic process in Kazakhstan. I rely on Fernand Braudel’s placement of history in short, medium, and long intercycles as the framework of my analysis. Additional theory is drawn from Max Weber and other scholars to articulate further interactions of ethnicity and nationhood. The utility of this theoretical approach is to extrapolate an alternative interpretation of identity reconstruction, which finds that Kazakh identity has both created and retrieved new forms of national power. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................ ii Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 2. Kazakh Tribal Structure ........................................................................ 12 Early History Intertwined with Modern History and the Ecological Contours of Kazakh Identity 3. The Kazakh Intelligentsia and Sovietization ......................................... 22 Russification and Sovietization - Creating Homo Sovieticus 4. Kazakhization - Post Independence .........................................................34 Vernacular Language-The Second Wave Psychological and Physical Dimensions of Forced Migration Democracy and Identity in Kazakhstan 5. Some Theoretical and Ideological Implications of Kazakhization ....... 58 6. Conclusion ............................................................................................. 63 Temporal Rhythms - Temporal Adjustments Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 70 i i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C h a p te r I Introduction To transcend the event means transcending the short time span in which it is set, the time span of the chronicle, of journalism • the brief moments of awareness whose traces give us such a vivid sense of the events and lives of the past It means asking if over and above the passage of events, there is not an unconscious, or rather a more or less conscious, history which to a great extent escapes the awareness of the actors, whether victors or victims: they make history, but history bears them along.”1 Fernand Braudel If the concept of ‘nation’ can in any way be defined uambiguously, it certainly cannot be stated in terms of empirical qualities common to those who count as members of the nation. In the sense of those using the term at a given time, the concept undoubtedly means, above all, that it is proper to expect from certain groups a specific sentiment of solidarity in the face of other groups. Thus, the concept belongs in the sphere of values. Yet, there is no agreement on how these groups should be delimited or about what concerted action should result from such solidarity.”2 Max Weber During the latter half of December, 1998, the Government of Kazakhstan ran a series of full and quarter page advertisements which appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and The International Herald Tribune. The advertisements were placed on and around the date of the seventh 1 Fernand Braudel. On History (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1980), 67. 2Max Weber, Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Vol. 2 (New York: Bedminster Press. 1968): 922. I have trained my focus narrowly on Weber’s discussions o f‘nation’ and ‘nationalism,’ pp. 385-398 in Vol. I, and pp. 921-926 in Vol. n. 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 anniversary of independence from the former Soviet Union.3 Sponsored by “Kazakhstan 2030,” and promoted as “A program of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms,” these advertisements exhibited a common narrative made by the current Kazakh government of the transformations made over seven years of evolution from authoritarianism to democracy. The headline on one of these advertisements made the proclamation of “melding over 100 different peoples into one harmonious nation." The text went further to say that freedom of religion - specifically Catholicism, Judaism, Orthodox, Muslim, Protestant, and Buddhist - had been granted to Kazakhstan’s 16 million people, and that Kazakhstan’s sizeable Russian diaspora had equal status and access to full participation as that belonging to ethnic Kazakhs. Interestingly, the advertisements came at the same time as Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, was under critical international pressure for the negative atmosphere surrounding presidential elections.4 In short, the international community3 deemed the election process fraudulent and unfair. On a domestic front, four opposition candidates similarly raised issues of unfairness and prohibitive election registration techniques, and although one candidate in 3For example, see especially the full-page advertisement on A2S in the Washington Post, December 18,1998. For other quarter page examples see; page A29, the Washington Post, December 11, 1998; page 16, the Financial Times, December 15, 1998; page 12, Financial Times, December 23,1998; page 14, Financial Times, December 22, 1998; page 8,Financial Times, December 29, 1998. 4Incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev won by a landslide on January 10, 1999. I will deal with the specifics of the recent election in a later section dealing with democracy and identity in Kazakhstan. 5 Including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Human Rights Watch, and the United States Department of State. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 particular was prevented from running on a

Load more