Various sources on Kazakh history demonstrate that a Kazakh culture was generated out of the predominantly pastoral experiences of its people. For centuries, Kazakh communities were engaged in a definite set of practices prescribed by pastoralism. Firmly incorporated into the all-Union structure of Soviet republics, Kazakhstan made an impressive transformation from a predominantly pastoral to an agroindustrial region with one of the most vibrant economies in Central Asia. Sovereignty in 1991 pushed the historic trajectory of the Kazakh nation further ahead, prompting its citizens to engage in self-reflection, and attuning their collective memories to a new set of social and political realities. It also brought the country closer to the city, as hundreds of thousands Kazakh villagers left their homes for urban areas following the downfall of the 'transitional' economy that ensued in the wake of the demise of socialism. This thesis presents an analysis of data that was collected during twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork carried out primarily in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, in 1999. A principal aim in this study is to unravel emerging subjectivities and congealed meanings that have developed within the context of Kazakh rural to urban migration, especially that which occurred after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. It centers on important themes relating to Kazakh historic ancestry and culture, the colonial encounter, the city and its populace, as well as the recently achieved national independence, as they have unfolded in the narratives of recent arrivals to the city. How have the discourses of ancestry and modernity, mediated by their experiences of migration and displacement, been implicated in migrants' understandings of themselves and their nation? Special attention in my discussion is paid to the issue of whether the recent encounter of rural and urban worlds fostered the contemplation of specific narratives of the Kazakh nation, as it emerges from Socialism.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.19505 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Yessenova, Saulesh B. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Anthropology) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002021264, Theses scanned by McGill Library. |
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