Description
Book SynopsisThis social and cultural analysis provides a new understanding of Kazakhstan’s younger generations that emerged during the rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been presiding over Kazakhstan for the thirty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Half of Kazakhstan’s population was born after he took power and have no direct memory of the Soviet regime. Since the early 2000s, they have lived in a world of political stability and relative material affluence, and have developed a strong consumerist culture. Even with growing government restrictions on media, religion, and formal public expression, they have been raised in a comparatively free country. This book offers the first collective study of the “Nazarbayev Generation,” illuminating the diversity of the country’s younger generations and the transformations of social and cultural norms that have taken place over the course of three decades. The contributors to this collection move away from state-centric, top-down perspectives in favor of grassroots realities and bottom-up dynamics in order to better integrate sociological data.
Trade ReviewIn this timely volume edited by Marlene Laruelle, various aspects of Nazarbayev’s legacy are examined in fifteen separate chapters engaged with understanding Kazakhstani youth attitudes, behaviors, and experiences. Through its multifaceted perspectives on the 50 percent of the country’s population that was born during Nazarbayev’s reign, the book offers keen insights into the cultural, social, and political context of the current transitional moment. Collectively, the chapters in this book delineate the attitudinal differences between the younger and older generations in Kazakhstan, while also tempering the expectation that the youth will uniformly push for more political liberalization as they gain political and social power in the coming years.
* The Russian Review *
This impressive and timely volume provides us with survey data and cross-disciplinary analysis of Kazakhstan’s independence generations. Its focus on social transformations of the last three decades is an important contribution to breaking with established, and increasingly irrelevant, narratives about the region of Central Asia. -- Nargis Kassenova, Harvard University
Table of ContentsIntroduction: "The Nazarbayev Generation: A Sociological Portrait," by Marlene Laruelle
Part I: Kazakhstani Youth and National Identity
Chapter 1: "Are Youth Different? The Nazarbayev Generation and Public Opinion," by Barbara Junisbai and Azamat Junisbai
Chapter 2: "Youth and National Identity: Then and Now," by Aziz Burkhanov
Chapter 3: "Youth and Civic National Identity," by Dina Sharipova
Chapter 4: "Mankurts, Kazakh 'Russians' and 'Shala' Kazakhs: Language, National Identity, and Ethnicity Revisited," by Diana T. Kudaibergenova
Part II: Youth Voices on Moral Changes
Chapter 5: "'We Love Our Country in Our Own Way': Youth, Gender, and Nationalism," by Ulan Bigozhin
Chapter 6: "'Cognitive Unconscious,' 'Modern Conservatism,' and 'Core Liberal Values' in the Context of Chapter 7: "Youth’s National Identity," by Galym Zhussipbek and Zhanar Nagayeva
Chapter 8: "Contours of Ethnonational Landscapes in Three Cities: Youths’ Perspectives on Ethnic and Social Integration," by Reuel R. Hanks
Part III: Globalization and Cultural Blending
Chapter 9: "Cultural Globalization and Youth Identity Construction," by Nazgul Mingisheva
Chapter 10: "Visions of Nationhood: Youth, Identity, and Kazakh Popular Music," by Sabina Insebayeva
Chapter 11: "Return Migration from the United States: Exploring the Dynamics of Cultural Change," by Doug Blum
Chapter 12: "The Kazakhstan Now! Hybridity and Hipsters in Almaty: Negotiating Global and Local Lives," by Rico Isaacs
Part IV: Youth Activism
Chapter 13: "#Hashtag Activism: Youth, Social Media, and Politics," by Daniyar Kosnazarov
Chapter 14: "Contemporary Art as a Public Forum," by Alexandra Tsay
Chapter 15: "Overcoming a Taboo: Normalizing Sexuality Education," by Karlygash Kabatova
