Papers by Özgecan Kesici-Ayoubi, PhD
Nationalities Papers, 2017
This paper considers how the Alash movement, the Kazakh national movement led by Russian-educated... more This paper considers how the Alash movement, the Kazakh national movement led by Russian-educated Kazakh intellectuals in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century, redefined Kazakh ethnicity into the Kazakh nation. Aimed at modernizing Kazakh society by declaring itself a nation, the movement used the myth of common descent. It is not surprising, then, that the movement took on the name of Alash, a mythical figure believed to have been the father of all three Kazakh zhuz (tribal confederations). This paper examines the discourse around Kazakhness and its distinction from its Muslim neighbors with respect to five factors; the “true” myth of common descent of Kazakhs, Kazakh history as one of common fate, a nomadic way of life, the weak links to Islam among Kazakhs, and, finally, the legitimization of the Alash leaders as the legitimate speakers for the Kazakh nation. This analysis, in turn, may provide a better understanding of the ways in which social and intelle...
This paper considers how the Alash movement, the Kazakh national movement led by Russian-educated... more This paper considers how the Alash movement, the Kazakh national movement led by Russian-educated Kazakh intellectuals in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century, redefined Kazakh ethnicity into the Kazakh nation. Aimed at modernizing Kazakh society by declaring itself a nation, the movement used the myth of common descent. It is not surprising, then, that the movement took on the name of Alash, a mythical figure believed to have been the father of all three Kazakh zhuz (tribal confederations). This paper examines the discourse around Kazakhness and its distinction from its Muslim neighbors with respect to five factors; the “true” myth of common descent of Kazakhs, Kazakh history as one of common fate, a nomadic way of life, the weak links to Islam among Kazakhs, and, finally, the legitimization of the Alash leaders as the legitimate speakers for the Kazakh nation. This analysis, in turn, may provide a better understanding of the ways in which social and intellectual movements can redefine belonging, depending on historical circumstances and opportunities and constraints in the social sphere.
Queen's University Belfast Centre for International Borders Research Working Papers Series, 2014
This paper argues that the project for establishing the territorial boundaries of contemporary Ka... more This paper argues that the project for establishing the territorial boundaries of contemporary Kazakhstan originates in the late nineteenth century as part of an elite nationalist mobilisation against Russian rule and colonisation of the Kazakh steppes. In particular it notes how increasing Russian settlement and land seizures disrupted the long- established pastoralist practices of transhumance that defined the Kazakh identity, ecology, and economy, prompting an enterprising Kazakh elite to redefine Kazakh identity in terms of land and territory. It outlines the struggles to define the borders of a contested territory in nationalist terms, once this elite found itself in a political deadlock within the Russian imperial political system, thus specifying and refining the boundaries of the Kazakh nation and the borders of the future Kazakhstani polity. As such, this paper argues that most contemporary borders are the residues of historical struggles and attempts to show this through the excavation of the foundations of contemporary Kazakhstan’s borders.
Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 2011
This article analyses the nation-building strategy that Kazakhstan's government has implemented s... more This article analyses the nation-building strategy that Kazakhstan's government has implemented since independence. It examines why the nation builders have taken the decision to create two nations, the ethnic Kazakh nation and the civic Kazakhstani nation in a multiethnic society. In its analysis the article adopts a constructivist approach.
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Papers by Özgecan Kesici-Ayoubi, PhD