'We want our own': Kazakh youth rethink their national identity

ASTANA -- A cultural revival is intensifying in Kazakhstan, where young people have been feeling a need to return to their native language and national identity after decades of Russification.

Conversation clubs, where anyone can learn and practice Kazakh, have been spreading in the country.

"There are many Kazakh-language courses now. My friends are already trying to introduce it [the language] into their lives," Nazerke Mukhamediya, an Almaty journalist and educational project co-ordinator, told Caravanserai.

"To teach it their children, they need to learn it themselves literally from scratch," she said. "The language issue is very acute in our country."

According to Mukhamediya, demand for Kazakh courses has grown greatly in recent years. Unlike her friends, she is fluent in Kazakh because she learned it from her grandmother.

A 2020 study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation found that only 39% of Kazakh citizens can speak and write fluently in Kazakh, compared to 51% who are fluent in Russian.

Mukhamediya is working on "Mambet", a film that explores language segregation in Kazakhstan.

"Mambet is a very common name among Turkic-speaking peoples. In our history, [18th century Kazakh warrior] Mambet Batyr defended our land from enemies. But now this is an epithet for Kazakhs who speak Russian poorly, have darker skin or lack an adequate education. The nickname Mambet has become a derogatory term," said Mukhamediya.

The film calls for a change in attitude towards the Kazakh language and culture, and aims to encourage viewers to search for their national identity.

"Why is this important to me personally? Because it's our language," she said. "Language is one of those things that could unite us all."

'We want our own'

Kazakhs used to be ashamed of their language, culture and traditions, but the situation has changed dramatically in recent years, say observers.

Kazakh culture is different from Russian culture, said Dimash Aljanov, an Almaty-based Kazakh political scientist.

"We are not Russified. We do not want to be part of Russia's information space. We do not share the bonds and narratives that are broadcast from the Kremlin. We want our own," he told Caravanserai.

The surge of love for the Kazakh language and culture is a product of not only the war in Ukraine but also of the "Bloody January" protests that took place in Kazakhstan in 2022.

Some 238 Kazakhs, mostly young adults, died in the anti-government protests.

"The backbone of the protests -- about 80% of all the protesters -- were ... between 20 and 35 years old," said Aljanov.

According to analysts, the January protests and the nation's awareness of itself as a civil society pushed the population to rethink the past and Russia's role, and to revive the part of its identity that Russification destroyed.

Young Kazakhs are now taking greater interest in Kazakhstan's history, they said.

For example, Mukhamediya often gathers with friends to talk about decolonisation and the famine of 1931-1933, which claimed the lives of more than 2 million Kazakhs.

"We have many [university] courses where we can read different works of literature or attend lectures about decolonisation. They also provide a therapeutic space where we can rethink our people's history and speak openly about it," she said.

Youth drive change

The search for one's identity is a quest that youth not only from Kazakhstan but also from other Central Asian countries have embarked on, said Natalia Butyrskaya, a Kyiv analyst of East Asian affairs.

"Uzbekistan has advanced the most in matters of identity, because all Soviet remnants were swept away under [former president Islam] Karimov," she said.

"The cult of Timur was created, and [the Uzbeks] restored Bukhara and Samarkand. They focus on many things," she told Caravanserai.

From a regional perspective, she said, the Russian aggression against Ukraine has triggered all the changes taking place in Central Asia.

Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.

Each country in Central Asia has begun to realise its independence and is seeking to strengthen its nationhood, she said, adding that the ethnic decolonisation of Central Asia is under way.

"Recently, Kyrgyzstan tightened the requirement that its civil servants carry out all record keeping and official work in Kyrgyz," said Butyrskaya.

But as Central Asia is dominated by Russian media, this puts the older generation -- which mainly consumes the available information sources, most of which are in Russian -- at odds with the younger generation, she said.

"The young are more advanced, and they mostly support Ukraine in the war -- not just in Kazakhstan but in general," she said, noting that the Central Asian population of 80 million is predominantly youthful.

"The young drive change," said Aljanov the political scientist. "[There is] an attempt to give a new meaning to the past, to revive what was destroyed during Russification, and this process has already begun in Kazakhstan."

Kazakh culture has begun to flourish now, according to Mukhamediya, the journalist.

"Many [Kazakhs] had to learn a foreign culture for a very long time, losing their own in the process. We are trying not to lose ourselves."