"Diaspora" Amidst Nationalization: The Mongol-Kazakhs' Negotiation of Territorial Belonging and Identity

At a recent Kennan Institute talk, Alexander Diener, Assistant Professor at the Center for International Studies and Languages at Pepperdine University, and Title VIII-Supported Research Scholar at the Kennan Institute spoke about the creation of a Kazakh national homeland in post-Soviet Kazakhstan and the immigration of ethnic Kazakhs from Mongolia. Diener's research is based on theories of homeland psychology and the relationship between place and identity. He explained that he takes issue with recent theorists who have argued that the ties of people to a specific territorial homeland are weakening in the era of globalization. Former Soviet states such as Kazakhstan provide an excellent laboratory to study the development of territorial identities, according to Diener.

Kazakhstan became an independent country for the first time in 1991. Diener noted that since that time, the new state has been in the process of defining itself. A tension exists between ideas of Kazakhstan as a national homeland for ethnic Kazakhs, and Kazakhstan as a multi-ethnic state. Simultaneously, Kazakhstan has been experiencing significant demographic changes. Ethnic Kazakhs have gone from a plurality of the population at the end of the Soviet period to a majority due to immigration of Kazakhs and emigration of non-Kazakhs. According to Diener, the government of Kazakhstan encouraged Kazakh immigration with media campaigns and promises of housing and assistance.

Many immigrants to Kazakhstan came from Mongolia, particularly from the westernmost province of Bayan Olgi. Diener explained that Bayan Olgi is a remote region of Mongolia with a majority Kazakh population and a history of political autonomy. He added that because of their isolation, Kazakhs in Bayan Olgi were not subject to either Russification or Mongolization and therefore have maintained many traditional cultural characteristics.

When Kazakhs migrate to Kazakhstan from Mongolia, they are often settled in houses vacated by émigrés in mostly Russian-speaking areas of the north. Diener found that Mongolian Kazakhs often feel alien in Russified Kazakhstan. The Kazakh government has been steadily decreasing the number of immigrants it allows into the country annually because of the difficulty in providing jobs and housing. In addition, Diener noted that a significant percentage of immigrants eventually return to Mongolia disillusioned with independent Kazakhstan. Those who stay tend to settle in concentrated areas and have in some ways become a new minority group.

Diener argued that Mongolian Kazakhs have a nebulous sense of homeland. People who stayed in Bayan Olgi feel that it is their homeland, but nevertheless acknowledge emotional ties to Kazakhstan as well as to Mongolia. Those who migrate to Kazakhstan rarely feel entirely at home there, but they generally believe that it will become the homeland of their children. However, Diener noted that Kazakhs who return to Mongolia after having lived in Kazakhstan tend to be the most active proponents of the idea of Bayan Olgi as a Kazakh homeland within Mongolia.