Creating the Kazak nation: The intelligentsia's quest for acceptance in the Russian Empire, 1905--1920

This dissertation examines the impact of Russian colonization on Kazak society and the subsequent development of a Kazak national identity during the early twentieth century. The Kazak intelligentsia came to delineate a distinct Kazak national identity that encompassed a clearly defined territory. They realized that by reorganizing Kazak society in the form of a modern nation, they would be entitled to rights within the empire that they were presently lacking as inorodtsy. To the Kazak elite nationalism was the path to equality within the Russian Empire and this was their main goal.; The existing literature on this subject argues that the rise of Kazak nationalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a reaction to Russian rule and sought to establish independence. Based on the writings of the Kazak intelligentsia, my research refutes this traditional view. The Kazak intelligentsia endeavored to stay within the empire because it was only in this context that their Russian education would provide them with the legitimacy of leadership of their community. Their westernized appearance, Russian language skills, and cosmopolitism allowed the Russian officials to see these intellectuals as leaders, while their ethnicity provided the cultural capital needed to be perceived as leaders by the local population.; This research also provides new insight into how national identities are forged in colonial settings. The prevailing view is that the colonial power creates nationalisms by employing the map and census, thus drawing borders and labeling populations. The colonial subjects see the colonizer as the other and use the national label as a method of resistance. While nationalism by its very nature is exclusionary because it draws boundaries to delineate who is a part of the nation, my research shows that the Kazaks redefined themselves as a nation in order to be a part of a larger culture. Therefore, nationalism does not always seek self-determination. In the case of the Kazaks, the Russians became a model for the colonized and nationalism emerged because the native elite incorporated the ideas brought to their society into their national identity.