The use of the phrase “non-native” in this poem about Russian-Kazakh relations suggests that though not characterized by violence, ethnic relations in post-Soviet Kazakhstan can be tense. Like the poem, which serves as a metaphor for this book, the war between Russia and Georgia that broke out in 2008 indicates the continued relevance of ethnic conflict in the post-Soviet region. The war concerned South Ossetia, a separatist region in Georgia that declared its independence in the early 1990s. The confrontation stemmed, in part, from the fact that South Ossetians have long declared a collective desire to live among “their own,”...

This stanza from Nazarova’s poem suggests that a label as emotionally laden as “non-native” speaks volumes to Russians in post-Soviet states other than the Russian Federation. The union’s disintegration had a devastating effect on Russians not only because it conferred minority status on them vis-à-vis the respective titular nation, but also because it thrust them into newly independent states dominated by elites determined to promote “their own” through nationalization policies and/or practices. In discussing various approaches to understanding Russian minority politics in Soviet successor states, this chapter highlights the need to recognize the importance of informal networks as a critical...

Given the 1916 rebellion against Russian colonization and Moscow’s subsequent determination to Russify Kazakh culture, the implied assertion of friendly Russian-Kazakh relations in this stanza of Nazarova’s poem is questionable.¹ On top of that, independence rendered Russiantitular relations in all Soviet successor states, including Kazakhstan, potentially conflictual. A key premise of this book is that legacies of state socialism shape various post-Soviet political phenomena such as the emergence of nationalization projects in general, the development of distinct types of nationalization projects in particular, and, most important, whether or not Russians inherited dense informal networks.

Certain aspects of the Soviet legacy...

The third line of this stanza from Nazarova’s poem, “But you—for your own—just like clockwork,” refers to the Kazakhs’ determination to promote their own via nationalization policies and practices but applies to the core nation’s decision to do the same in other post-Soviet states as well. Gorbachev’s reforms facilitated a permissive environment that encouraged the Soviet Union’s disintegration to emerge as a distinct possibility in the imaginations of union republic elites. As representatives of various nations began to voice demands for autonomy within or independence from the federation, elites in non-Russian republics began to envision nationalization projects designed...

This stanza from Nazarova’s poem is an attempt to connect with the Kazakh soul through references to cultural icons like Chokan Valikhanov, a nineteenth-century Russian army officer whose scholarly interests included the history of Central Asia, and Abai Kunabev, a nineteenth-century Kazakh poet who launched Kazakh as a literary language. In Nazarova’s opinion, Chokan and Abai would recognize Russians as native and their view should influence contemporary Kazakhs to do the same. But Chapter 7 shows that according to Almaty Russians, this is not happening because thinking in terms of native and non-native provides Kazakhs with moral justification for the...

The last line of this stanza from Nazarova’s poem suggests that migration is a suboptimal solution for Russians in Kazakhstan to problems posed by post-Soviet nationalization. This sentiment depicts reality for Russians in Kyrgyzstan and Latvia as well. Many Russians who migrate from non-Russian successor states to Russia do so with reluctance. In reference to Russians moving to Russia from various successor states, Hilary Pilkington states that “the majority, while not ‘fleeing’ from homes under threats to their lives, feel forced to move and were willing to accept any opportunity which allowed them to ‘get out.’ … [this] places Russian...

This stanza from Nazarova’s poem alludes to Russian resentment stemming from a concrete decision elites made in the early 1990s to create a state of and for ethnic Kazakhs. While nationalization policies and practices generate umbrage among Russians in Kazakhstan as they do among Russians in Kyrgyzstan and Latvia, dissatisfaction among Russians in Kazakhstan is beginning to fade. This chapter identifies mechanisms that facilitate the emergence of a society in which Kazakhs and Russians continue to tend gardens and raise children together, as they share mutual joy and tears related to such life-affirming activities; in other words, it specifies factors...