Staying at Home

Rita Sanders is a Research Project Member at the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Cologne. She has worked as a lecturer at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

List of Maps, Figures, Illustrations and Tables

Acknowledgements

Note on Transliteration



Introduction





Kazakhstani Germans and the Study of Nationalities in Central Asia

Concepts of Ethnicity

Based on Cultural Grounds – Ethnicity as a Resource – Categorization and Power – A Product of Individual Life Experience – Ethnic Boundaries as Cultural Schemas

Fieldwork in Taldykorgan



PART I: MEMORIES, HISTORIES AND LIFE STORIES



Chapter 1. Memories and Histories





Shifting Memories of the Past

The Deportation of 1941 – Discrimination against Germans –  Transition and Continuity – The Hard-Working German    

The Russian Empire: Colonization of the Kazakh Steppe

The Russian Empire: the Settlers from the German States

The Soviet Union: Concepts of Nation and Nationality

The Soviet Union: Its Formation and Nationality Policies

National Delineation – Collectivization – Facing the Menace of the German Reich: The Passport System and Deportations – The Kazakh SSR after 1945

Kazakhstan: The Formation of a Nation-State and the Role of Nationality

‘Kazakhization’ – Language Policies – Kazakhstani Identity – Kazakhstani Germans



Chapter 2. The Enmeshment of Identities and Life Stories





The Truth of Life Stories

Four Life Stories, Four Identity Types

Soviet Identity – Kazakhstani Identity – Russian German Identity – Kazakhstani German Identity

Summary



PART II: NATIONALITY, POWER AND CHANGE



Chapter 3. Assessing Nationality





Nationality as a Unifier of Territorial Belonging, Language, Religion

and ‘Mentality’

Common Ancestry – Language – Religion – ‘Mentality’

National Dichotomies

Kazakh Primordialism vs. Russian Constructionism

Kazakhs’ Esteem – Russians’ Inclusiveness    

Normative Entanglements

Summary



Chapter 4. Everyday Nationality in the Kazakh Nation-State





‘The Friendship of Peoples—Is Our Wealth!’

Losing Language Hegemony

Identification: Strategies and Emotions

Kazakhstan as a Homeland

Summary



PART III: NON-MIGRANTS' SOCIAL TIES



Migration and Social Networks



Chapter 5. Relations in the Locality: Ethnic Mixing and Missing Kazakhs





The Relevance of Nationality in Personal Networks

The Relevance of Nationality in Marriages

Is there a ‘German Community’ in Taldykorgan?

Summary



Chapter 6. Disruption in the Transnational Social Field





Relatives and Friends Abroad

Exodus to a ‘Historic Homeland’

Views on Germany

Networks and Identity

Summary



PART IV: THE EFFECT OF TWO STATES' POLICIES OF 'GERMANNESS' ON KAZAKHSTANI GERMANS



Chapter 7. Changing Transnational Institutions





The ‘German House’

Support from Germany

Socializing with other Germans

A Parish in Transition from ‘German’ to ‘Lutheran’

The German House in Transition

Summary



Chapter 8. The Divergent Ethnic Policies of Kazakhstan and Germany





The Kazakh State’s Official Promotion of Interethnic Harmony

The German State’s Contradictory Policies

Summary



Conclusion: Germans at Home in Kazakhstan





Identity and Memories

Identities and Identifications

Friendship of the Peoples?

Exclusion through Inclusion: The Role of Personal and Institutional Links to Germany



References

Appendix