The Nationality Question in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan

Yes, the title of this blog post could be a International Studies/Russian Studies course at a liberal arts college, no I'm not trying to be cheeky. 

The question of nationality is an important one in Post-Soviet places, dear reader, including in Kazakhstan. I'm sure there have been a good number of academic articles written on the topic, which probably conclude that after 70 years of having a "Soviet" identity assigned to them by the state, people are taking their own identities back. I could see that. What's more interesting to me is how important ethnic identity is here.

When I first moved in with my host family, my host mom asked me my nationality. I was a bit confused. They had a volunteer live with them last year, so I assumed they new the Peace Corps is a program for Americans. I told her I was American, and she said, "But no one in America is "cleanly" American. There are all kinds of other nationalities mixed in." I said this was true, but that doesn't mean I'm not American. She said that there are no real Americans. I've been thinking a lot about this conversation, as I've met more and more people here. They always have the same first question "Who are you by nationality?"

Here's about how any taxi ride starts for me.

Driver: Where to? 

Me: The 11th microregion, 300 tenge

Driver: 400 tenge, gas is expensive

Me: 300 is a normal price

(He, because cab drivers here are always male, gripes for awhile, and then usually gives in to my price.)

Driver: You're a foreigner? 

Me: ... Yep

Driver: Are you English? 

Me: Nope. 

Driver: What's your nationality?

Me: I'm an American.

Driver: No, I mean your nationality.

Me: American.

Driver: No. Where is your family from? What are your roots? 

Me: American.

Driver: You must not understand Russian.

I'm not try to be cheeky with locals when I say that I'm American. And I'm not trying to be the uberPatriot. It just seems more true to say that I'm American, than to say "Well my mother's family came over from Easter Europe, specifically Slovenia and Slovakia about 100 years ago, and my father's family includes a smattering of German, English, and probably a few more nationality's I'm forgetting long before then. So that's what my nationality is."

It's interesting to come from the US, a place where civic nationality is often just as important as (or more important than) ethnic nationality, to a place where the opposite is true. If I was a newcomer to the US, or if my family had come over more recently, I might agree that the "American" nationality doesn't  properly fir the bill for me. But given the circumstances, I identify as American before any historical roots. No one in Kazakhstan would ever identify themselves as "Kazakhstani". Not in a billion years. Here when someone asks your nationality, they mean ethnic nationality. It doesn't matter that your family has lived here for 100 years, you still identify with the ethnic group your family came from. 

Kazakhstanis are very proud of their nationality, and the national make-up of their country. One of the first things I often hear from locals is that there are 140 nationalities here, and everyone lives together peacefully. Though I hear plenty of racial slurs against minority groups here, the living peacefully together bit is true. I work in an office with 1 Russian, 2 Koreans, and one American. Our office neighbors are a Kazakh and an Uzbek that fix cell phones. Down the hall there is a Tatar businessmen and his Russian business partner. Regardless of all the peacefulness, nationality is still important, and often the first thing people notice. I guess that's mostly what I wanted to mention.