The Power of Ambiguity: National Symbols, Nation-Building and Political Legitimacy in Kazakhstan

Abstract

This article deploys national anthem and national currency as analytical lenses to disentangle the connection between symbolic politics and nation-building, national identity formation and regime legitimation in Kazakhstan. The study emphasises the role of national symbols—in particular, the national anthem and national banknotes—as important elements of a larger discourse about the nature of Kazakh national identity. The work argues that both the Kazakh national anthem and national currency tenge do not only serve as the main attributes of statehood and economic independence; rather their significance stems from their role as crucial elements in the nation-building process.

Notes

1 Although the scope of the discussion on nation-building processes in Kazakhstan is often restricted to a binary ethnic or civic discourse, this study emphasises the fact that the country’s discursive field offers a stock of diverse narratives on national identity that are continuously vying for supremacy. For reasons of space, the following discussion is limited to the main competing narratives of national identity promoted by diverse actors in the early years of Kazakhstan’s statehood.

2 ‘National Anthem of Kazakhstan’, official site of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, available at: http://www.akorda.kz/en/state_symbols/kazakhstan_anthem, accessed 15 January 2021.

3 All translations are by the authors, unless specified otherwise.

4 The Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, 2019, available at: www.assembly.kz, accessed 15 January 2021.

5 The Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, 2019, available at: http://www.akorda.kz/en/national_projects/the-assembly-of-people-of-kazakhstan, accessed 15 January 2021.

6 ‘Demograficheskii prognoz Respubliki Kazakhstan’, Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning of Kazakhstan, 2014, available at: http://www.akorda.kz/upload/nac_komissiya_po_delam_zhenshin/Демографическая%20политика/4.2%20рус.pdf, accessed 15 January 2021.

7 Officially the regulations for ethnic repatriation were set by the ‘Law on Immigration’, adopted on 26 June 1992, though it should be noted that the process of repatriation was launched even before the de jure independence of the country. For more discussion see Zardykhan (2016).

8 According to the 1997 Law on Migration, the term ‘oralman’ (returnee) referred to ‘a person of native ethnicity who was expelled from the historic homeland, deprived of citizenship due to the acts of mass political repressions, unlawful requestion, forced collectivization and other inhumane acts, and voluntarily moves to the Republic of Kazakhstan for permanent residency, and his descendants’. Later the Migration Law Amendment of 27 March 2002 defined the term ‘oralman’ as ‘foreigners or stateless persons of Kazakh nationality, who permanently resided abroad at the time of acquisition of the sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan and arrived in Kazakhstan for the purpose of permanent residence’. In 2020 the term ‘oralman’ has been legally replaced by the term ‘qandas’, which can be translated from the Kazakh language as ‘blood related’, ‘native’.

9 According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan, approximately a million ethnic Kazakhs from across Eurasia have resettled in Kazakhstan in the years of independence (‘More than a Million Kazakhs have Returned to Their Homeland since 1991’, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2017, available at: https://www.enbek.gov.kz/en/node/345050, accessed 15 January 2021).

10 National Anthem of Kazakhstan, site of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, available at: http://www.akorda.kz/en/state_symbols/kazakhstan_anthem, accessed 15 January 2021. The English version is the official translation given on the same website.

11 Now officially National Currency Day.

12 As such, on 9 October 1992 Kazakhstan supported the creation of the Unitary Monetary System, and in September 1993 signed an agreement with the Russian Federation for the creation of a common monetary system with the ruble as the main currency.

13 Subsequently, it has been decided to print tenge with the company De La Rue.

14 Please refer to the images of the 1993 national currency in Appendix 1.

15 ‘Coins and Banknotes of the Republic of Kazakhstan’, National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2015, pp. 46–50; ‘Banknotes’, Banknote Factory of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, available at: http://bf.kz/kz/catalog/banknottar_922/, accessed 15 January 2021.

16 Suyunbay Aronuly is known as one of the most talented Kazakh akyns (musicians).

17 Al-Farabi is often referred to as ‘the Great Son of the Great Steppe’.

18 For example, see ‘A Russian Lawmaker has Called for the Return of Lost Territory “Taken by Kazakhstan”’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 6 February 2017, available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-lawmaker-lost-territory-kazakhstan-2017-2, accessed 15 January 2021.

19 The word ‘som’ (sometimes transliterated as ‘sum’ or ‘soum’) means ‘pure’ in Kazakh, Kyrgyz, as well as in many other Turkic languages. The word implies ‘pure gold’. In Soviet times, speakers of Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek languages called the ruble ‘som’ (for example, ‘bir som’—one ruble).

20 The word ‘altyn’ is translated as gold. Other explanations suggest that the term ‘altyn’ originates from the word ‘alty’ meaning ‘six’, as one altyn was worth six half-dengas.

21 Please refer to the images of the 2006 national currency in Appendix 2.

22 All the 2006 banknotes have a vertical orientation on the side depicting the Baiterek Tower.

23 ‘Kazakhstan 10,000 Tenge Win Award’, De La Rue, 6 June 2012, available at: https://www.delarue.com/media-center/kazakhstan-10000-tenge-wins-award, accessed 15 January 2021.

24 ‘Ot idei k real'nosti: K 25-letiyu Evraziiskoi initsiativy pervogo prezidenta Respubliki Kazakhstan—Elbasy Nursultana Nazarbaeva’, The library of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan—Elbasy, 2019, available at: https://presidentlibrary.kz/ru/news/ot-idei-k-realnosti-k-25-letiyu-evraziyskoy-iniciativy-pervogo-prezidenta-respubliki-kazahstan, accessed 12 December 2020.

25 Please refer to the images of the 2011–2014 national currency in Appendix 3.

26 The 1,000 tenge—outline of Kazakhstan, mountains and landscape of the Ustyurt Plateau (reverse side); 2,000 tenge—outline of Kazakhstan, Ertis/Irtysh river (reverse side); 5,000 tenge—outline of Kazakhstan, Monument of Independence, Hotel Kazakhstan (Almaty/Alma Ata), Zailijsky Alatau ridge of Tjan-Shan mountain range (reverse side); 10,000 tenge—Residence Ak Orda (Palace of the President), Astana (reverse side).

27 ‘Address by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Leader of the Nation, N. Nazarbayev: “Strategy Kazakhstan-2050”: New Political Course of the Established State’, Official Information Source of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2012, available at: https://primeminister.kz/ru/gosprogrammy/strategiya-kazahstan-2050, accessed 10 October 2020; ‘“Qazaqstan-2050” Strategiiasy qalyptasqan memlekettıŋ jaŋa saiasi baǧyty’, Qazaqstan Respublikasynyŋ Prezidentı—elbasy N.Ä. Nazarbaevtyŋ Qazaqstan halqyna Joldauy, 14 December 2012, available at: http://adilet.zan.kz/kaz/docs/K1200002050, accessed 20 December 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sabina Insebayeva

Sabina Insebayeva, Postdoctoral Research Affiliate, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore. Email: [email protected]

Nafissa Insebayeva

Nafissa Insebayeva, Research Associate, Graduate School of Business Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan. Email: [email protected]