New language policy of Kazakhstan: a project of kazakhization?

Համառոտագիր

The article aims to analyze the role and influence of the language policy of independent Kazakhstan on identity construction processes of the Kaza-khs. A language as a marker of ethnic identity emphasizes the boundaries of the particular ethnic entity. In the wake of post-Soviet nation-building, Nazarbayev's administration faced with challenges regarding the use of native language in various spheres. This paper also develops the claim that the marginalization of Kazakh’s language and ethnic identity is the result of different historical processes carried out by Tsarist and Soviet authorities. The paper also tries to examine the language policy of independent Kazakhstan as a counter-hegemonic struggle aiming at overcome the negativity derived directly from Russian colonial administrations. The publicization of Kazakh language and transformation of the educational system tend to provide a wide range of opportunities to establish the hegemony of Kazakh identity or in other words to make Kazakhs first among equals.