Paper long abstract:

What role does public education play in shaping civic and ethnic identities? This paper considers public education in Kyrgyzstan to explore the interaction of top-down and bottom-up processes of identity formation. In Kyrgyzstan, the right to education in one's "mother tongue" is enshrined in the constitution. In practice, this has meant that public education in Kyrgyzstan is offered in two state languages (Kyrgyz, Russian) and two minority languages (Uzbek, Tajik). In the past decade, the number of schools offering Uzbek-language education has sharply decreased. Some see the shift as evidence of discrimination on the part of Kyrgyzstan's increasingly ethno-nationalist government following ethnic clashes in 2010; others have suggested that Uzbek parents are eager for their children to be taught in state languages for economic and social advancement opportunities. Using school enrollment data and qualitative data gathered from elite interviews, focus groups, and a systematic review of textbook and curriculum standards, I present a framework considering the content and structure of Kyrgyzstan's public education. With this framework, I argue that government-sponsored curriculum shifts are emphasizing the ethnic Kyrgyz nature of Kyrgyzstani identity and that minorities are opting in to that narrative through shifting language education preferences as a result of both material and ideational incentives.