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Abstract

This paper examines a key dimension of socio-political change within Kazakhstan’s academic institutions: how state policies are reshaping the professional lives and professional standing of university faculty. Since 2011, requirements to publish in high-impact international journals have effectively established English as the dominant language of scholarly value. This study analyzes the social consequences of this policy within the academic field, raising critical questions about equity in the nation’s project of building a "fair state."

Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, symbolic capital, and field, the paper explores how English proficiency has been reconstituted as the primary form of linguistic capital. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 Kazakhstani faculty members conducted for the author's doctoral research, the analysis focuses on a clash of academic habitus: how the ingrained, embodied dispositions of the Soviet-trained professoriate conflict with the new “rules of the game,” which favor a younger, internationally oriented generation.

The paper argues that this dynamic generates new forms of social stratification based not merely on skill, but on the possession and strategic deployment of this specific linguistic capital. It examines the lived experience of navigating this emerging linguistic hierarchy, highlighting both strategies of adaptation and subjective feelings of marginalization. By focusing on the internal social mechanics of the academic field—competition for status, the conversion of linguistic capital into professional advancement, and the resulting inequalities—this paper offers a distinct micro-sociological perspective on institutional change. It contributes to our understanding of how macro-level state policies are experienced and contested by actors on the ground, revealing the social costs of Kazakhstan’s push for global academic integration.

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Abstract

Literature on educational inequality in Central Asia points to disadvantages for youth from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. There is a mixed picture on the effect of gender as in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan girls are completing secondary school and higher education in larger numbers than boys, while in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan girls are disadvantaged. Our research employs a survey design to examine the attitudes and the transition experiences of first year undergraduate students at Nazarbayev University, an elite state funded university in Kazakhstan. In particular, we explore if there are any differences between the transition experiences of students based on the socioeconomic background and gender. A cross-sectional survey questionnaire was administered to a sample of 126 undergraduate students from three undergraduate schools of NU: Engineering, Science and Technology, and Humanities and Social Sciences. No significant differences were found in most of the academic outcomes and experiences of students based on parents' education level, income, gender, students' secondary school type, and secondary school language of instruction. At the same time, chi-square test results revealed significant differences in certain aspects of academic experiences based on gender, parents' education level, and secondary school language of instruction. For example, comparing their experience in secondary school and university, students whose father had no higher education degree are slightly more likely than those whose father had a higher education degree to find the language of instruction at NU as causing much difficulty in their academic study or adjustment to university. The study has implications for stakeholders in Central Asia and beyond, including educators, policy makers, researchers, parents, and students. It provides insights into student life at university and sheds light on the circumstances that may help improve the school to university transition experiences of students, particularly those from underprivileged backgrounds. Successful experience during the transition period has an impact on future achievements of students not only during the university but beyond that period as well.

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The thesis investigates the influence of the cultural decolonization and nation-building process in Kazakhstan, i.e. Kazakhization, on the Gansu Dungan ethnic minority group. The Dungan people, a Muslim Chinese-speaking minority in Kazakhstan, is currently undergoing a language shift and an ethnic identity crisis. This study focuses on how Kazakhization policy and other social factors, such as intermarriage, interethnic relations and societal attitude towards the Dungan people, contribute to these issues.

The thesis used unstructured and semi-structured interviews with native Dungan speakers and participant observation in Taraz and Astana as the main research methodology. The findings revealed the rapid language and identity shift and significant differences in language use and ethnic identification of different generations of Dungan people. The older generation in their 50s demonstrate stronger affiliation with Dungan language and identity, while the younger generation in their 20s have limited proficiency in the Dungan language, while possessing a developing Kazakh language proficiency and possessing a dual identity.

Applying Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory (EVT) and Social Identity Theory (SIT), this research analysed the influence of socio-political and interethnic dynamics on Dungan people’s language use and ethnic identity. The analysis demonstrates that the Dungan language is greatly susceptible to further language shift and emphasizes the need for community-based language preservation strategies, as institutional support for the Dungan language is currently limited.

This thesis contributes to the understanding of minority linguistic situations and ethnic identity negotiation under the pressure of policies aiming at nation-building and cultural assimilation. It also highlights the complex relations between language, identity, and socio-political policies in the context of a post-Soviet, multiethnic country.