Paper short abstract:

Tengrism, an ancient Turko-Mongolic religion, has recently been revived across Central Asia. Relying on online questionnaire data, this paper examines Tengrism as a lived religion amongst young adults in Kazakhstan, and its use in national identity building on both the state and individual level.

Paper long abstract:

The development of a national identity that excludes imperial Russian and Soviet history has been a priority in Central Asia since 1991. For Kazakhstan, one way of reconstructing identity has been through the lens of religion. In particular, there has been a revitalization of Tengrism, a Turko-Mongolic religion, and embracing the country's Turkic identity.

Both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have worked to erase their Soviet past from their national identities, instead embracing their roots prior to the Russian Empire. Using an online questionnaire, this paper collects data on attitudes towards Tengrism amongst young adults in Kazakhstan, including how important they believe the religion is to their personal identity and to what extent they feel that state narratives promote the religion and connect it to national identity. This paper will also look into speeches and statements made by leaders of Kazakhstan since 1991 which have worked to construct national identity and to the degree that Tengrism is introduced as the true religion of Kazakhstan.

This paper will introduce an innovative approach to the theory of lived religion which has, up until now, predominantly focused only on the United States. By discussing lived religion in the context of Kazakhstan it allows for a broader understanding of how religion can be tied to an identity without a practicing population and can help understand how religion can be promoted as a part of a national identity.