spanda journal | indigenous culture & development

SPANDA JOURNALq u a r t e r l y o f t h e s p a n d a f o u n d a t i o n

O N L I N E E D I T I O N | W W W . S P A N D A . O R G / P U B L I C A T I O N S . H T M L

SPANDA.ORG

II,2/2011

S P A N D A

I N D I G E N O U S

C U LT U R E

&D E V E L O P M E N T

right in the suspension between the two actions – indeeds and in reality they are nothing but the twomodalities of the Real, simultaneously the observer

and the observed, depending onthe point of view. But if the pointof observation is located in nei-ther of the two relaters – whererelativity abides – but rather inbetween the two, they are per-ceived by the unified conscious-ness as one, as they are for real.The way we perceive the worldcomes about and is such becausewe live inside bodies and wetend to think in metaphorsgrounded in this embodiment,which, in turns, shapes how werelate to the world. The time ofthe observers is gone, lost andforgotten for ever, now is thetime of an active contemplationof reality: no longer spirit andmatter devoid of each other, butis their unity to lead the way –[the way that can be said, is not theway]: one point lower.Active contemplation bears moreclimates than the previously seen.

Between contemplation and insight dwells theabyss, a-byssós (end-less), be aware, Infinity is there,here is sacredness itself: still a distinction flashingthe thinking mind resilient to disclose informationbeyond its reach. Our need to classify and divideinto endless logical trees contravenes and defiesunity. Consonant with the triggering of the innerself, form and content vibrate at the same frequency,in unison, like the name and the named they are

The mind is a device to calculate the astronomy of matter.Go through matter and become spirit. After Rumi, ANONYMOUS, 22ND CENTURY.

ELCOME TO THE AGE

of evidence!” innerlyuttered the fool.“Ah, ah, ah!” A

solid laugh at his back remindedhim that his utterances wereunreal and that, in any case, SisterMaya deserved more attentionsince her veil yet prevents look-ing through the rideaux of theabsurd – ab-surdus, out of tune,absurdum, in its ablative case.A sacred language conveyssacredness into its sound, intomeanings and words and, byuttering them, it sacrifices themon the altar of vanity by disclosingits origin beyond the veil: “Anabsurdity! A total absurdity thatnobody would ever believe!”Ok, here we are. Keep the thread.In Sanskrit, the vowels are con-sidered to be the seed (bija), theconsonants the matrix (yoni) and, by their combina-tion and interplay, language is formed. The com-mon idiom for ‘he dies’ is ‘he becomes five’ (pañcat-vam gacchati), i.e. ‘he is resolved into the five ele-ments’, that is to say, ether, air, fire, water and earth,or, according to another tradition, into the five ele-mental souls (nafs amarah, muhlamah, muthaminahetc.). Inhale: in-spire for a while and then let it go:subtle realities ordinarily unapparent are surfacing

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E D I T O R I A L | SSAAHHLLAANN MMOOMMOO

The Perplexity of the Seen 2

MMOOSSTTAAFFAA KKAAMMAALL TTOOLLBBAA

Conversation-basedDevelopment 7

TTEEOODDOORRAA HHAASSEEGGAANN

Development, Identity &Heritage. The Sibiu CountyEcosmuseum 1 1

DDIIAANNAA RRAAMMAAZZAANNOOVVAA

The Soviet Legacy and the Future of LanguagePolitics in post-SovietKazakhstan 1 8

A B S T R A C T S 3 1

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“W

S PA N D A J O U R N A L

THE PERPLEXITY

OF THE SEEN

SPANDA.ORGSPANDA.ORG

II,2/2011

EDITORIAL

but one. When there is no diastema between theformer and the latter, between knowledge, will andaction, all deeds are aligned with the cosmic flux ofthe dharma; when instead a differential gap, a yatusbetween the two holds there, actions are initiatedand carried out in a split-reality and, as such, aredeemed to undergo a process of purification becausethey are deprived of knowledge. As with any indi-vidual human being, humankind as a whole alsoneeds to purify its own karma, a path clutteredwith violent deaths, wars and abuses, humiliationsand unhappiness, where beauty, joy and harmonyare rarely witnessed. Beware, at present, spirit isembodying matter and matter is devouring and

metabolizing spirit: whenever appropriate, an ecstaticvertigo may occur. Crisis and change. Transformation.Nothing exists without movement, yet the ultimatemovement does not occur in space or time, but insidethe supreme consciousness (cit). It is a cycle of expan-sion-externalization-manifestation and contraction-internalization-absorption within consciousness itself,relating to the most elevated plane in creation. Whatfrom one perspective is contraction, from the otheris, simultaneously, expansion. In reality nothingexpands or contracts, only the vibration appears inits different modalities as expanding or contracting,namely, it depicts its ondulatory nature throughthe mirror of maya to the sundered perception ofthe thinking mind. Every ‘moment’ is unique in itsa-dimensional presence.At last! a multidimensional reality is here! Not anego-driven reality-show, but a reflection, a trope,repeating itself each time on a different level with adifferent meaning (antanáklasis). “If my blood wereshed by that friendly Face, dancing triumphantly Iwould lavish my life upon Him” is a longing for a‘moment’ out of time because consciousness is‘temporarily’ divided. Time is bound to its eternalspiral until the full extent of the individual soul (jiva)

– brought into being by the original Be! (kun) – iswholly recovered into the being. But when does lifespark into being? When is the jiva channelled toincarnate – or re-incarnate? For sure in a ‘moment’devoid of time, in which the synergetic result of thecoupling of the two converging energies determinesthe quality of its nature – and that of its physicalbody. It is the self-reflective human consciousness toinspire its way. Motion takes place in the naturalworld with the clear awareness of being a being.From above to below – to the inner; from the innerto the outer – to the world; from the world to above– to the next evolutionary spiralling coil of con-sciousness: a reflection, repeating itself each time

anew (antanáklasis) with a different flavour (rasa).In its trajectory of sustainable growth (expansion)the individual soul needs to experiment with dualityin order to master, within the space-time dimen-sion, all other human bearings as well. It is a neces-sary passage for this occasional traveller to moveforth to its next phase and enrich it with its experi-mental evidence, with the knowledge acquired byrepeated trials – expression and experience out-spring from the same root (ex-peritus). Of coursethis is merely a rough rendering of the process takingplace in duality. In unity – since neither time norspace are welcome in it – the whole process occurssimultaneously, no diastema or interval could possi-bly be in between the two: just one, just be. Theoriginal self-motivated ‘impulse’ is cogent to the in-borne action that occurs in infinity by breakingthrough the flushing of two instants of the historicallinear time: there, exactly in that atemporal space-free peak delves and delivers Infinity: between theimpossible spatial approaching of two into one – noteven an irrational number can abide in the solidmateriality of the linear time. No increase of poweris needed to accomplish it. What is required insteadis to decrease the resistances of the barriers (nafs)displaced by time in the course of their existence,

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V I S UA L I L LU S I O N

and assign them back to their original seats. As innuclear fission, a fit in the nucleus of the innermostself will fire up the healing process of the inner andthe outer self, of the psyche, the soul and the body.Verily, to progress further, the whole being needs toresonate to a higher pitch. Transmutation.Back to mimesis: to show, rather than to tell, by anenacted action neither diegetic nor narrative. Amimetic action can enact the rite and re-presentthe Real by enacting the sensible world by meansof insensible means in the historical becoming oflinear time – a mimetic representation is a ‘possi-ble rendering’ of reality, not Reality itself. Ritual

secretness is necessary when the myth is originatingto keep it on track throughout its flourishing, just asa caring maieutic tutor in the very minute processof growth of a tutee – above all when the channelsgranting access to the individual and collective pat-tern of energy gravitating at subtle level are in thetutee not yet cleared of the debris of their purifica-tion process – once the channels are fully cleared,the tutor is unnecessary. Once the seed (bija) hasbeen planted into the matrix (yoni) and nourished and matured, finally comes the moment to discloseits content, to get rid of all mental formations, andbe, just be and nothing else. Once the myth is ripe,all secrets are disclosed. A remark: at times, hardshipon the way could assist growth, but it can never bean excuse for an increase of suffering. Right inbetween the sufferance as an instrument of growthof the Western heritage and the Eastern way to getrid of all sufferance tout-court detaching oneselffrom the world, lays the middle way of sufferance asa by-product of growth, a side effect of develop-ment: the responsible human way to unite heavento earth, neither an esoteric nor an exoteric device,but the mesoteric way of the undivided realitydevoid of self-interest.Egoism, greed and profit are the expected out-comes of an ego gone-wrong, they all belong to anearlier evolutionary stage in which the common

good was very suspiciously regarded and looked atwith a distrustful glance. When instead individualand social capital are enacted devoid of self-inter-est, altruism is disentangled from the ego-drivers.“Money”, the quintessence of matter at the humanlevel, has obsessed societies for far too long. Thenew awareness is transmuting the ego to the ser-vice of a higher self. If it would be just a matter ofspurring creativity, it wouldn’t happen. Creativity isa result of love; relativity is the upshot of the space-time dimension, in a realm devoid of space-time ahigher respect for life will abide. Humankinddeserves a not-for-profit outlook throughout thechain of society, the next state of consciousness will

bring a global non-profit society, a new develop-ment phase, a new economy – of which the ‘green’one is just a pale foreteller. A global generalizedtransmutation of the individual consciousness to acollective plane, devoid of self-interest and to thebenefit of the whole of society is the founding bodyof the new paradigm. A new state belonging to thereal human soul able to welcome the other intooneself and be both, regardless of races and creeds,given that all of them are already deeply rootedwithin. The shift of the paradigm in the collectiveconsciousness and the simultaneous systemic changetaking place at the global, social and economiclevel are just the ‘two’ sides of the ‘same’ coin.Reconciliation.Aiming at reconciliation is aiming to be reunitedwithin our own dyad. Knowledge advances. In thelast century or so many things have changed so greatlythat even recent history seems to belong already to aremote past. A perception due to the seeming speed-ing up of the succession of events in the time dimen-sion and to the heightening of the vibratory frequencyapproaching a higher state of consciousness – eachdefinable state vibrates at its own specific length-wave. The higher the octave the faster the wave, cer-tainly faster than the physical light. This quickeningof the frequency made some believe in the convergingcollapse of the whole system and of consciousness


R I T UA LD A RW I S H

D A N C I N G

itself, as if the maximum possible expansion wasreaching its limit and, by enantiodromia, soon trans-mute into contraction, not mindful that, in duality,transmutation is only possible from one state toanother and, in within the same state, from one con-dition to either a temporary or permanent state. Itwell may be that physics and meta-physics willshortly join hands in a proficient mesa-physics –mesocosm connects macrocosm to microcosm.Twenty-12 will certainly not mark the end of theworld, but almost certainly score the end of ‘a’world, and the implementation of a new paradigmon the account of the major shift taking place simul-taneously on all planes of consciousness whilerebounding in every conceivable dimensions itshigher ethical edge. With the integration of will anddeeds, knowledge and action become one and affectsboth individual and collective development, bothspiritual and material poverty. The former settingmaintained material poverty as a tool for innerdevelopment, keeping the sharp heel of indigencewell stuck on the subdued societies in the mired sus-picious notion that mundane detachment facilitatesthe achievement of a higher state of consciousness.We maintain that in the ‘present time’, ending thedistinction between ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ and dwellingin both worlds, the implementation of the new col-lective state of consciousness beyond and beforeprofit is necessary. While Krishna and Arjuna areone on the chariot, a parliament of birds will salutethe outcome of riding the tiger on a razor edge.Duality is a mental formation of the mind-bearer,who does not, or wants not, or cannot yet experi-ence a unified reality. The transition to unity is grad-ually taking place, the cracks and downturns of oldregimes and of mental constructions, the financialcrises, a vaster generalized greener outlook to theworld, a higher awareness of the social edge of apost-ideological politics and democracy are all eventsoccurring to a hastened tempo, signs and signals ofsomething happening deeper within consciousness,cracking the surface of the individual ego to makeway for the new, the other: an unexpected gift. Tryingto keep together the debris falling asunder from thistransition could be an instrumental exercise ofchange, for sure; but the direction should be heldfirm while keeping duality in check. The tricks of amind not yet abraded anew and still to be purified ofits previous content, and the stirring of emotionsbefore their mollification are preventing this aware-ness from taking full swing. Our perception couplesharmonic oscillations and enantiodromia: the proba-bility varies periodically; all universes are just theirprobability to exist: multidimensional eigenstateschirals, not identical to their mirror image. Anyemanating reverberation diminishes the substance,until they are just the last chance to be apparent, andfinally be. Disquiet. A change in equilibrium, aquiver (spanda) … and the wheel is spinning anew.We are individualized spiritual energies, beings, indi-vidual souls meant to join matter to realize ourselves

and move on to the next stage. Depending on tra-ditional beliefs, the ‘soul’ will need to experienceand to pass through 7, 49, 64, 99 or 1000 ‘temporarily’operational modes, or mundane dwellings, before itcan be released and move on. That quiver, the élan,the entelechy transmuting itself into action is theself-aware action rebounding into matter. Post-ideo-logical redistribution.Normality does not exist in itself and per se, normalityis a cultural variable. Culture, as a category of Nature,cannot compete with its maker, it can only followits laws. Art, as a category of culture, cannot contestits producer, it can only follow its paws. Art hasembedded the laws of Nature: it precede Nature whenis perceived as the network connecting all its points;and, conversely, it is seen as the power that con-forms Nature itself from within. Natura natura andnatura naturata. To draw distinctions is the preroga-tive of the thinking mind due to its intimate binarystructure, its dualistic feature, its natura naturata’s‘network’. Art is a pre-text, an ur-text, an eigen-text,an undifferentiated compound of knowledge thatproceeds the text and, at the same time, is a pretext toconvey novelty, not in the essence, but in the way itmanifests and shapes itself and nature. Culture doesnot germinate in the context of an arbitrary quantumvacuum, rather it is engendered in the dimensionwe inhabit when the link between the inner and theouter is set firm. An inner world that does not dia-logue and relate with the outer, with the ‘other’, is aworld deprived of any reality. Indigenous culture arebased on insights and inner knowledge, on nativeattainments and cognitions of the Real organized inwell proved systems, inherited and transmitted tothe benefit of the community, closer to their ownroots than to any contemporary developed societies,and from whom much can be learned. Verily, it is thegreat varieties of cultures which make this world sovibrant, so diverse, so intriguing and puzzling. Theintermingling of cultures has always made newbranches flourish: the Sumerian, the Egyptian, theChinese, the ancient Greek, the Roman, the Mozarab,the Javanese, the Italian Renaissance, the Moghul,just to name a few, are all examples of blending andstratification of previous imports.If the new paradigm needs to be formulated andenacted, these operative annotations on the field area plain contribution. Bear with me for severing thethread, but this piece needs now to go to press anda further occasion will certainly arise. In the mean-time, enjoy a few examples of vital indigenous cul-tures interacting with individual and social develop-ment collected in the issue, another token thatthings are moving in all quarters, changing andempowering transformation. ©

b


Dr Mostafa Tolba (Zifta, Cairo,Egypt, 1922) graduated from CairoUniversity in 1943, and obtained hisPh.D from the Imperial College in1948. He returned to Cairo to eventu-ally become Professor in the Facultyof Science at Cairo University,where he established his own schoolin microbiology and is currentlyEmeritus Professor. He was also Pro-fessor in Baghdad University (1954-

1959). Dr Tolba joined the Egyptiancivil service as Undersecretary ofState for Higher Education andMinister of Youth, and on the inter-national scene, as an alternate mem-ber of UNESCO Executive Board. Hebecame the first president of thenewly established Academy for Sci-entific Research and Technology in1971. In 1972, he led Egypt’s delega-tion to the Stockholm conference onthe Human Environment, thusstarting a lifetime commitment toenvironmental issues. Immediately after Stockholm he wasnominated as Deputy Executive Director of the newlyestablished United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).Within two years, he became the Executive Director - a posthe held until retiring at the end of 1992. Pursuing his position during Stockholm, he diligently pro-moted his philosophy of “Development without Destruc-tion”. It implications are clearly reflected in his speeches,books and in UNEP’s programmes, in many fields, and atmany levels.Dr Tolba has published over 95 papers on plant diseases andmore than 600 statements and articles on the environment.He has received many awards and prizes, honorary doctor-ates, awards, medals, and high decorations both from acad-emic institutions, governments and NGOs. In 1994 he established in Cairo the International Center forEnvironment and Development (ICED), a non profit orga-nization, financing environmental projects in less developedcountries. He is the president of Centre for Environmentand Our Common Past (ECOPAST) dealing with the impactof the air pollution on cultural heritage, and chairman ofthe Egyptian Consultants for Environment and Develop-ment (ECED), and member of many academies, institutes,committees and other organizations.

U M A N B E I N G S , I N T H E I R Q U E S T F O R

economic development and enjoymentof the riches of nature, must come toterms with the reality of resource limi-tation and the carrying capacities of

ecosystems, and must take account of the needs offuture generations. This is themessage of conversation. For, ifthe object of development is toprovide for social and economicwelfare, the object of conversa-tion is to ensure Earth’s capacityto sustain development and tosupport life. Two features characterize ourtime: the first, is the almost lim-itless capacity of human beingsfor building and creation,matched by equally great powersof destruction and annihilation.The escalating needs of soaringnumbers have often driven peo-ple to take a short- sightedapproach when exploiting natur-al resources for building and cre-ation as well as for destruction. The second, is the global inter-relatedness of actions, with itscorollary of global responsibility.This in turn gives rise to the

need for global co-operation both for developmentand for conversation of nature and natural resources.Earth is the only place in the universe known tosustain life. Yet human activities are progressivelyreducing the planet’s life- supporting capacity at atime when rising human numbers and consump-tion are making increasingly heavy demands on it.The combined destructive impacts of a poor majoritystruggling to stay alive and an affluent minority con-suming most of the world’s resources are undermin-ing the very means by which all people can surviveand flourish. The toll of these heavy demands hasnow become glaringly apparent: a long list of haz-ards and disasters, including soil erosion, desertifica-tion, loss of cropland, pollution, deforestation,ecosystem degradation and destruction, and extinc-tion of species and varieties. This situation under-lines the need for conversation, comprising the eco-logically sound management of productive systemsand the maintenance of their viability and versatility. Humanity’s relationship with the biosphere (the thincovering of the planet that contains and sustains life)


C O N V E R S AT I O N -B A S E D D E V E LO P M E N TM O S T A F A K A M A L T O L B A

“ Nothing appearsmore surprising tothose who considerhuman affairs witha philosophical eye,

than the easinesswith which the

many are governedby the few. ”

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will continue to deteriorate until a new internationaleconomic order is achieved, a new environmentalethic adopted, human populations stabilize, and sus-tainable modes of development become the rulerather than the exception. Among the prerequisitesfor sustainable development is the conversation ofliving resources.

W H A T I S D E V E L O P M E N T

A N D W H A T I S C O N V E R S A T I O N ?

Development is the modification of the biosphereand the application of technical, financial, livingand non-living resources to satisfy human needsand improve the quality of human life. For devel-opment to be sustainable it must take account ofthe short term advantages and disadvantages ofalternative actions. Conversation is the management of human use ofthe biosphere so that it may yield the greatest sus-tainable benefit to present generations while main-taining its potential to meet the needs and aspira-tions of future generations. Thus conversationembraces preservation, maintenance, sustainableutilization, restoration and enhancement of the nat-ural environment. Living resources conversation isespecially concerned with plants, animals andmicroorganisms and with those non-living ele-ments of the environment on which they depend.Living resources have two important properties thecombination of which distinguishes them fromnon-living resources: they are renewable if con-served; and they are destructible if not. Conversa-tion’s concern for maintenance and sustainability isa rational response to the nature of living resources(renewability + destructibility) and also an ethicalimperative, expressed in the belief that “we havenot inherited the earth from our parents, we haveborrowed it from our children. Conversation is a process to be applied cross-sec-trolly, not an activity sector in its own right. In thecase of sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, forestryand wildlife directly responsible for the manage-ment of living resources, conversation is that aspectof management which ensures that the fullest sus-tainable advantage is derived from the livingresources base and that activities are so located andconducted that the resource base is maintained. Living resource conversation has three specificobjectives: a ~ To maintain essential ecological processes and

life-support systems (such as soil regenerationand protection, the recycling of nutrients, andthe cleansing of waters), on which human sur-vival and development depend.

b ~ To preserve genetic diversity (the range ofgenetic material found in the world’s organisms),on which depend the breeding programmes nec-essary for the protection and improvement of

cultivated plants and domesticated animals, aswell as much scientific advance, technical inno-vation, and the security of the many industriesthat use living resources.

c ~ To ensure the sustainable utilization of speciesand ecosystems (notably fish and other wildlife,forests and grazing lands) which support mil-lions of rural communities.

That conversation and sustainable development aremutually dependent can be illustrated by the plightof the rural poor. The dependence of the rural com-munities on living resources is direct and immedi-ate. For the 500 million people who are malnour-ished, or the 1500 million people whose only fuel iswood, dung or crop wastes, or the almost 800 mil-lion people with incomes of USD 50 or less a year,for all these people, conversation is the only thingbetween them and, at best, abject misery, at worst,death. Unhappily, people on the margins of survivalare compelled by their poverty – and their conse-quent vulnerability to destroy the few resourcesavailable to them. In widening circles around theirvillages they strip trees and shrubs for fuel until theplants wither away and the villagers are forced toburn dung and stubble. The 400 million tonnes ofdung and crop wastes that rural people burn annu-ally are badly needed to regenerate soils alreadyhighly vulnerable to erosion now that the plantsthat bind them are disappearing.It would be wrong, however, to conclude that con-

versation is a sufficient response to such problems.People whose very survival is precarious and whoseprospects of even temporary prosperity are bleakcan not be expected to respond sympathetically tocalls to subordinate their acute short term needs tothe possibility of long term returns. Conversationmust therefore be combined with measures to meetshort term economic needs. The vicious circle bywhich poverty causes ecological degradation whichin turn leads to more poverty can be broken onlyby development. But if it is not to be self-defeating,it must be development that is sustainable and con-versation helps to make it so. The developmentefforts of many developing countries are beingslowed or compromised by lack of conversation. InSoutheast Asia, excessive clearing of forests hascaused fluctuations in river flow that are loweringrice yields. Throughout the developing world, thelifetimes of hydroelectric power stations and watersupply systems are being cut as reservoirs silt upbecause siltation is accelerated by deforestation,overgrazing and other unwise land uses. Activities of every organism modify its environmentand those of human beings are no exception.Although environmental modification is both natur-al and a necessary part of development, this does notmean that all modifications lead to development nordoes that preservation impedes it. While it isinevitable that most of the planet will be modified bypeople and that much of it will be transformed, it is


not at all correct to consider that such alterations willachieve the social and economic objectives of develop-ment. Unless it is guided by ecological, as well as byother environmental and by social, cultural and ethi-cal considerations, much development will continueto have undesired effects, to provide reduced benefitsor even to fail altogether. There is a close relationshipbetween failure to achieve the objectives of conversa-tion and failure to achieve the social and economicobjectives of development, or, having achieved them,to sustain those achievements. The integration of con-versation and development ensures that modificationsto the planet do indeed secure the survival and wellbe-ing of all people. The main obstacles to achieving conversation are: a ~ The belief that living resource conversation is

a limited sector, rather than a process that cutsacross and must be considered by all sectors;

b ~ The consequent failure to integrate conversa-tion with development;

c ~ A development process that is often inflexibleand needlessly destructive, due to inadequaciesin environmental planning, a lack of rationaluse allocation and undue emphasis on narrowshort term interest rather than broader longerterm ones;

d ~ The lack of a capacity to converse, due toinadequate legislation and lack of enforcement;poor organization ( notably government agen-cies with insufficient mandates and a lack ofcoordination) ; lack of trained personnel; a lackof basic information on the productive andregenerative capacities of living resources, andon the trade-offs between one managementoption and another;

e ~ The lack of support for conversation, due to alack of awareness ( other than at the most super-ficial level) of the benefits of conversation and ofthe responsibility to converse among those whouse or have an impact on living resources,including in many cases, governments;

f ~ The failure to deliver conversation – baseddevelopment where it is most needed, notablythe rural areas of developing countries.

The Priority Requirements For Achieving Conver-sation -Based Development: 1 ~ Reserve good cropland for crops: in view of

the scarcity of high quality arable land and ris-ing demand for food and other agriculturalproducts, land that is most suitable for cropsshould be reserved for agriculture.

2 ~ Manage cropland to high ecological stan-dards. This requires soil and water conversa-tion, the recycling of nutrients, and retentionof the habitants of organisms beneficial to agri-culture, and the return of residues and live-stock wastes, as far as possible, to the land.

3 ~ Many tropical soils quickly lose their fertility.Traditional systems of shifting cultivation restored

fertility by leaving the land fallow for long peri-ods, but fertilizers are indispensable for continu-ous cropping. Manufactured fertilizers are beyondthe means of many developing country farmersbecause of their high cost, low prices of farmproducts, shortage of credit and a lack of fertiliz-ers supplies. The estimated 113 million tonnes ofplant nutrients that are potentially available todeveloping countries from human and livestockwastes and from crop residues should as far aspossible be used to fertilize the land.

4 ~ Ensure that the principle management goal forwatershed forests is protection of the watershed.This is particularly important in the uppercatchment areas where rivers originate andwhere often rainfall is greatest. Especially fragileor critical areas, notably steep slopes with erodi-ble soils, and the source areas of major riversshould never be cleared.

5 ~ Ensure that the principle management goalfor estuaries, mangrove swaps and other coastalwetlands and shallows critical for fisheries isthe maintenance of the elements on which thefisheries depend.

6 ~ Control the discharge of pollutants. The dis-charge of pollutants and use of pesticides andother toxic substances should be controlled.Since the effects on ecosystems and species of thethousands of chemicals that enter the environ-ment are largely unknown, contentious monitor-ing of the ecosystems should be undertaken.

7 ~ Prevent the extinction of species. Priorityshould be given to species that are endangeredthroughout their range and to species that arethe sole representatives of their family or genus.Prevention of extinction requires sound plan-ning, allocation and management of land andwater uses, supported by on site( in situ) preser-vation in protected areas and off site ( ex situ)protection such as in zoos and botanical gardens.

8 ~ Preserve as many varieties as possible of cropplants, forage plants, timber trees, livestock,animals for aquaculture, microbes and otherdomesticated organisms and their wild rela-tives. Priority should be given to those varietiesthat are most threatened and are most neededfor national and international breeding pro-grammes. This requires both off site and onsite preservation and may be assisted by partic-ipation in international programmes for thepreservation of genetic resources.

9 ~ Ensure that site preservation programmes pro-tect: the wild relatives of economically valuableand other useful plants and animals and theirhabitants; the habitants of threatened andunique species; unique ecosystems; and repre-sentative samples of ecosystem types.

10 ~ Determine the size, distribution and man-agement of protected areas on the basis of the


needs of the ecosystems and the plant and ani-mal communities they are intended to protect.

11 ~ Adopt conservative management objectivesfor the utilization of species and ecosystems.

12 ~ Determine the productive capacities of exploit-ed resources and ensure that access to a resourcedoes not exceed the resource’s capacity to sustainexploitation. Measures to regulate utilization caninclude: restrictingthe total take, thenumber of persons,vessels or other unitsallowed to participatein exploitation; andprohibiting orrestricting the use ofcertain methods andequipment. A combi-nation of quotas andrestrictions on accessto the resource is usu-ally essential.

13 ~ Reduce excessiveyields to sustainablelevels. Industries, com-munities and countriesthat are overexploitingliving resources onwhich they dependwould be better off inthe medium and longterm if they voluntarilyreduce their exploita-tion to levels that aresustainable. In this waythey could adjust torealistic levels of consumption and trade and avoidunexpected drops in yield, instead of being sur-prised by them when they occurred.

14 ~ Equip subsistence communities to utilizeresources sustainably. Where a communitydepending for subsistence wholly or partly onliving resources regulates utilization so that it issustainable, its regulatory measures should besupported.

15 ~ Maintain the habitats of resource species.Where agriculture can supply more food, moreeconomically and on a sustainable basis thancan the utilization of wildlife, the conversionof wildlife habitat to farmland is rational.Often, however, the habitats of wildlife aredestroyed for short-lived agriculture and otherdevelopments with a net loss in welfare for thelocal communities.

16 ~ Regulate international trade in wild plantsand animals.

17 ~ Allocate timber concessions with care andmanage them to high standards.

18 ~ Limit firewood consumption to sustainable levels.

A N D F I N A L L Y

Regulate the stocking of grazing lands so that thelong term productivity of plants and animals can bemaintained. The carrying capacity of grazing lands isdetermined by the annual production of plantgrowth in excess of what is required by the plants fortheir metabolism, health and vigour. Much of thisexcess production can be cropped by wild animals or

livestock without damageto the vegetation, Care-less or excessive use, how-ever, impairs the plants’capacity to grow andreproduce. This in turnleads to, sometimes, per-manent destruction ofthe vegetation or to adecline in the proportionof plants palatable to live-stock or both. In aridregions, where rainfalland plant growth areerratic, stocking densitiesmust be more conserva-tive than where annualproductivity is more con-sistent. In such regionsnomadism and transhu-mance (the seasonalmovement of livestock)are often the most sus-tainable strategies and, ifstill practised should notbe abandoned withoutgood reasons.

All these priorities are doable, if there is enoughknowledge of the nature of what is around us,enough trained personnel, public awareness to sup-port these activities and a strong political will toachieve a conversation – based development. ©

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Teodora Corina Hasegan holds aPhD in anthropology from Bing-hamton University, State Universityof New York, USA, where she is aResearch Associate. She is also Directorof Research and Development for“Peoples of the World Foundation.Education for and about IndigenousPeople” where she is involved in theday-to-day operation of the Founda-tion, fundraising, promotion andadvising. She also conducts researchand field assignments related to issuesaffecting indigenous peoples, and con-tributes) to the Foundation’s web site.Email: [email protected]

I N T R O D U C T I O N

HE POLITICAL CHANGES

(transition to democracyand capitalism) thatbegan in 1989 in theformer communist Central and East Euro-

pean countries represented only the starting pointof more complex transformations of society. TheEuropean Union (EU) is one of the transnationalactors that caused changes in this region. ForRomania, the process of European integrationmeant a reevaluation of the relation between its his-tory, heritage and identity. In the context of SibiuEuropean Capital of Culture 2007 programme, initi-ated by the European Commission, heritage is anessential part of different strategies used by localpeople in Sibiu city and region to promote eco-nomic, social, and cultural development and toincrease the global competitiveness of regions (inthis specific case, Transylvania). The issue of ruralheritage is strongly related to that of cultural andnatural landscape that constitutes a foundation ofpeoples’ identity.The first ecomuseum in Romania – Sibiu CountyEcomuseum (Ecomuzeul Regional Sibiu) – is anexample of how heritage, landscape and identitywere linked and gained more importance in the

context of the Sibiu ECC 2007 programme. Ecomu-seum is an example of ‘heritagescape’. Neitherwholly museum nor entirely landscape, a her-itagescape incorporates elements from both, makingthem a unique and complex social space. Her-itagescape is distinct from but at the same time an

integral part of the larger land-scape in which it is located. Fol-lowing Appadurai (1996)’sscheme of five dimensions ofglobal cultural flow –‘ethnoscapes’, ‘mediascapes’,‘technoscapes’, ‘finacescapes’and ‘ideoscapes’ – that are con-stantly at play in today’s deterri-torialized world, Garden (2006:3, 5, 14) introduces the conceptof ‘heritagescape’ and explains: Like the larger landscape, theheritagescape is more than thesum of its physical componentsand, while centered on the siteitself, it may not necessarily berestricted to the physical limitsof the place. In thinking of her-itage sites as heritagescapes – i.e.,as landscapes – it draws atten-tion to their qualities as dynam-ic, changing space.

The Sibiu County Ecomuseumdemonstrates how tradition is

being changed in the context of the European inte-gration process in Romania. The Sibiu CountyEcomuseum aims to preserve the natural and cul-tural heritage in rural areas by combining in situmuseum, involvement of local community and thedevelopment of tourist products representative foran ecomuseum. The project is significant for show-ing that cultural tourism gained a new relevance forRomania after the EU accession. Rural areas inmany areas of Europe have turned to tourism as analternative development strategy in the face ofchanges to the agricultural food production system.Particularly in more remote and less agriculturallyviable areas, national and European policies haveconcentrated on encouraging ‘bottom-up’ develop-ment based on the commodification of local cul-tural resources or knowledge. In the TerritorialAgenda of the EU, cities are seen as regional centers,but the need for urban-rural partnership is alsoacknowledged. Sibiu was seen as the proof of theinterreligious and intercultural dialogue, but also asthe proof of the dialogue between rural and urbanheritage. Rural heritage is an important part of


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DEVELOPMENT, IDENTITY & HERITAGE

T H E S I B I U C O U N T Y E C O M U S E U M

T O D O R A H A S E G A N

Romania, a symbol of the connection between cul-tural heritage and landscape. The Sibiu CountyEcomuseum shows the complex ways in whichsuch initiatives intersect with existent historicalconfigurations and at the same time shape newersocial relations. These initiatives change the wayslocal knowledge is valued and contribute to creat-ing different senses of place identity.

T H E S I B U C O U N T Y E C O M U S E U M

The Sibiu County Ecomuseum is a project developedby the French NGO ‘GAIA Heritage,’ the Sibiu CountyCouncil and the ASTRA National Museum Complex.

Its aim is to valorize the heritage of Sibiu region. TheSibiu County Ecomuseum includes Romanian vil-lages in Marginimea Sibiului area (Saliste and GuraRaului), villages with Saxon architecture (Biertan,Mosna and Valea Viilor), and villages with valuablebuilt heritage, but very damaged (Sasaus).While ASTRA NMC includes a village made up ofrelocated buildings, the ecomuseum maintainsbuildings in their original locations, fulfilling con-tinuing uses while open to the public and thusgenerating additional income from tourism.The presentation brochure for the Sibiu CountyEcomuseum states that the Ecomuseum Associa-tion (in charge with organizing and managing theecomuseum) aims to “carry out local and regionaldevelopment projects; to preserve the folk tradi-tions and customs; and to involve local communi-ties in the protection of the heritage (The SibiuCounty Ecomuseum brochure: no page numbers).The same brochure explains that the Sibiu CountyEcomuseum project is based on modern principlesfor preserving the heritage, seen as being constitut-ed not only of objects, but also of the entire area inwhich they are situated: the community, landscape,history, crafts, specific agricultural and industrialactivities preserved ‘in situ.’ The ecomuseum usesthis cultural and natural heritage as a developmentfactor for local community.

The ecomuseum is an instrument for the localcommunity to control its changing process:

The tourists go to an ecomuseum to learn about aspecific geographical space, a heritage, the peoplewhere they live. This creates a direct relation withthem, unlike in a museum where there is no directconnection to the people who made the displayedobjects. Our hope is that local people living in theselocalities become aware of their heritage and howthey could protect it. (The Sibiu County Ecomuse-um brochure: no page number).

The logo of the Sibiu County Ecomuseum Associ-ation is ‘The Wheel of the World’, a drawingmade by Picu Patrut, an artist from Saliste.

As Mihai Halmaghi, the president of the Ecomuse-um Association said, it symbolizes the changingnature of life and the heritage that is left by every-one. The logo reads: “The inconsistent wheel of lifeand its dangerous waves. I will inherit. I inherit. Ihave inherited. Ashes to ashes.” And also it invitesthe tourist to “Explore a village and discover cen-turies old architecture and traditional ways of life.”The initiative of setting up the ecomuseum was anational premiere. The ecomuseum is an alternativeto the classical museums. The next section addresses abrief history of the ecomuseum concept.

B R I E F H I S T O R Y O F

T H E E C O M U S E U M C O N C E P T

Over the past two decades there has been a changein the understanding of the museums’ role in soci-ety. One aspect of this is that museums have beentrying to attract and build “deeper relationshipswith more diverse audiences” (Spitz and Thom2003: 3). Museums have also built a closer relation-ship with their communities. Examples of muse-ums which have organized such programs arediverse, and range from universal survey museumsand city museums to indigenous-run cultural cen-ters (Nakamura 2007: 148). Some of the results ofthese projects are discussed in different studies


The Sibiu County Ecomuseum brochure and the logo of the Association.

(e.g., Fuller 1992; Davis 1999; Peers and Brown2003; Spitz and Thom 2003; Clifford 2004; Hendry2005; for a more detailed history of ecomuseums,see Maggi and Falleti 2000).The development of community projects has beenaccompanied by a change of perspective that placesemphasis on culture and cultural heritage. The eco-museum has proved successful in providing a newway of transmitting cultural knowledge. An eco-museum is an agent for managing change that linkseducation, culture, and power. “[A]n ecomuseumrecognizes the importance of culture in the devel-opment of self-identity and its role in helping acommunity adjust to rapid change. The ecomuse-um thus becomes a tool for the economic, social,and political growth and development of the soci-ety from which it springs” (Fuller 1992: 328).The ecomuseum movement started in France in theearly 1970s and spread internationally (see Corsaneand Holleman 1993; Davis 1999). The idea of the‘integrated museum’, a more socially inclusive formof cultural institution, was a key outcome from theRound Table on the Development and the Role ofMuseums in the Contemporary World, a jointmeeting between the UNESCO and the InternationalCouncil of Museums (ICOM) held in Santiago deChile, Chile, from 20 to 31 May 1972. It promptedmovement toward creating real community muse-ums (Hoobler 2006: 447). The ecomuseum has thepotential to be a socially inclusive mechanism and isnow a worldwide phenomenon (Davis 2004: 5). Themovement has become strong in numerous countries,but most noticeably in Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela,Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal,Sweden, India and Taiwan.Two key proponents were the French museologistsGeorges Henri Rivière and Hugues de Varine. Riv-ière’s belief was that an ecomuseum is an instru-ment conceived, and operated jointly by a publicauthority and a local population:

It is a mirror that the local population holds up to itsvisitors so that it may be better understood and so thatits industry, customs and identity may commandrespect. It is a laboratory, in so far as it contributes tothe study of the past and present of the populationconcerned and of its environment and promotes thetraining of specialists. It is a conservation centre, inso-far as it helps to preserve and develop the natural andcultural heritage of the population. It is a school, in sofar as it involves the population in its work of studyand protection and encourages it to have a clearergrasp of its own future (Rivière 1985: 182).

Hugues de Varine and Rene Rivard (1984, 1988; seealso Boylan 1992; Davis 1999) have provided the mostuseful definition by comparing the traditional muse-um (=building+collections+experts+public) to theecomuseum (=territory+heritage+memory+popula-tion). However, although there are common ecomu-seum characteristics, ecomuseums also have distincttraits because they respond to shifting local environ-mental, economic, social, cultural and political needs

(Corsane 2006: 404). In museums, heritage is exhibit-ed as objects of past. In the ecomuseum – this muse-um without walls – it is a sign of a past that is stillalive. The ecomuseum casts its inhabitants as actorsof their own story and also spectators of their ownexhibition. The ecomuseums allow the villages notonly to preserve and reinforce their past, but toinfluence their present and shape their future. Thereare also risks associated with the status of ecomuse-um: “The loss of a sense of place […] promoted bythe ‘heritagization’ of history” (Walsh 1992: 68; seealso Graham et al. 2000).

C R A F T I N G A L I V I N G O N T H E H E D G E :

T H E S I B U C O U N T Y E C O M U S E U M I N

M A R G I N I M E A S I B U L U I ( S A L I S T E A N D G A L E S )

The Marginimea Sibiului (‘The Edge of Sibiu’) arealies at the foot of the Cibin Mountains in the South-western part of Sibiu County and consists of severalsmall villages. Marginimea Sibiului has been recog-nized as epitomizing Romanian rural civilizationbut also Saxon traditions. Shepherds built pinehouses, with tall roofs. People here have been breed-ing animals since old times. Shepherds took theirsheep to the pastures, crossing the Danube and evento Constantinople and the Adriatic, beyond theTisza River, in Poland, and to the East, up to theCaucasus. Over time, the region flourished as atrade center, becoming one of the most renownedcenters for leather and wool, which are a proof ofthe craftsmanship of the peoples in MarginimeaSibiului. Products made in Marginimea Sibiuluiwere traded throughout Europe and even as far awayas America. Among the well-known villages in theMarginimea Sibiului are Saliste, Sibiel, Tilisca, Rasi-nari, Poiana Sibiului, Miercurea Sibiului, Poplaca,Orlat, Fantanele, Jina. In present times, this crafts-manship of breeding faces difficulties:

2007 was the year for celebrating 125 years since thefounding of the only craftsmen’s association in Roma-nia that is still active, and currently has 41 members[...]. There are big challenges and gloomy perspectivesahead of these craftsmen. They can access EU funds buttheir needs are many in terms of supplies and marketsfor selling their products [...]. This is a crucial momentfor the continuation of rural traditions. After the migra-tions of the local Romanian population known as ‘roiri’(‘pastoral’, ‘commercial’ and ‘crafting’) [to cities], fol-lowed by the big migration of the Saxon population inthe last decades of the twentieth century [to Germany],we are now witnessing the most serious crisis in the vil-lages in Romania. It is a complex crisis caused by thepopulation growing old, migration of the young people[to cities or abroad], and the lack of any means andsources for survival and decent living. (Mihai Hal-maghi, president of the Sibiu Ecomuseum Association,in Tribuna, 17 January 2008, author’s translation).

The craftsmen’s association mentioned in this quoteis the Craftsmen’s Assembly (Reuniunea Meseriasilor),a regional association set up in Sibiu in 1882. In 1892,a similar Assembly was founded in Saliste as a pro-fessional association. The Assembly represented a


significant step in the development of local crafts,which initially included ten crafts: furriers, hammersmiths, carpenters, brick layers, shoemakers, bootmakers, leather dressers, drapers, strap makers andwheelwrights. Saliste was founded in 1354 as a large Romanianvillage. The settlement flourished in the nineteenthcentury as a burg, a small town with agriculturaland commercial activities. In 2003, due to culturaland economic development, Saliste gained urbanstatus. Different traditional crafts are representativefor Marginimea Sibiului: hand-loom weaving,woodcarving, leather processing, stone workingand woolen handicrafts.

There are only six households where barrel-makingis still practiced in Saliste, but it is not known forhow long. One problem for the craftsmen is thatthe materials they work with are very expensive. Atthe inauguration of the Ecomuseum in Saliste, twoof the craftsmen said they will change their job thefollowing year, the others were saying: “What canwe do if this is the only thing we know how to do?”One solution was offered by the mayor of Saliste,Teodor Banciu, who opined the wood makerscould sell small barrels as souvenirs to tourists com-ing in Saliste (Monitorul de Sibiu, 24 January 2008).Virgil Ilies, a craftsman from Saliste, said craftsmenare able to adapt to the current market needs butthat “We lose ourselves as a nation if we do notpreserve our language, folk costumes and customs”(The Sibiu County Ecomuseum inauguration inSibiu, 13 July 2007, personal notes). Virgil Ilies’ hatmaking workshop, the only one left in Saliste, is ina long courtyard, with a big, wooden gate. The ‘fortress-house’ is of Saxon influence, but hisskill is Romanian. The hat-maker is the onlymaker of Romanian traditional shepherds’ hats(called ‘clop’ in Romanian): a round and black hat,specific to the shepherds in Sibiu area. But theworkshop has evolved over time to produce cow-boy hats and ladies’ hats. “Hat making has been a

tradition for generations in Ilies’ family: Virgillearned this craft from his father, and now his twoboys, Radu and Daniel, are working with him”(Formula As, 1999). He has a strong motivation forwanting to preserve this skill: “I am selling tomaintain my identity.”The Sibiu County Ecomuseum in Saliste includes:a carpenter and wood carver’s shop-dwelling, aleather goods workshop, store and dwelling, a flourmill, a blacksmith’s workshop and an old woodenbeam house.At the inauguration of the ecomuseum in Saliste,Vasile Crisan (the director of the Sibiu CountyDepartment for Culture, Religion and National

Cultural Heritage) said that the ecomuseum is afirst step to develop tourism in Saliste. He alsowarned about some risks involved in this projectand brought as an example the case of Sibiel, a vil-lage in Marginimea Sibiului, where the develop-ment of tourism triggered a degradation of the vil-lage. Teofil Gherca, the representative of the GAIAHeritage NGO (which is one of the organizers of theSibiu County Ecomuseum), explained that themajority of the ecomuseums in Europe opened dur-ing situations of crisis (for example, in France, whenvillages started to disappear, when a mine closeddown, and with it a whole history around it):

We are in Romania at a crossroads, regarding rural life,crafts, agriculture, animal husbandry. The ecomuseumcomes as a tool for the local communities to help themcome together, evaluate what is left, what they can do,how they present themselves to others. The ecomuseumappears in Romania also in a situation of crisis of thevillages. Very few people here are really interested notonly in preserving the houses, but also their significance(for example, a house was built as a workshop). (TeofilGherca, the Sibiu County Ecomuseum inauguration,personal notes).

The Sibiu County Ecomuseum in Gales (a villagepart of Saliste town) includes a hat-maker’s workshopand a traditional water mill. The ecomuseum inSasaus included houses where the specific architecture


Virgil Ilies’ hat-making workshop and the carpenter’s workshop in Saliste.

was preserved and also a small Greek-Catholicchurch exhibiting church objects, photographs,textiles and folk art.

T H E S I B I U C O U N T Y E C O M U S E U M I N B I E R T A N

The ecomuseum in Biertan aimed for economicdevelopment and for maintaining the authenticityof the houses’ architecture and workshops. TheBiertan commune is made up of three localities:Biertan, Copsa Mare and Richis. Saxon colonists,one of the first Saxon settlements in Transylvania,established the ecomuseum in 1230. At the end ofthe twentieth century, the Saxon ethnics left the

settling and in 1990 only a few families were present.Later, the Saxon population returned as Biertanemerged as a Saxon spiritual center. The fortifiedchurch in Biertan (a historic monument and an archi-tectural masterpiece included on the UNESCO WorldHeritage Sites list) is illustrative for the entire area thatwas colonized by the Saxons in Transylvania.

The ecomuseum in Biertan includes: a pharma-ceutical garden, the environing hills, the Roman-ian neighborhood, a cooper’s workshop and a flourmill, a carpenter’s workshop specialized in carvingshutters, and a therapeutic and homeopathic drug-store established in 1809 in the oldest building inBiertan founded in 1572.The inauguration of the ecomuseum in Biertan touris so designed that the visitor passes through thepharmaceutical garden and continues on a smalltrail up on a hill from where the visitor could enjoya panoramic view of Biertan.The grand fortified church dominates this view. Thepath winds down through a cemetery and near theRomanian church, in a beautiful garden. The feelingthe visitor gets is that even if the ancestors are nolonger present, their knowledge and skills are stillalive. Those that keep these skills alive are like thosewho chose to be part of the ecomuseum project to

show their heritage to the visitors. The visitor walksup on the trail near the Saxon fortified church, andgoes down on the path near the Romanian church.These two churches reflect, in fact, the two signifi-cant components of today’s Biertan: the Saxon her-itage and the Romanian one.

T H E S I B I U C O U N T Y E C O M U S E U M I N V A L E A V I L O R

Valea Viilor village is a very distinctive place, withits 700-year old fortified church. The village’s nametranslates to ‘The Valley of the Vines’ and is alsoknown under the Saxon name of ‘Wurmloch’. Theecomuseum includes a Romanian house, two old

Saxon houses, the old priest house, the old mill,the house where the famous musician MartianNegrea was born, and the Romanian neighbor-hood. In 1939 the Evangelical community of ValeaViilor had 928 members, though by 2004 therewere only twenty members remaining. Nowadays,there are only four Saxon families left in the vil-lage. The visit included a glass-maker workshopwhere they make beautiful big glass vases.

When visiting the old Orthodox church, the localpriest spoke about the importance of heritage inmaintaining one’s identity: “We do not have toforget that our ancestors prayed in these churches,tried to embellish them and preserve them” (Thelocal priest, personal notes). That is why the eco-museum has a significant role: “The ecomuseumaims to reinvigorate our traditions, our crafts andthe occupation of animal breeding and to raisepeople’s awareness of the fact that we can not sur-vive without them” (Halmaghi, personal notes).

T H E S I B I U C O U N T Y E C O M U S E U M I N M O S N A

The reinvigoration of traditions was also made evi-dent during the inauguration of the Sibiu CountyEcomuseum in Mosna, which includes a traditionalSaxon house, the former communal kindergarten,the communal flour mill – a traditional, electrically-


The carpenter’s workshop and view of Biertan with the fortified church in the background.

powered mill provided with millstones (purchasedfrom France), two households with sheds to thefront, and the Evangelical parish house.The main occupations of the local people are agri-culture, cattle breeding, beekeeping, hunting, fish-ing, and harvesting of medicinal plants and ofplants to obtain natural dyes. The local people inMosna were very interested in the ecomuseum pro-ject; they saw it as an opportunity for the develop-ment of their village based on its heritage, includ-ing buildings and crafts. But as Mihai Halmaghiadvised one owner of a house part of ecomuseum,they now have to know how to be guides of theirown houses, how to ‘tell a story.’

C O N C L U S I O N

Understood as a force for the transformation ofEuropean society and culture, the European integra-tion has an impact on and interacts with localdebates over culture, politics and identity. This arti-cle argued that for Romania the process of EU inte-gration meant a reevaluation of the relation betweenits heritage and identity. This article looked at how,in the context of Sibiu ECC 2007 programme, her-itage is an essential part of different strategies usedby local people in Sibiu city and region to promoteeconomic, social, and cultural development and tostrengthen regional identities and increase the globalcompetitiveness of regions (in this case, Transylvania).The rural heritage is seen as a significant part inpromoting national identity. Contrary to the expectations that European inte-gration would act as a force, somehow erasing tra-dition, the investigation in this article aimed toreveal that integration might more accurately besaid to have brought a new revival of the idea oftradition. The Sibiu County Ecomuseum was cho-sen as an example also of the way in which theintegration has intensified the process of linkingidentity, heritage and place. Heritage is an economic resource (“the commodifi-cation of memory”, as Urry [1995: 27] says), used as

a strategy to promote tourism, economic develop-ment, and rural and urban regeneration. Places areincreasingly being restructured as centers for con-sumption (Urry 1995:1) and cultural industries,including heritage, have become crucial to the eco-nomic and cultural transformation of differentplaces, in Romania and in wider Europe. ©

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House with shed in front in Mosna and the glass maker workshop in Valea Viilor.

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All photographs are by the Authoress.

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Diana Ramazanova, a Kazakhnational, holds a MSc in ConflictResolution and Governance from theUniversity of Amsterdam, and a BAin Political Science from the Universityof California Santa Barbara, US.Diana is currently working on thesubject of indigenous language anddevelopment at Spanda Foundationin The Hague, Netherlands.Email: [email protected].

OLLOWING THE BREAK UP OF SOVIET UNION, THE

world witnessed many post-Soviet republicsgoing back to their cultural roots and nativelanguages. During the Soviet era Moscow

administration developed effective policies in orderto promote and elevate Russian as the dominantlanguage throughout the USSR. As a result, almostall citizens of the majority of republics spoke Russ-ian fluently and in some countries to the extentthat their own native languages were abandoned.Such was the case in Kazakhstan, which had thehighest percentage of Russian-speaking native pop-ulation out of all the former Soviet Central Asianrepublics, such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turk-menistan and Tajikistan. As the republic industrial-ized and developed, the Russian language becomemore prestigious, offering greater career opportuni-ties and eventually turning into the ‘lingua franca’of the Union. Such development indicators as liter-acy and economic growth therefore negativelyimpacted indigenous languages such as Kazakh,stripping it of its prior communicative function. After gaining independence, all the Central Asianrepublics resolved to return to their former nativelanguages and reinstate them as their respective offi-cial state languages. While most did not experiencesignificant problems with this change, Kazakhstanfaced major obstacles concerning the language issue.This can be explained by the fact that upon the col-lapse of the USSR, the country had one of the biggestRussian populations living outside of Russia, withover half of its population native Russian. Secondly,

since a majority of the native Kazakh population didnot and still does not speak the Kazakh language,language revival stirred hot debates between ‘nation-alists’ and those who did not speak Kazakh, i.e., eth-nic Russians and the Russian speaking ethnic Kaza-khs (later referred to as Russophone Kazakhs). The

country has a population of 16million people and the mostnumerous ethnic groups are:Kazakh 63.1%; Russian 23.7%;Uzbek 2.8%; Ukrainian 2.1%;Uighur 1.4%; Tatar 1.3%; German1.1%; other 4.5% (2009 census).Thus, its multi-ethnic commu-nity makes it challenging for thenewly independent state withno previous history of statehoodto create a coherent nation withits own national identity. InEurope, the birthplace and archi-tect of the concept of nation-

state, most states were formed from relativelyhomogenous populations and before the age ofglobalization and easy access to international com-munication, whereas Kazakhstan became a nationin the early 1990’s when technological communica-tion and globalization were already widespread. Even though at the time of independence the coun-try’s economy suffered greatly as a result of beingseparated from the Soviet command economy,Kazakhstan has experienced the highest economicgrowth rates out of all Central Asian republics. ItsGDP growth rate for 2010, 2009 and 2008 are 7%, 1.2%and 3.2%. The country’s GDP per capita has increasedfrom USD 3,200 in 1999 to 12,700 in 2010, making it themost developed state in the region (CIA Factbook). Itis therefore interesting to evaluate how the Kazakhindigenous language evolved amidst such extensiveeconomic transformations.

D E V E L O P M E N T A N D T R A D I T I O N

The dichotomy that emerged in the 1950’s and1960’s in modern sociology and that dominatedstudies of development and modernization betweenmodern and traditional societies assumed that tradi-tion could not go hand in hand with moderniza-tion. Whereas traditional society was defined as astatic one with little differentiation and low literacyand urbanization rates, the modern society wasviewed as the one having thorough differentiation,high literacy rates, urbanization and a presence ofmass media. Traditional society was perceived as


T H E S O V I E T L E G A C Y A N D T H E F U T U R EO F L A N G U A G E P O L I T I C S I N P O S T- S O V I E T K A Z A K H S T A N

D I A N A R A M A Z A N O V A

F

g | K A Z A K H S TA N

being limited by the cultural horizons set by its tra-dition, and modern society as being culturallydynamic, oriented to change and innovation. Anassumption that existed behind this idea was that theconditions for development in various institutionalfields were contingent on continuous extension ofspecific socio-demographic or structural indices ofmodernization. In other words, society’s modernitywas correlated to its features of structural specializa-tion and to the different indices of social mobiliza-tion. The greater the specialization, the less tradi-tional, and therefore more capable it is to developcontinuously and to deal with new problems andsocial forces (Eisenstadt 1973:2). From this it appearsthat development and tradition are two contradict-ing processes. It is therefore important to trace theimpact of the policies directed at reviving the lan-guage and tradition on the development in Kaza-khstan and the impact the latter had on the former.

The implicit assumption that the less traditionalsociety is, the more capable of sustained growth itis, was proved inconclusive. The socio-demographicindices of modernization cannot reveal whether aviable new modern society, capable of continuouseconomic growth, will develop. By contrast, manycountries that have successfully sustained growthhave done so under the “aegis of traditional symbolsand by traditional elites” (Eisenstadt 1973:3). When-ever anti-traditional elites promoted modernization,it would be followed by an attempt to revive someof the traditional symbols by the traditional elites.Therefore, recognition followed that though tradi-tional societies typologically differ from modernones, they vary in the extent to which their tradi-tions hinder or contribute to the transition tomodernity. In the cultural sphere all traditional soci-eties can be generalized by a tendency to accept thegivenness of some past event, order, or figure(whether real or symbolic) as the major focus oftheir collective identity. This givenness legitimateschanges and delineates the limits of innovation.Access to power becomes restricted and incumbentsbecome “legitimate interpreters of traditions andforgers of the legitimate content and symbols of thesocial and cultural orders” (Eisenstadt 1973:5). Inthis case, the Kazakh language, and predominantlyits symbolism, becomes a givenness of the past,around which the government forged a collectivenational identity as part of its nation-buildingprocess. Also, as a means of mobilizing support forits policies central government permeates theperiphery and the periphery impinges on the center,making the two sides dependent on each other. Andsince modern soc eties are characterized by a highlevel of commitment by central government andperiphery to common ‘ideals’ or goals, leaders ofmodern ‘nation-states’ place heavy emphasis on thedevelopment of common symbols of cultural nation-al identity (Eisenstadt 1973:9).

In Kazakhstan, a nationalist sentiment expressedby the periphery becomes a ‘common ideal’ thatthe central government uses to mobilize supportfor their policies in general and to legitimate polit-ical changes they undertake.Furthermore, the process of modernization is nothindered by tradition. Upon gaining independence,some states have experienced the revival of indige-nous tradition as a phase of nationalistic and inde-pendence movements. For instance, in India arevival of Indian national identity was “fostered byexplicit adoption of customs and styles which wereboth traditional and closer to popular behavior”(Gusfield 1967:359). The same process is also takingplace in Kazakhstan, where the government hasestablished various institutions and organizationsaimed at reviving indigenous Kazakh traditions andculture. Several national museums, Kazakh culturaland language centers were opened for public in thecountry. The new elites of the newly independentnations do not necessarily seek to overcome traditionbut instead find ways of synthesizing and blendingtradition and modernity. In Kazakhstan the authori-ties seek to recover from Soviet command economyby launching free-market system values whilereminding people of their ancient traditions and lan-guages as means to unify all classes and ethnicities. The promotion of Kazakh has been used as ameans to unify its people under a new nationalidentity, and to rid them of their former Soviet-identification. When the country became indepen-dent, Kazakhs, who never felt a strong Kazakhnational attachment before, became a titular groupin an independent Kazakhstan with its own flag,anthem, territory, and with most of them not evenspeaking a word of Kazakh. Whereas it is easy tocreate symbols such as flags, anthems and a Consti-tution, it is far more challenging to create an invisi-ble bond that will bring people together, a bondcritical at the time of economic crisis and uncer-tainty. In addition, ethnic heterogeneity may leadto “democratic instability, regional assertiveness,and civil war,” which is applicable to Kazakhstanwith most of its Russian population concentratedin the north (Laitin 2000:142). Recognizing this,instilling a sense of national identity became part ofa political agenda for Kazakh elites. Language con-tributes to broader unity that serves as way of self-identification and helps to recognize one’s relation-ship and interdependence with other members ofthe society (Fishman 1972:45). This recognition ofinterdependence was especially crucial right afterthe independence for the country that was suffer-ing from high inflation, underdevelopment, sky-rocketing crime rates and a feeling of uncertaintyamong the population. Creating a sense of prideamong the people for their country was one of thegoals of the government. This was made especiallydifficult by the fact that Kazakhstan history hadbeen eliminated from school curriculum during theSoviet era, resulting in the absence of the common


historical memories that are usually shared by, andserve to unite, the people in a state. Moreover, used together with primordialist argu-ments, language has been one of the most impor-tant indicators of ethnicity and nationality duringthe period of territorial demarcation of CentralAsian Soviet Socialist republics (SSR) by the Soviets.Primordialism “refers to the idea that certain cul-tural attributes and formations possess a prior,overriding and determining influence on people’slives, one that is largely immune to ‘rational’ inter-est and political calculation” (Smith 2000:5). Attach-ments deriving from such cultural attributes as kin-ship, descent, language, religion, and customs, aswell as historical community are compelling andanimate a sense of communal belonging that wecall ethnic community and form a foundation forthe subsequent development of nations and nation-alism. Ethnic and national attachments take rootfrom the ‘cultural givens’ of social existence likecontiguity and kinship, language, religion, race andcustoms. These cultural givens or congruities ofblood speech, customs etc. “are seen to have anineffable, and at times, overpowering, coercivenessin and of themselves” (Geertz 1973:259-60). Theseprimordial attachments rely on perception, cogni-tion and belief. Individuals assume that culturaldifferences are givens and therefore attribute a greatimportance to these ties. Primordialist argumentsare also often used to stress that a real Kazakh issupposed to know Kazakh language, for it is thelanguage of his ancestors. Therefore, language can be used as one of the maininstruments of nationalism and national identity for-mation, powerful in its authenticity and commonali-ty, elements central to the construction of national-ism. In Kazakhstan, where Kazakh customs, skincolor and religion resemble those of other CentralAsian countries’ cultural and ethnic elements, lan-guage is left as the only distinguishing and uniqueelement that separates Kazakh culture and peoplefrom other Central Asians as well as from Russians.Nationalism is an “organizationally heightened andelaborated beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of soci-eties acting on behalf of their avowed ethnoculturalself-interest” (Fishman 1972:5). Since nationalism hasto be organizationally heightened by a society inorder for nationalism to emerge, members of onecommunity must believe that there are some uniquecultural traits and similarities that they share whichare of great importance to them. If one of the pre-requisites of nationalism is a feeling of sharing com-monalities with other members of one’s communitythen nationalism must seek to expand those com-monalities even further. This process, called ‘broaderunity’, serves as a basic component of nationalismbecause it helps one to “recognize his relationshipand interdependence with a human population mostof whose members he has never met and to believethat this relationship and interdependence are and

have always been quite naturally rooted in ethno-cultural similarities between him and far-flung “kin”(Fishman 1972:7). Recognizing one’s relationship andinterdependence with a human population is equalto locating oneself within the society consequentlyidentifying oneself as well. Authenticity is a second component of nationalismbecause authenticity, purity, and nobility of beliefs,values, and behaviors typify a particular community.No state, no nation, no people and no history of peo-ple are like any other and it is the past that holds anation’s authenticity and glory and appears to be a‘root’ “from which nationalism derives its dynamismfor changing the present and creating the future”(Fishman, 1972:8). Since authenticity serves as asource of dynamism and future change, nationalismand the Kazakh language it emphasizes become thegivenness of the past that legitimates change anddelineates the limits of innovation. Indeed, national-ism is “a complement to the modernizing processeswhich are involved in the aspiration toward a unifiednation” (Gusfield 1967:359). A common culture thatcuts across the segmental and primordial loyalties is abasis for national identity and consensus; without it,sustainable economic growth based on nationhoodlacks a foundation for legitimating central authority.Thus, nationalism and traditions, despite theassumption that tradition and modernity are contra-dicting ideas, appears to be at the center of modern-ization for the newly independent state, such as Kaza-khstan. Also, because language is a key driving forceof nationalism, language planning becomes an instru-ment for authorities in fostering a sense of nationalidentity among its population. Before the vernacularmay start serving as a unifying, authenticating anddriving force of nationalism and therefore modernity,the state becomes a vehicle for language policies andplanning. In Kazakhstan, where the vernacular wasused predominantly in rural communities during theSoviet era, the language could not keep pace withnew technological and foreign vocabulary. In thislight standardization of the language by the statebecomes a necessity, and if not undertaken, signifiesthe defeat and inability of nationalist movement tobecome a mass movement. In pursuit of meeting theneeds of an urban population and modernization,language planning first turns to pre-urban heritagefor inspiration. In other words, before language plan-ning can unify a modern society it must first turn tohistorical usage of the language.From the theories discussed above it is apparent thatmodernization is not hindered by the revival ofnationalism in a form of language policies andindeed nationalism can create a framework for mod-ernization and be a part of the process of economicgrowth in a nation-state. Nationalism is also con-ducive toward creating nationhood for a newly inde-pendent state. How the language revival evolves as aprocess and how successful it is in spreading Kazakh


language amidst significant economic growth is tobe presented in the following sections.

A H I S T O R I C A L P E R S P E C T I V E O N T H E

A B S E N C E O F N A T I O N A L C O N S S C I O U S N E S S

Linking language with a glorious past is even morechallenging when the majority of native Kazakhs donot speak Kazakh itself and prefer speaking Russianinstead. For instance, more than 60% of Kazakhsstill spoke Russian fluently in 2000 and this numbermight even be higher because when Kazakhs areasked about their level of Kazakh they tend to exag-gerate and say what is more ‘favored’ by the society.In addition, in 2001 only 68% of ethnic Kazakhswere satisfied with thecurrent statute thatgranted Kazakh a levelof the state languageand Russian of thelanguage of ‘intereth-nic communication,’meaning that there arethose who preferRussian over Kazakh.Indeed during theSoviet era Kazakhstanwas the most bilingualrepublic among all ofthe Central Asianrepublics (Peyrouse2007:486). In addition,there is a group ofKazakhs who do notsupport extensivenationalizing policiesof the governmentthat are likely to expelminorities from the country and institutionalize thevalues of “Kazakhness” at all levels of society. Theydo not believe in the political discourse, which aimsto recreate an ‘original’ or an authentic Kazakhidentity, free of its Russian and Soviet traits. It is striking that a majority of people in Kazakhstando not feel strongly about being ‘Kazakh’ and someeven oppose the prevalence of Kazakh language,when it was the language of their ancestors. Currentidentity politics and consequently language politicsof Kazakhstan first of all can be explained by theabsence of Kazakh identity prior to becoming partof tsarist Russia and strongly reflect identity andlanguage politics of the Soviets toward its unionrepublics. Therefore, to fully understand the currentlanguage issue and its historical origins it is vital toknow the historical background of the Kazakh peo-ple as nomads. The continuing legacy of Soviet identity (sovetskii che-lovek) that Moscow wished to develop among all ofthe Soviet ethnicities had a long lasting effect on theKazakhs even after becoming its own nation-state.

This surprising absence of a sense of nationalismamong the Kazakhs prior to separating from theUSSR is due to several reasons. First, unlike otherpolitically dependent countries in Africa and Asia,Kazakh SSR did not develop an independence move-ment. Second, out of all Central Asian states it wasthe most integrated state in terms of transformationinto a settler colony and learning Russian languageduring Soviet rule. One of the main reasons for thisis a lack of self-determination of the Kazakh peopleas a nation before becoming a ‘colony’ of the USSR. The term Kazakh did come into existence until thetime of the formation of the Kazakh khanate, i.e. anarea governed by a khan, in the fifteenth century(Dave 2007:31). Importantly, the term was not an

ethnic category butsimply meant a per-son, who was free as anomad. Due to con-fusion caused bynewly arrived ethnicgroups of Cossaks onthe Kazakh steppeterritory, the tsaristadministration beganto name Kazakhnomads as Kirgiz. Todifferentiate KazakhKirgiz from the actualKirgiz ethnic group,who lived south ofthe Kazakh steppes inthe mountains, theycalled the former askirgiz-kaisak and thelatter as kara-kirgiz.However, the term didnot bear any ‘national’

or ethnic meaning until the early twentieth century,when the leaders of the first nationalist movement,Alash Orda, began to give it a meaning of narod (thepeople) or ‘nation’ (Dave 2007:31). Consequently,Kazakh nomads did not have a clearly defined nation-al identity prior to tsarist subordination. Only from the mid-fifteenth to the late sixteenthcentury were the Kazakh nomads united into onekhanate, yet it was highly decentralized and thuscould not withstand external security threats of theChinese and Mongolians. Since its fall, the nomadicorganization consisted of a tripartite system of clanconglomerations or hordes (zhuz) dispersed overthree natural climatic zones. The titles Elder (ulu),Middle (orta) and Younger (kishi) zhuz convey the“seniority of their mythical progenitors, and nottheir size or strength” (Dave 2007:32). Within thesezhuz there were several clans (ruy), which were themain axis of nomadic organization. Kazakhs had asegmentary lineage system, where a particular unittraces its descent from a single progenitor, while alarger unit is subdivided into smaller components


A Second World War veteran from rural area wisiting Almaty.

from parent lineages through a process of segmenta-tion. The nomad was supposed to know his lineageat least to the 7th generation, which was also maindeterminant of his/her identity. When traveling inthe steppes, the first question one was asked was towhich ‘ru’ one belonged to. Identities in pre-modern communities were fuzzyand fluid. First, due to the Kazakhs nomadic pas-toralist way of living, they were not particularly tiedto a territory, and their “notions of community orgroup solidarity among both nomadic and settledpeople were anchored in clan and genealogical tiesand in local structures” (Dave 2007:39). A lack of aclear identity among the Kazakh nomads was dueto an absence of central administration or classifica-tion schemes that would enumerate them. Also, sev-eral clan identities and clan classifications, whichnomads identified themselves with, were neversuperseded by an overarching state framework thatexists in many modern societies. Thus, an absenceof such terms as ‘ethnicity’ and ‘national identity’made it easy for the tsarist and Soviet Russia to cre-ate a new form of identity for the Kazakhs thatcould supersede their clan affiliation and therebyassimilate the Kazakhs into their own society. One of the first ways in which tsarist Russia triedto integrate a Kazakh nomad into its system andbegin forging a sense of identity among them is byspreading Russian language education and makinga significant change in means of surviving in thetsarist system. If already prior to the tsarist Russia,the economic organization of nomadic pastoralismwas displaying major drawbacks because of scarcityof land, lack of water resources and shrinkage ofnomadic pastures; the growing immigration of Slav-ic groups, especially the Cossaks, decreased the graz-ing land and created a competition for land previ-ously unknown. Between 1885 and 1895 around35,000 European settlers immigrated into the Kaza-kh steppes increasing the population density andthus decreasing the grazing land per person (Dave2007:40). Later, the tsarist policy of forced seden-tarism further aggravated the situation. The Kaza-khs, who did not have any prior experience withfarming, in 1868 began to have taxes levied on theland they used for pasturage and yurts (round hous-es that nomads lived in). All these major changesimplemented by the tsarist Russia caused a huge cri-sis in the pastoral nomadic economy. Tsarist Russiamade nomadic pastoralism non-sustainable for thenomads with no other skills or education. Thesechallenges forced the nomads to embrace literacy inorder to obtain new skills to survive in the neworder, making the Kazakhs more receptive to Russ-ian language and culture. By introducing a central administration system,spreading literacy and bringing European settlersto the steppes, tsarist Russia took the first steps inforging a Kazakh identity. The main defining fac-tors of nationality for tsarist administration were

language, race and territory. Furthermore, the firstpopulation census launched by the tsarist govern-ment in 1897 marked the initial realization ofnomadic Kazakhs’ self-consciousness that they weredifferent from the other people living south of theirsteppes. The census served to separate the peoples ofCentral Asia and assign each one a separate ‘nation-ality’ linking the differences to language and territo-ry, borders of which did not exist in pre-Russian era.It was also the first time imperial Russia differentiat-ed the Kyrgyz (=Kirgiz) ethnic group from the Kaza-kh one. In addition, after demarcation of internal‘national’ borders in 1924-1925, the Russians alsointroduced such terms as natsional’nost (nationality)and narodnost (peoplehood) to the vocabulary ofKazakhs, defining the first one as “formed character ofan ethnos” and the second one as “lack of territorial,ethnic and linguistic consolidation” (Dave 2007:40).The census of 1926 deduced the nationality of theinhabitants solely relying on the language they spoke.While the process of determining nationality of bilin-gual groups was arbitrary, one’s ‘native tongue’ wouldpredetermine one’s ‘nationality’ (Dave 2007:40). Cen-sus, being a practical tool of enumeration, becamean ideological instrument of forging a particularidentity prescribed by the authorities. After beingtold to define themselves along ‘national’ rather thanclan or ‘zhuz’ lines, national identity for Kazakhnomads eventually began to supersede any previousidentities they had before.‘Native language’ became a meaningful categoryand since there existed many ethnicities, tribes,nations and nationalities, Soviets found it problem-atic to define each term and demarcate the bordersaccording to the borders between all of ethnicitiesand tribes, language served as a marker of tribalcomposition. ‘Native language’ education became abasis of nationality policy and ethnographersdepended on language as an indicator of ethnicity(Slezkine 1994:428). As part of the policy called ‘kor-enizatsia’ (indigenization) introduced by Lenin thatlasted from 1920 to 1933-34, some 130 languages werespoken with minority languages being raised to astatus of literary ones and some were even savedfrom extinction. By 1928 newspapers were publishedin 47 languages and books - in 66 languages (com-pared to 40 in 1913) (Slezkine 1994:431). The promo-tion of native languages also meant that the speakersof those native languages were also promoted. From1924-1933 Kazakh membership in the republicanCommunist party grew from 8% to 53%, and everyparty in the region had a majority of native mem-bers (Suny 1993:104). The ‘communal apartment’metaphor, introduced by Slezkine (1994:414), there-fore refers to this process in the Soviet politics,where Russia was a kitchen, a common area and themain decision maker, and the rest of the roomsbelonged to the republics, which had their own ‘ter-ritory’ and a certain amount of freedom.Even though korenizatsia, contributed to the devel-opment of a sense of nationhood among the people


of USSR, the following policy of forced industrial-ization launched by Stalin limited and underminednationhood concordantly. With the start of Stalin’sindustrialization and social transformation, the pol-icy of ‘korenizatsia’ was invoked. This brought withit a transformation of previously agrarian societiesinto industrial urban ones, which in turn requiredassimilation to a generalized Soviet culture andlearning the Russian language. Lenin’s doctrine ofrapprochement (sblizhenie) and merging (sliyanie)also played its role in limiting the national identi-ties of republics and contributed to the develop-ment of one common Soviet identity, of sovetskichelovek. Therefore, a paradox of some sort tookplace: on the one hand korenizatsia gave birth to

the idea of discrete nations and nationalities, andon the other hand, subsequent state policies pro-moted integration into a common Soviet cultureand Russian language. This can be seen by suchgovernment actions towards Azerbaijan and Cen-tral Asian republics as codification and standardiza-tion of local languages, manipulation of vocabularyand removal of foreign accretions (mainly Persianand Arabic), and introduction of Russian as a lan-guage of inter-ethnic communication (Landau andKellner-Heinkele 2001:53). Also, Russian wasemployed in government, industrial and commer-cial enterprises which led to a shift among the elites towards using Russian instead of their titular lan-guage. Gradually, the challenge of balancing identi-ty through language, where native tongues carriedemotional as well as possible nationalist sentiments, and Russian used as a common tool between vari-ous ethnicities, in an era of industrialization and common economic space, became of a central con-cern for the apparatus. With the Union becoming

more centralized, the language debate began tofavor Russian as the ‘lingua franca’. The ResolutionOn the Obligatory Study of the Russian Language inSchools of National Republics and Regions (1938) pro-claimed that Russian would be a mandatory lan-guage in all Soviet schools (Landau and Kellner-Heinkele 2001:54). Latin script, adopted in 1929,was also changed to Cyrillic by 1940. This shiftclearly demonstrated the Soviet leaders’ intention tolink Kazakhs (and other partitular ethnicities) toRussians, promoting the de jure equality of all lan-guages while de facto favoring Russian. Publicationsin Russian began to exceed those printed in titularlanguages. Russian was also encouraged at school,while titular languages became elective courses.

Previously, if the ethnic Russians, unlike the rest ofethnic groups, lacked a sense of Russianness and national cultural institutions, by the early 1930’s thatsituation changed. The Party began endowing Rus-sians with national past, national language and agrowing national iconography. The Party placedemphasis on the ‘friendship of peoples’ and ‘interna-tionalism’ dogmas, referring to close ties between allnationalities in the USSR, yet expressed them solely inRussian, underscoring the language’s unifying func-tion. Although Russian was not proclaimed a statelanguage, it served as a main component in the con-solidation of all ethnicities within the Soviet Union.Russification was also part of the “concentrated effortto obliterate the collective national memory of allpeoples in the Union” (Landau and Kellner-Heinkele2001:55). As Slezkine (1994:444) elaborates on hismetaphor: “The Russians began to bully their neigh-bors and decorate their part of the communal apart-ment […] but they did not claim the whole apart-ment was theirs nor that the other (large) families


Green bazaar in the capital city Almaty.

were entitled to their own rooms. The tenants wereincreasingly unequal but reassuringly separate.”The turning point in the process of Russificationwas the Decree on Measures for Further Improvingthe Study and Teaching of the Russian Language inthe Union Republics (1978) that called for a new syl-labus for the Russian language and better textbooks and teaching aid for all schools. Russian was alsogiven a larger share as language of instruction andwas prescribed for pre-school establishments (Landauand Kellner-Heinkele 2001:57). Although Russian wasa language of inter-ethnic communication, it was themain language of instruction in institutions of highereducation and professional technical schools. As aresult, more and more people in Kazakhstan claimedto speak Russian. According to the Soviet population

census from 1970, 1979 and 1989, 41.8%, 52.3% and60.4% respectively of the ethnic Kazakhs claimed tohave a command of Russian. In 1989, despite show-

ing loyalty to their native language (97%), 60.4% con-sidered themselves bilingual. This data of 97% ofKazakhs speaking their native language is disputablesince S.Z. Zimanov estimated that as much as about40% of Kazakhs did not speak their native tongue orspoke it very poorly (cf. Fierman 2005:405). Russianspredominantly occupied the urban areas of the coun-try, relegating Kazakh to the rural social sphere. Kaza-kh became a language of minimal importance, as itwas not intrinsic to upward mobility or navigatingurbanized society. Similarly, Kazakhs from rural areasencountered many difficulties when moving to thecities and urban Kazakhs, who had a strong commandof Russian looked down on newly arrived rural Kaza-khs, who could barely speak Russian.The first shift of attention to Kazakh language bythe Soviets was triggered by the emergence ofnational consciousness among the ethnic Kazakhs

in a form of protests in Almaty in 1986 carrying eth-nic character. Thousands of young Kazakhs protest-ed against the removal of Dinmukhamed Kunaev-an ethnic Kazakh- and appointment of GennadiKolbin – an ethnic Russian – as a secretary of theKazakh Communist Party. In light of these ethnicdisturbances the Kazakhstan Council of Ministersand Kazakhstan Communist Party decided to adopta resolution On Improving the Study of the KazakhLanguage (1987) (Fierman 1998:175). Although thisresolution did not confer great power upon Kazakhlanguage, it was an important step since Kazakhlanguage had not been given even nominal supportin the previous decades. Furthermore, with even more freedom given toKazakh Communist Party with perestroika, The

Language Law (1989) was adopted by the SupremeSoviet of Kazakhstan declaring Kazakh as the statelanguage and Russian as the language of inter-eth-nic communication (Dave 2007:101). It was a firsttime Kazakh language was elevated to a level high-er than that of Russian despite the fact that Kaza-khstan was the most likely state in Central Asia toadopt Russian as the state language. Barely one inone hundred Russians in 1989 spoke Kazakh andthe census data of 98.5% of Kazakhs having a goodcommand of the language was grossly exaggerated(Landau and Kellner-Heinkele 2001:56). Unlike inother republics where similar laws passed served tofortify the titular languages that already enjoyed apopular support, in Kazakhstan they simply car-ried a symbolic meaning as Kazakh did not enjoythe same prestigious status as did the titular lan-guages in the Baltic republics, for example. Even though the Kazakh language was elevated andthe republics were granted more freedom over the


Green bazaar in the capital city Almaty.

language policy, the Plenum of the Central Com-mittee of the Communist Party adopted a resolutionon the The Nationality Policy of the Party in the Cur-rent Circumstance (1989). This resolution declared alllanguages in the Union equal and prohibited lan-guage discrimination. The Soviet language politicscarried a double faced character reflecting the com-munal apartment approach to identity and languageissue in the Union. On the one hand, the authoritiesused a non-titular (except for the ethnic Russiansthemselves) Russian language to forge a soviet iden-tity and on the other hand, by drawing a strong con-nection between language and nationality, Moscowused titular language of each republic during ‘kor-enizatsiya’ and less so later on to forge titular identi-ties of their own. The same strategy was to beemployed by the government in Astana but this timeutilizing Kazakh language, which is to be demon-strated in more detail below.

L A N G U A G E P O L I T I C S A F T E R T H E

I N D E P E N D E N C E A N D I T S C O N T I N U I T Y

Although the Kazakh authorities gained moreleverage closer to independence, they admitted thecomplexity of the language issue and abated theirapproach. They had to take into account the Russ-ian minority and its prevalent presence in theNorth and poor knowledge of Kazakh languageamong ethnic Kazakhs. A rural versus urbandichotomy posed another obstacle for the authori-ties. While most of the urban Kazakhs spoke solelyRussian, rural Kazakhs spoke Kazakh and were flu-ent in Russian as well. Kazakh had completely lostits importance for the urban Kazakh population,whereas Russian was necessary to secure futurecareer opportunities. This language divide served asan obstacle to consolidation between the urban andrural Kazakhs. Therefore, the objective of the lan-guage policies consisted of consolidating the Kaza-khs together without disagreeably affecting theRussian population so as to prevent their futureoutmigration. Consequently, the government triedto find a medium to satisfy both sides. Thus, agrowing prevalence of the Kazakh language was notthe main objective of the government shortly afterindependence; it was primarily to unite the ethnicKazakhs using the language and its unifying andauthenticating function, as stated by Fishman. Thus in the Declaration of Independence (O Gosu-dastvennoi Nezavisimosti, 1991), the language issuedid not receive much attention because it onlystressed the importance of general cultural attributes,such as a “development of culture, traditions andlanguage, and consolidation of the Kazakh nationalvirtue (merit) and virtue of other nationalities, livingin Kazakhstan.” With the growing necessity for thefirst Constitution, the newly independent stateissued the Constitution of Sovereign Kazakhstan (1993)where Kazakh was defined as the state language and

Russian as the language of inter-ethnic communica-tion, reflecting the 1989 Language Law. However,this division of roles between languages triggereddebates among political activists and nationalistsespecially, who argued that by designating Russian asthe language of inter-ethnic communication wouldresult in Kazakh remaining a language of lesserimportance, and would discourage Russian speakersfrom learning Kazakh. One of the main argumentsthey used was that Kazakh could not compete withRussian, thus it required more legal support thanRussian did. Later, a new constitution was adoptedwhich stripped the Russian language of its role aslanguage of inter-ethnic communication. The Con-stitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan (KonstitutsiyaRespubliki Kazakhstan 1995) reiterated Kazakh as thestate language: “the Russian language shall be offi-cially used on equal grounds with the Kazakh lan-guage in state institutions and local-self administra-tive bodies. A year later, the government issued theresolution Concept of Language Policy of the Republicof Kazakhstan analyzing the language situation, con-cluded that the Kazakh language continued to be ofdiminished stature compared to Russian and laid outa language program for further expansion of func-tions of the former. In 1997 a Law of the Republic ofKazakhstan on Languages was passed reflecting theConstitution that Kazakh was the state language andRussian was to be used on equal grounds with Kaza-kh. It also added that “it is a duty of every citizen ofKazakhstan to master the state language, which isthe main factor of consolidation of the people ofKazakhstan” (Zakon o Yazykah ot Iyulya 1997 N# 151).Although this law stressed that the state languageshould be employed by the governmental and non-governmental business institutions and that its func-tions should be expanded, it also declared discrimi-nation on the basis of language unlawful, gave free-dom to citizens to speak their native language andpromised to develop all of the languages of the peo-ple of Kazakhstan, an approach that strongly resem-bled the Soviet method of promoting Russian lan-guage and culture without appearing to completelydisregard other languages.Together with these policies, several other actionswere taken to elevate the status of the state language.For instance, the percentage of books published inKazakh substantially increased from 19% in 1990 to45% in 1993 and the number of the books publishedin Russian declined (Landau and Kellner-Heinkele2001:91). The Law on Education (1992) also promotedKazakh language schools and emphasized the impor-tance of studying it. This bore some results as in 1989-90 academic year only 17.9 % of students went tohigher-education institutions with Kazakh languageinstruction but in the period between 2002 to 2005this number ranged between 32% and 40% (Fierman2005:407). To strengthen the feeling of an indepen-dent state with its own historical memories andmyths, the government also undertook the program


of renaming physical geographical, toponymic,industrial and other objects with Kazakh names. Forinstance, a street named Lenin Street in Kostanay wasrenamed to Al-Farabi Street after the Muslimphilosopher and thinker.

R E A L I T Y F A R F R O M F O R M A L I T Y

Despite of all these changes in the legal status ofthe Kazakh language the results appear to be rathersuperficial. One of the main objectives of the 1997Law on Languages was the expansion of the func-tions of the state language. However, the functionsof Kazakh only appeared to be expanding on thesurface. For instance, even though more office workwas carried out in Kazakh it was so only because of ahigh number of document translations from Russianinto Kazakh. So, effectively, office work is still car-ried out in Russian and then translated into Kazakh.Radio stations and television channels also circum-vent the law on media that requires the proportionof programs in Kazakh to be no smaller than ofthose in Russian and other languages by broadcast-ing the programs in Kazakh during off–peak hours. Often, officials and official documents tend to over-rate and exaggerate the facts in order to create a falsesense of policy success. For instance, the governmentused census manipulation to exaggerate the numbersof Kazakhs speaking Kazakh. However, I found thatthis does not apply to the new Conception of Expand-ing the Functions of the State Language (2007) for itacknowledged the gap between policy and its imple-mentation. It revealed that the documentation incentral governmental bodies was still prepared inRussian, with only 20-30% of it being written inKazakh. Even in the regions with predominantlyKazakh population, the office work was still handledin Russian due to a lack of translators. According tothis document, only 458 of 2300 newspapers andmagazines published in the country are in Kazakh. Italso admitted the nighttime broadcasting of Kazakhprograms and “poor quality of many [Kazakh] pro-grams, the lack of relevance and attractiveness ofprograms that can foster a culture of language andspeech, ultimately, its successful mastery” (KonceptsiyaRasshireniya Sphery Primeneniya GossudarstvennogoYazyka, 2007). From this it is possible to concludethat there is a growing concern in the governmentover the implementation of the policy and its results.The authorities are willing to go beyond simplyassigning Kazakh a symbolic role by legally and offi-cially elevating its legal status. By publishing a nega-tive account of failure and policy disregard, theauthorities appear ready to take serious measures torealistically promote the Kazakh language and itscommunicative function in the social sphere. The Conception also proclaims that due to a lowquality of Kazakh language instruction, there is a lackof professionals educated in the Kazakh language,indicating the significance of its use in educational

instruction. In spite of growth in the number of pub-lished textbooks, methods and literature in Kazakh,Conception argues that the organs of local adminis-trative bodies do not supply local educational institu-tions with them. The document therefore admits thepoor quality of language teaching methods, anadmission often denied by ‘nationalists’ who blamethe people’s unwillingness to learn the languageinstead of the poor quality of teaching methods(Ramazanova 2011:44). The failure of policy being implemented is also sup-ported by the evidence gathered from the govern-ment officials. It is evident that although there wasan official requirement to have an excellent com-mand of the Kazakh language for governmentworkers, most of the employees in city administra-tion in the Northern region of the country did notspeak Kazakh and were not required to learn it inthe near future, despite the law that requires all gov-ernment documents to be written in Kazakh. Ingeneral, this issue was of low importance to theauthorities, who emphasize that professional com-petence is of higher priority than knowledge of thestate language. It is also apparent that there is a lackof qualified professionals who also speak Kazakhfluently (Ramazanova 2011:44). All documentationis still handled in both languages by translators,who are responsible for translating the documentsinto Kazakh. The rule to hire candidates withknowledge of Kazakh is not abided and registeringfor Kazakh courses, which are completely subsi-dized, is not mandatory and is completely at will. Additionally, the mayor (akim) of the Kostanairegion does not speak Kazakh well but can use it onthe conversational level (Ramazanova 2011:45). Nev-ertheless, during various conversations with thelocal citizens on this subject, most of the localsbelieved that he spoke Kazakh since they saw himspeak it on the local news channel. It appears thatthe mayor chooses to project an image of speakingKazakh while he does not speak proficiently. Themayor’s appointment by a president who also speaksthe state language poorly indicates that the centralgovernment is not highly concerned by the extentto which language policies are implemented. Themayor, like any other high official figure, is expectedto be a role model for the country, setting an exam-ple by speaking or at least making an effort to learn-ing Kazakh. Therefore, despite the passage of myriadrules and regulations on language, the enforcementof the policies appears to be negligent. Although thegovernment is attempting to develop the commu-nicative function of the language, its symbolic func-tion is more prevalent in regions with a high per-centage of Kazakh Russophones (those natives Kaza-khs whose first language is Russian) and Russians. Furthermore, the enforcement of the rules dependson who is in power at the time. Many of thoseworking for the government in the northern city ofKostanay explain that the relaxation of the rules


concerning the state language was partially due tothe mayor being ethnic Russian. The rules are notstrict but if someone from the South, historically amore nationalistic part of the country, comes topower then the rules might be more tightly enforced(Ramazanova 2011:45). Low knowledge of the statelanguage is also blamed on the inefficient teachingmethodology of Kazakh language at schools. Unlikethe English language, Kazakh does not have well-developed teaching methodology dating back tothe Soviet period, perhaps due to the omission ofKazakh language instruction from school curriculaunder the Soviets. By contrast, the opinions of officials representingvarious state language institutions can be placed onthe opposite side of the scale. The budget allocatedby the central government to this institution hasincreased from 3 million tenge (appx. 15,000 euro) in2003 to 45 million tenge (appx. 215,000 euro) per year,suggesting a growing importance of the languageissue to the state authorities. In addition, the per-centage of the population that can speak and writein Kazakh has reached 77%. By year 2020 a languageplan included an increase of that number to 95%,which will be achieved through improving teachingmethods at schools and offering free language cours-es to the general population. A special emphasis wasplaced on the improvement of Kazakh languageinstruction stressing an increase of the hours Kazakhlanguage is taught per week (Ramazanova 2011:45).The number of hours of Kazakh language instruc-tion has increased from three to five hours per weekthis year as part of the government program fromthe president’s state-of-the-nation address, where agoal of having 80% of population speaking Kazakhfluently by 2020 was set. The main priority of the Kazakhstani elite was theadoption of a law that would grant a symbolicsupremacy to Kazakh language without undermin-ing their own position or damaging societal equi-librium (Dave 2007:116). Often when talking tohigh officials or elderly Kazakhs (older people aretraditionally highly respected by the younger)Kazakh people, even without knowing the lan-guage well, would still start off their conversationin Kazakh and then switch to Russian. In businessrelations, Kazakh language is not necessary to knowbut is crucial for building personal bonds and ininformal negotiations. A need for Kazakh languageproficiency is correlated with professional field andregion. For instance, in northern regions of Kaza-khstan with close proximity to Russia and with a sig-nificant Russian population, knowledge of Kazakh isnot a determinant factor for an individual’s careereven if he/she is a government worker. Contrastingly,in southern regions with predominantly ethnic Kaza-kh populations, knowing Kazakh is key for govern-ment positions as well as for socializing. Interestingly,Kazakh still appears to yield to Russian language inbusiness related fields. Therefore, even though the

evidence reveals an increased effort of the govern-ment to expand the communicative function ofKazakh language, its symbolic function still prevails.

L A N G U A G E C O N F L I C T

Due to the heavy influence of Soviet centralizedgovernment and the current president being amember of the communist apparatus in the USSR,politics in Kazakhstan can still be characterized asundemocratic and thus not representing the inter-ests of all layers of society.In addition, the fact that the president appointsregional governors himself and has altered Constitu-tion in order to prolong his own term in the officetells that the system is not democratic enough. Tobe able to analyze which interests are being repre-sented by the government on the topic of language,it is crucial to understand the arguments of the twoparties involved in the language conflict among theintelligentsia of the Kazakh society. There is a language divide between Kazakh-speakersand non-Kazakh speakers, both of them being flu-ent in Russian. Second, within the latter groupthere are ethnic Russians and ethnic Kazakhs- i.e.Kazakh Russophones. Whereas the preferences ofethnic Kazakh speakers and of ethnic Russians arestraightforward, the preferences and opinions of theKazakh Russophones are not as transparent. Withtheir Kazakh ethnicity and Russian language, theyare caught up between the two groups. Kazakh Rus-sophones occupy a difficult space: if they bow toKazakh speakers’ language preference they wouldhave to disavow their first language and learn Kaza-kh; if they do not, they are often disparaged as‘mankurts’, a term used to describe someone wholost his ethnic identity and native language, and hasbecome synonymous with being Russified (Dave2007:50). However, as they comprise 60% of the totalpopulation, their interests are represented by one ofthe sides in the debate (Peyrouse 2007:486).In general, there are two sides of the debate betweenethnic Kazakhs with a perfect command of Kazakhlanguage, who tend to be called and call themselves‘nationalists’ and Russian speaking population. TheRussian speaking population divides into ethnicRussians, who promote official bilingualism, andethnic Kazakh Russophones. It is often the case thatthe opinions of Kazakh Russophones are leftunheard since the language conflict revolves primar-ily around Russians, who promote official bilingual-ism and ethnic Kazakh nationalists, who supportfull transformation into Kazakh. Kazakh Russo-phones, being left in the middle, should be consid-ered as a separate group within the population sinceit also fits the typology formulated by two Kaza-khstani academicians, who divided Kazakh societyinto three groups with regard to their viewpoint onthe construction of ‘ethnocratic’ state. The first andthe most numerous group consists of rural members


of the educated classes, who were born in Kazakhtraditional-patriarchical towns. Having been educat-ed in Kazakh language and schools, they perceiveRussian culture as alien. Though they are fully inte-grated into urban life, they retain their traditionalworld view, “which sets them in natural opposition toa linguistically and otherwise urban culture” (Smith etal 1998: 140). The second and least numerous groupare urban Kazakh people, who are linguistically Russ-ian and are also estranged from Kazakh culture. Themembers of the third group are equally integrated intoKazakh and Russian cultures “and are therefore char-acterized by an ‘ethnocultural and linguistic dualism”(Smith et al 1998: 140). This typology highlights thedivide within the society and marks out RussophoneKazakhs as a separategroup, whose posi-tion in the currentlanguage divide is notas clear as the one ofthe other two groups. The language lawsgranting a significantstatus to the Russianlanguage are stronglyopposed by thenationalists and theanti-Russian languagelaws are not favoredby Kazakh Russo-phones. Despite theusage of the term‘debate’ the two sidesdo not communicate with each other in public andoften are not even aware of each other’s stance.Nationalists take their debate to the media and getpublished in the Kazakh Press (Ramazanova 2011:48).Kazakh nationalists usually vent their rancor in Kaza-kh-language newspapers that hardly any Russo-phones are able or care to read (Kolsto 1998:53). MostRussian-language media is non-political and it is so“because they are afraid to touch on this subject”(Ramazanova 2011:48). That Kazakh speakers are not‘afraid’ to air their complaints in the open, but theRussian speakers are, may indicate a sense of entitle-ment and leverage felt by the Kazakh speakingactivists. This may be so because they sense supportfrom the Constitution and policy, whereas the Russ-ian-speaking activists might feel they have no legalgrounds to substantiate their case.The less prestigious status of Kazakh is also oftenlinked to post-colonialism by the nationalists. Thereason ethnic Kazakhs are not willing to learn theirnative tongue, they feel, is explained by the post-colonial attitude that Kazakhstan was a second orthird-rate country which did not justify the knowl-edge of its own language by all citizens. Nationalistsargue that this post-colonial attitude will pass, claim-ing that all Kazakhs should know their language andthat the country should become mono-linguistic state.

The nationalist side also insists that the majority ofyoung Kazakhs are nationalistic and would push formore nationalistic policies causing the authorities tosuccumb (Ramazanova 2011: 48). They hold thatwhile previously the government could give differ-ent accounts in Russian and Kazakh language, itcannot now do that without damaging its reputa-tion. Nationalists were also able to convince thepresident to insert the formula into the Constitu-tion that “it is a duty of every citizen to learn andknow Kazakh language” (Konstitutsia RespublikiKazakhstan 1995). The nationalists believe that themajority of the country is supportive of the lan-guage revival and it is their interests that are beingrepresented in the policy (Ramazanova 2011: 48).

This is also in linewith the results (Gra-ham Smith et al 1998:140) that primarily themembers of ruralKazakh intelligentsia,educated in Kazakhschools and broughtup in traditional Kaza-kh town and villages,guide the nationaliz-ing policies. Thoughbeing fully integratedinto urban life, theynonetheless retainedtheir traditional world-views. This implies thatthose members of

intelligentsia employing nationalist and primordialarguments have gained the upper hand in promotingnationalizing policies.Many of them also consider Russian language asan “outgoing reality” due to the growing Russianoutmigration claiming that in some decades itwould completely yield to Kazakh language. However, on the side of the spectrum, offering aninstrumentalist explanation, are those who believethat the elites in Kazakhstan are predominantlyRussophone and as long as they are in power, theRussian language will dominate. The urban popula-tion in Kazakhstan has a higher social status and iseconomically a more powerful group creating starkclass stratification with a rich Russophone class(comprised of ethnic Russians and ethnic Kazakhs)and poor Kazakh-speaking class. For Russophoneelites, economic self-interest and a desire for socialmobility prevail over ethnic loyalty.Often when interacting with government officialson the issue of language they intentionally chooseto give an interview in Kazakh though they speakperfect Russian. Kazakh becomes a political instru-ment and is intentionally promoted due to itsweak communicative function compared to that ofRussian. The legal elevation of the Kazakh lan-guage is seen as mere political maneuvering.


A Kazakh nomadic boy with a traditional hunting eagle.

Stressing the shortcomings of language planningand in particular a poor Kazakh terminology devel-opment, Kazakh language cannot become the lan-guage of communication due to the dominance ofRussian language in all spheres of the social struc-ture. The social structure where an individual growsup, socializes and becomes a part of society is filledwith Russian language. Even those Russian-speak-ing parents, who take their children to schools withKazakh as a language of instruction, still do not suc-ceed at having their children speak fluent Kazakh.In such cases, Kazakh remains as a ‘school language’and their Kazakh vocabulary is limited to the oneused at school. Reflecting the data that the govern-ment does not enforce the requirement of govern-ment employees’ hav-ing a good commandof Kazakh, evidencesuggests that all gov-ernment institutionsstill operate in Russ-ian and therefore it isenough to knowRussian when com-municating with theauthorities. It appears that thepolicy making processis heavily influencedby the nationalists.Their primordialist-like arguments that allself-respecting Kazakhs must know their ‘mothertongue’ have been gaining popularity among citizens.However, it is evident that despite the fact that thegovernment has been promoting the Kazakh lan-guage in terms of policy making and implementa-tion, the latter process is still lagging behind. Thenationalists often overlook these flaws and deny thelack of conditions provided by the state to learn thelanguage. They also insist on introducing a languagetest for everyone with certain levels of Kazakh beingrequired for certain types of job, at the same timestressing that for government jobs knowledge ofKazakh should be mandatory. The idea of having a regulation in a form of a statelanguage test, the “KazTestfor” government job posi-tions was already considered but never passed so asnot to incur the displeasure of Russian-speakingKazakhs in the government (Dave 2007:107). Thetest, might be adopted in 2020 but this informationwas not confirmed by official sources. Together withthe increased budget allocation toward languageplanning this indicates a doubled effort of the govern-ment plan to revive the ‘native tongue’ of the Kazakhs(Ramazanova 2011:50). However, it is also evident thatpolicy implementation still has not achieved the pointof Kazakh language being spoken more than Russian,i.e. compared to Russian language its communicative

function still remains underutilized. While economicgrowth is conducive to the language revival andincreases the chances of Kazakh language gainingupper hand, it still does not have sufficient impactdue to a large role played by the way the budget isutilized, i.e. how well is the policy implemented. It is hard to predict whether the nationalists willsucceed in exerting their pressure to make the regu-lations stricter. Although the nationalist argue thatthe government sides with the majority, it is applic-able in democratic states, which Kazakhstan is not.Freedom House rated Kazakhstan as ‘not free’, withCivil Liberties score being 5 and Political Rights 6(1 being the highest and 7 the lowest) (Freedom

House). In this light, itmay be more accurateto predict that eventhough policy execu-tion has improved,Russian language willdominate as long asthe Kazakh elite isRussian speaking.

C O N C L U S I O N

Tradition does nothinder modernizationand nationalism is acomplement to themodernizing process-es that are aimed atcreating a unified

nation. The Kazakh government has embarked upona journey of nation-building and instilling nationalidentity among its multi-ethnic society while devel-oping its economy after the collapse of SovietUnion. From a poor country in the early 1990’sKazakhstan has emerged as a leader in economicdevelopment in the region. The country introducedthe free market system and privatization whileextensively emphasizing symbols of nationhoodsuch as the native language, tradition and culture.This proves that tradition and nationalism does nothinder the process of sustainable economic growth,and indeed contributes towards aspirations of amore unified nation. However, despite the extensivelanguage policies promoting Kazakh languageamongst its titular group, Kazakh, unlike Russian,still does not fulfill its communicative function.This is due firstly to a lack of national identity priorto independence and secondly to the shortcomingsof the policy implementation caused by the stilllarge majority of the Russian-speaking elites. Impor-tantly, the improved situation of the Kazakh lan-guage planning shown demonstrates that the inter-ests of the nationalists are reflected in the policymaking process. Considering a decreasing share of Russian popula-tion due to outmigration and the continuation of


A Kazakh dombra player.

the Kazakh language revival, it seems likely thatKazakh language will prosper in decades to come.Although currently it cannot compete with Russ-ian, provided the government continues its nation-alizing politics, the Kazakh language has strongprospects for positioning as the main language ofcommunication in Kazakhstan. ©

R E F E R E N C E S

CIA FACTBOOK, “The World Factbook: Kazakhstan”,https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kz.html [Accessed November 2011].

COMMITTEE ON LANGUAGES OF THE MINISTRY OF CUL-TURE OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN (1997),Zakon Respubliki Kazakhstan “O Yazykah v RespubikeKazakhstan”,, http://egov.kz/wps/portal/Content?con-tentPath=/library2/1_kazakhstan/kr/zakony%20rk/zakony_rk [Accessed June 2011]

—— (1996). Koncepsiiya yazykovoi politiki RespeblikiKazakhstan. Portal of the Official Language,http://til.gov.kz/wps/portalm [Acessed June, 2011].

––— (2006). Konceptsiya Rasshireniya Sphery PrimeneniaGosudarstvennogo Yazyka , http://til.gov.kz/wps/portal[Accessed June 2011].

DAVE, B. (2004). “Entitlement through numbers: nation-ality and language categories in the first post-Sovietcensus of Kazakhstan”, Nations and Nationalism,10(4):439-459.

––— (2007). Kazakhstan: Ethnicity, language and power.(New York: Routledge).

EISENSTADT, S.N. (1973). “Post-Traditional Societies andthe Continuity and Reconstruction of Tradition”,Daedalus, 102(1): 1-27.

ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZA-KHSTAN (1990). Dekraratsia o gosudarstvennom suv-erenitete Kazakhskoi Socialisticheskoi Respubliki.,http://egov.kz/wps/portal/Content?contentPath=/library2/1_kazakhstan/kr/zakony%20rk/zakony_rk[Acessed June 2011].

——(1993). Konstitutsiya suverenogo Kazakhstana ,http://egov.kz/wps/portal/Content?contentPath=/library2/1_kazakhstan/kr/zakony%20rk/zakony_rk[Accessed June 2011].

—— (1995). Konstitutsia Respubliki Kazakhstan,http://egov.kz/wps/portal/Content?contentPath=/library2/1_kazakhstan/kr/zakony%20rk/zakony_rk.[Acessed June 2011].

FIERMAN, W. (1998). “Language and Identity in Kaza-khstan: Formulations in Policy Documents 1987-

1997”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies,31(2):171-186.

—— (2005). “Kazakh Language and Prospects for itsRole in Kazakh “Groupness”, Studies of New Imperi-al History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space,393- 423.

FISHMAN, J.G. (1972). Language and Nationalism: TwoIntegrative Essays.(Rowley, Massachusetts: NewburyHouse Publishers).

FREEDOM HOUSE (2011). Freedom in the World-Kazakhstan,http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2010&country=7850 [Accessd June 2011].

GEERTZ, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures: SelectedEssays.(New York: Basic Book, A Member of thePerseus Books Group).

GUSFIELD, J. R. (1967). “Tradition and Modernity: Mis-placed Polarities in the Study of Social Change”,American Journal of Sociology, 72(4):351-362.

KOLSTO, P. (1998). “Anticipating Demographic Superiori-ty: Kazakh Thinking on Integration and NationBuilding”, Europe-Asia Studies, 50(1):51-69.

LAITIN, D. (2000). “What is a Language Community”,American Journal of Political Science, 44(1):142-155.

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RAMAZANOVA, D. (2011). Kazakhstan: Language andIdentity (MSc Thesis. Amsterdam: University ofAmsterdam).

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—— (1999-2000). “Provisional Stabilities: The Politics ofIndentities in Post-Soviet Eurasia”, International Secu-rity, 24(3):139-178.

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M O S T A F A K A M A L T O L B A

C O N V E R S A T I O N - B A S E D D E V E L O P M E N T

A) Conversation aims to achieve three main objectives:

1 ~ To maintain essential ecological process and life-sup-port systems;

2 ~ To preserve genetic diversity, on which depends thefunctioning of the above processes and systems, the pro-tection of cultivated plants, domesticated animals andmicroorganisms, and the security of many industriesthat use living resources.

3 ~ To ensure the sustainable utilization of fish and otherwildlife, forests and grazing lands, which support mil-lions of rural communities and major industries.

B) Main obstacles to achieving conversation are:

1 ~ The belief that living resource conversation is a sec-tor, rather than a process that must be considered by allsectors; and the consequent failure to integrate conver-sation with development;

2 ~ Inflexible and needlessly destructive developmentprocess, due to undue emphasis on narrow short terminterest rather than longer term ones;

3 ~ Inadequate legislation and lack of enforcement; poororganization; lack of trained personnel; and lack of basicinformation on the productive and regenerative capaci-ties of living resources.

4 ~ Lack of awareness of the benefits of conversation.

The paper ends with a number of specific recommendationsfor the achievements of conversation-based development.

T E O D O R A H A S E G A N

D E V E L O P M E N T , I D E N T Y A N D H E R I T A G E :T H E C A S E O F T H E S I B I U E C O M U S E U M

In response to the membership in the European Union,post-communist states, societies and economies in EasternEurope are undergoing unprecedented change and are ina process of re-definition. The European integration processrelies in part on programmes initiated by the EuropeanCommission, one of which is the European Capital ofCulture (ECC). In 2007, Sibiu city in Romania, togetherwith Luxembourg and the Greater Region, was namedECC. The status of ECC was simultaneous with Romania’saccession to the EU. Thus, the events taking place inSibiu were given great symbolic and political impor-tance in the country.

The article looks at how, in the context of Sibiu ECC

2007 programme, heritage is an essential part of differentstrategies used by local people in Sibiu city and regionto promote economic, social, and cultural developmentand to strengthen and increase the global competitive-ness of regions, in this case, Transylvania. There is arenewed concern for revitalizing local traditions, whichare seen as necessary in affirming Romanian nationalidentity in the context of European Union. At the sametime, traditions strengthen regional identities.

The article examines the inauguration of the first eco-museum in Romania, Sibiu County Ecomuseum (Eco-

muzeul Regional Sibiu), an example of how heritage,landscape and identity were linked and gained moreimportance in the context of the Sibiu ECC 2007 pro-gramme that aimed at asserting the potential of heritagefor economic development.

D I A N A R A M A Z A N O V A

T H E S O V I E T L E G A C Y A N D T H E F U T U R EO F L A N G U A G E P O L I T I C S

I N P O S T - S O V I E T K A Z A K H S T A N

After becoming its own nation-state in 1991 for the firsttime in history, Kazakhstan has been facing major chal-lenges on its path to nation-building. Amidst economicdifficulties caused by the shift from communist com-mand economy to a free market system, the country hadto unite its multiethnic society with no prior memory ofnationhood into a coherent nation. As a result of theextensive Soviet language and identity politics, it was theonly republic in the USSR to have the biggest share of itstitular Kazakh population speaking Russian to theextent of not knowing their own- Kazakh language.Nonetheless, the country chose nationalism in a form oflanguage revival as means of building a nation whilstdeveloping its economy.

The article traces the process of development and its relationto language revival and nationalism in Kazakhstan pointingout the shortcomings of language policy implementationand the future prospects for Kazakh language. ©

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EDITOR SAHLAN MOMO

EDITORIAL BOARD MARTIN BOSCHCOK,ALESSANDRO COLOMBO, CLAUDE LORRAINE,SAHLAN MOMO, JEREMY HOBHOM.

EDITORIAL AND EXECUTIVE OFFICE

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The Spanda Journal, the newsletter Spanda Monitor, and theSpanda website are the official publications of the SpandaFoundation (Spanda). The designations employed and the presentation of the materialin this publication do not imply the expression of any opinionwhatsoever on the part of Spanda concerning the legal status ofany country, territory, city or area or of its attributes, or concerningthe delimitation of its frontiers or bounderies, or its economicsystem or degree of development. Designations such as ‘developed’,‘industrialized’ and ‘developing’ are intended for statistical conve-nience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stagereached by a particular country or area in the developmentprocess. Mention of firm names or commercial product does notconstitute an endorsment by Spanda.The opinions, statistical data and estimates contained in signedarticles are the responsibility of the author(s), including thosewho are Spanda members or staff, and should not be consideredas reflecting the views or bearing the endorsement of Spanda.Neither Spanda nor any person acting on her behalf is responsiblefor the way in which information contained in this publicationmay be used.Spanda makes every possible effort to ensure that the informationin articles is accurate. Every reasonable attempt has been made toidentify the owners of pictures’ copyrights. Errors or omissionswill be corrected in subsequent issues. To report errors requiringcorrection or clarification, please email [email protected] part of this publication can be used or reproduced withoutprior permission from the editor.

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Spanda Journal. Submissions may be edited for a variety of reasonsincluding the need to shorten them or improve expression.

BACK ISSUES

Awailable at www.spanda.org/publications.htmlVOL. I, 1. 2007 ~ Multicultural Youth.VOL. I, 2. 2007 ~ Water Wise.VOL. I, 3. 2007 ~ Gender.VOL. I, 4. 2007 ~ Death Penalty.VOL. II, 1. 2008 ~ Hunger. A Clim(c)tic Perspective. VOL. II, 2. 2008 ~ Education & Development. Africa. VOL. II, 3. 2008 ~ Indegeneous Knowledge (IK) &

Environment.VOL. II, 4. 2008 ~ Consciousness & Development.VOL. III, 1. 2009 ~ Human Rights & Security.VOL. I, 1. 2010 ~ Energy & Development.VOL. I, 2. 2010 ~ Microfinance.VOL. II, 1. 2011 ~ The Placebo Effect.VOL. II, 2. 2011 ~ Indigenous Culture & Development.Cover Man ritual mantle [detail], fabric, Central Sumba.

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N | C O L O P H O N

s p a n d a j o u r n a lyear II, no. 2 ~ jul y/december 2011

ISBN 978-88-7778-133-8 - ISSN 2210-2175

ISSN 2210-2175

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0 4ISBN 978-88-7778-133-8

9 7 8 8 8 7 7 7 8 1 3 3 8

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It is not certain thateverything is uncertain.

PASCAL, Pensée, 1670.

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