'useful volume It marks the beginning of the emergence of Kazakh studies in the West a subject of importance in its own right.' - Jonathan Aves, Asian Affairs

• Chapter 1 The Kazak Nation, Ingvar Svanberg; Chapter 2 The new Kazak elite, Karen Odgaard, Jens Simonsen; Chapter 3 The dynamics of feasting and gift exchange in rural Kazakstan, Cynthia Ann Werner; Chapter 4 Nawr?z in Kazakstan: scenarios for managing diversity, Hilda C. Eitzen; Chapter 5 The Kazaks of western Mongolia, Peter Finke;