Staying at Home

Rita Sanders is a Research Project Member at the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Cologne. She has worked as a lecturer at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

“The strengths of this book lie in the author’s analytical approach, creative methodologies, and the breadth of her empirical work. Sanders offers an important perspective on migration by looking at how it impacts those who do not leave. By triangulating what people say with how they think and behave, she points to the contradictions inherent in everyday understandings of ethnicity and belonging.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)“Sanders’ [seminal study] is a significant contribution to the literature on diaspora, migration and minority studies.” • Euro-Asia Studies“This comprehensive study of the German-Kazakhstanis provides a thoughtful analysis of post-Soviet identity/ethnicity/nationality entanglements. Anyone interested in these issues would benefit by reading this book.” • Slavic Review“Ethnographically rich, the study is based on a fertile mix of quantitative and qualitative methods such as pile sorting, free listing, network analysis, genealogy, participant observation and interviewing of all sorts. The author convincingly demonstrates that not leaving is nonetheless a dynamic lifestyle which demands efforts of fine-tuning and readjustment to a changing social environment.” • Florian Mühlfried, University Jena, Germany

• List of Maps, Figures, Illustrations and TablesAcknowledgementsNote on TransliterationIntroductionKazakhstani Germans and the Study of Nationalities in Central AsiaConcepts of EthnicityBased on Cultural Grounds – Ethnicity as a Resource – Categorization and Power – A Product of Individual Life Experience – Ethnic Boundaries as Cultural SchemasFieldwork in TaldykorganPART I: MEMORIES, HISTORIES AND LIFE STORIESChapter 1. Memories and HistoriesShifting Memories of the PastThe Deportation of 1941 – Discrimination against Germans –  Transition and Continuity – The Hard-Working German    The Russian Empire: Colonization of the Kazakh SteppeThe Russian Empire: the Settlers from the German StatesThe Soviet Union: Concepts of Nation and NationalityThe Soviet Union: Its Formation and Nationality PoliciesNational Delineation – Collectivization – Facing the Menace of the German Reich: The Passport System and Deportations – The Kazakh SSR after 1945Kazakhstan: The Formation of a Nation-State and the Role of Nationality‘Kazakhization’ – Language Policies – Kazakhstani Identity – Kazakhstani GermansChapter 2. The Enmeshment of Identities and Life StoriesThe Truth of Life StoriesFour Life Stories, Four Identity TypesSoviet Identity – Kazakhstani Identity – Russian German Identity – Kazakhstani German IdentitySummaryPART II: NATIONALITY, POWER AND CHANGEChapter 3. Assessing NationalityNationality as a Unifier of Territorial Belonging, Language, Religionand ‘Mentality’Common Ancestry – Language – Religion – ‘Mentality’National DichotomiesKazakh Primordialism vs. Russian ConstructionismKazakhs’ Esteem – Russians’ Inclusiveness    Normative EntanglementsSummaryChapter 4. Everyday Nationality in the Kazakh Nation-State‘The Friendship of Peoples—Is Our Wealth!’Losing Language HegemonyIdentification: Strategies and EmotionsKazakhstan as a HomelandSummaryPART III: NON-MIGRANTS' SOCIAL TIESMigration and Social NetworksChapter 5. Relations in the Locality: Ethnic Mixing and Missing KazakhsThe Relevance of Nationality in Personal NetworksThe Relevance of Nationality in MarriagesIs there a ‘German Community’ in Taldykorgan?SummaryChapter 6. Disruption in the Transnational Social FieldRelatives and Friends AbroadExodus to a ‘Historic Homeland’Views on GermanyNetworks and IdentitySummaryPART IV: THE EFFECT OF TWO STATES' POLICIES OF 'GERMANNESS' ON KAZAKHSTANI GERMANSChapter 7. Changing Transnational InstitutionsThe ‘German House’Support from GermanySocializing with other GermansA Parish in Transition from ‘German’ to ‘Lutheran’The German House in TransitionSummaryChapter 8. The Divergent Ethnic Policies of Kazakhstan and GermanyThe Kazakh State’s Official Promotion of Interethnic HarmonyThe German State’s Contradictory PoliciesSummaryConclusion: Germans at Home in KazakhstanIdentity and MemoriesIdentities and IdentificationsFriendship of the Peoples?Exclusion through Inclusion: The Role of Personal and Institutional Links to GermanyReferencesAppendix