Lessons for Good Citizenship: Creating Attachments and Sense of Belonging in the Multi-ethnic Countryside of Kazakhstan

Abstract

This thesis focuses on citizenship education in the post-Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. By drawing on insights in anthropology and education, I examine the state project to construct the ideal of good citizenship and its transformation through daily practices that shape the social life of school, community, family, and school ecology. My work is grounded in ethnographic fieldwork, most of which was conducted in the multi-ethnic countryside in northern Kazakhstan. Based on testimonies of my project’s participants, including teachers, families, and students as well as the artwork of students, I argue that the state’s ideals of citizenship are localized through place-based practices, which create informal learning spaces informed by class sentiments and ethnic sensibilities of teachers, students, and their families. These practices transform hegemonic narratives of citizenship, generating collaboration, creativity, sustainable lifestyle, and attachment to the place. I believe the focus on place-based education in the thesis can help teachers to design elective courses in curriculum based on localities, involving students and communities.