Customer Reviews (3)

Best of the three books available for young people on Kazakhstan
I am blessed to be the great-aunt of two boys adopted from Kazakhstan nearly eight years ago. The boys are now in 2nd and 3rd grade and our family encourages interest in their country of birth, so I have purchased this book along with others listed below to have in our "family" library.

A similar book was expensive, even used, $22 + $4 S/H: "Kazahstan In Pictures", ISBN 0-8225-6588-9.Other than the website, which anyone can access for free:www.vgsbooks.com, "Kazahstan In Pictures" is not nearly as good, nor does it have as many pictures as "Kazakhstan" by Cheng, Pang Guek, published 2001, used price + S/H, $5.45.

A third book with nearly identical information is:"Kazakhstan", by Zoran Pavlovic, 2003, ISBN 0-7910-7231-2.All three books offer almost identical information/pictures.The Cheng book is the best of the three.The website of www.vgsbooks.com can be used to supplement for more current information.

Two more books of Kazakh traditional folktales which will be of much more interest to the kids have been ordered (used), but not yet received:
"Stories of the Steppes" Kazakh folktales, by Mary Lou Masey, 1968, Publisher:McKay.(try ABE.com if you cannot find it)
"Tales Told In Tents" (Hardcover, 2005) ISBN-10 : 1845070666.Neither book has been received yet, but reviews indicate they are both very good.

It is difficult to find quality information on Kazakhstan, but hopefully this will help out others!I hope the two boys and their little sister enjoy them as much as I have.

Good for young and old
Our local library purchased this book as a resource after our family adopted from Kazakhstan and requested information about the country.We were so excited to find that this was really a very good book to give solid background information about the country.We traveled a second time to Kazakhstan to adopt another child and checked this book out several times for our 4 year old so that he could have a better idea what he would be seeing when we arrived in Kazakhstan.I read it myself a couple of times and found that I learned a lot of the basics about the country that I had not been able to learn elsewhere.Nice photos, easy to understand and written in such a way as it is not overly simplified so adults don't feel insulted reading it.

Excellent resource for Kazakhstan info
We first checked this out from our local library and had to have a copy of our own.The book was classified as "Junior", but it is an excellent overview for adults also. ... Read more

Product Description
Edward Schatz explores the politics of kin-based clan divisions in the post-Soviet state of Kazakhstan. Drawing from extensive ethnographic and archival research, interviews, and wide-ranging secondary sources, he highlights a politics that poses a two-tiered challenge to current thinking about modernity and Central Asia. First, asking why kinship divisions do not fade from political life with modernization, he shows that the state actually constructs clan relationships by infusing them with practical political and social meaning. By activating the most important quality of clans - their 'concealability' - the state is itself responsible for the vibrant politics of these sub-ethnic divisions which has emerged and flourished in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. Sub-ethnic divisions are crucial to understanding how group solidarities and power relations coexist and where they intersect. But, in a second challenge to current thinking, Schatz argues that clan politics should not be understood simply as competition among primordial groups.Rather, the meanings attributed to clan relationships - both the public stigmas and the publicly proclaimed pride in clans - are part and parcel of this contest. Drawing parallels with relevant cases from the Middle East, East and North Africa, and other parts of the former USSR, Schatz concludes that a more appropriate policy may be achieved by making clans a legitimate part of political and social life, rendering them less powerful or corrupt by increasing their transparency. Political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, policy makers, and others who study state power and identity groups will find a wealth of empirical material and conceptual innovation for discussion and debate. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 5241 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

Product Description
Before the Russian conquest, the Kazaks had a well-articulated culture based on their nomadic pastoral economy. Although Islam was introduced to most of the Kazaks in the seventh and eighth centuries, the religion was not fully assimilated until several centuries later. As a result, it coexisted with earlier elements of Tengriism. Traditional Kazak belief held that separate spirits inhabited and animated the earth, sky, water, and fire, as well as domestic animals. To this day, particularly honored guests in rural settings are treated to a feast of freshly killed lamb. Such guests are sometimes asked to bless the lamb and to ask its spirit for permission to partake of its flesh. Besides lamb, many other traditional foods retain symbolic value in Kazak culture. Kazakh culture is largely influenced by a Turkic nomadic lifestyle and Islam. Kazakhs are typically Sunni Muslims. Because animal husbandry was central to the Kazaks' traditional lifestyle, most of their nomadic practices and customs relate in some way to livestock. ... Read more

Product Description
In the 1990s, the former Soviet states of Central Asia experienced dramatic, revolutionary changes. Liberal economic reforms have affected every aspect of daily life, a new local elite of Mafia has rapidly taken power, and corruption and violence are now a fact of daily life.

Focusing on Kazakhstan, A Global Brothel examines the impact of the new capitalism on the everyday lives of the people of Central Asia. The author draws on extensive interviews as well as social and political analyses to explain the extent to which people have been dispossessed. The author assesses the strategies people have used to overcome poverty and insecurity: the new hallmarks of life for nearly everybody; and illustrates well the complex and human responses to the post-Soviet chaos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

First Rate Ethnography
Post-Soviet Chaos lays out with remarkable clarity the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union on ordinary people in Kasakhstan.It is not a pretty picture.The only 'market opportunities' which seem to have expanded are for women to become prostitutes or mistresses, or, perhaps, work the 'suitcase' trade, hauling goods pretty much by hand from neighboring territories to resell. Hooliganism is on the rise. Cultural opportunities once enjoyed by all have disintegrated. Kasakh men promote patriotic pride, but mostly to lay claim to women who are gravitating to foreign men with money.Nazpary sensitively lays out the national tensions that have emerged--there are the Kasakhs, divided into three segmented groups.There are the people of the former Soviet lands.And there are the wealthy foreigners (not from Soviet lands, but from the West, or maybe China), regarded as most exploitative.One of Nazpary's most interesting points is that, while Kasakhstan is a Muslim country, there is strong nostalgia for the Soviet Union, at least in terms of the collective rights it guaranteed.He finds little evidence of a drift towards a pan-Islamic identity, notwithstanding the presumption of many Western commentators.Strongly recommended reading.

Shocking picture of counter-revolution's effects
Nazpary's remarkable book surveys the appalling effects of a real counter-revolution. Since 1990, Kazakh workers' rights to jobs, wages, welfare, free education, pensions and savings, have all been ripped away. Their access to cheap housing, electricity, gas, phones, transport, health care, childcare, sport, arts, libraries, have all gone. In the 1980s and 1990s, active NATO and IMF interventions enforced capitalism in Kazakhstan, grabbing oil, gas and metals for firms like Shell and British Gas. 15% of foreign investment is British, 23% South Korean, 29% US. Theft of public property through privatisation has closed factories and destroyed jobs: engineering and agricultural outputs both halved between 1995 and 1998.

This is what happens when the working class lets go of its controls over society, its party and trade unions.

As a young Kazakh woman said, "Before, in the Soviet time, there were moral limits and the authorities looked after them. There were high moral standards ... People were truthful. They were brought up in a good way. But today people have become like savage animals. They behave according to the law of the jungle."

Now violent and corrupt mafiosi, newly freed, traffic in drugs and sex, and become the new rich, while for the workers, there is only loss, insecurity, growing ethnic and gender tensions and huge growths in poverty and migration. Capital goes global; workers are ghettoised. The workers rightly see all these evils as resulting from the infliction of capitalism. Nazpary notes the very strong `Soviet patriotism' among the mass of the people, while the new rich view the Soviet era only as tyranny. He details the networking of family and friends in the scrabble for scarce goods, but as he notes, "tragically and paradoxically, networking as a response to the chaos perpetuates it."

In the FSU as whole, an estimated 4.7 million more people have died since 1990 as a direct result of the counter-revolution. As world capitalism, unrestrained by the USSR's existence, grows more brutal and corrupt, Kazakhstan is just one instance of problems common to workers across the world.

Kazakhstan's workers need to make a new revolution. ... Read more

Product Description

Kazakhstan is emerging as the most dynamic economic and political actor in Central Asia. It is the second largest country of the former Soviet Union, after the Russian Federation, and has rich natural resources, particularly oil, which is being exploited through massive US investment. Kazakhstan has an impressive record of economic growth under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbaev, and has ambitions to project itself as a modern, wealthy civic state, with a developed market economy. At the same time, Kazakhstan is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the region, with very substantial non-Kazakh and non-Muslim minorities. Its political regime has used elements of political clientelism and neo-traditional practices to bolster its rule. Drawing from extensive ethnographic research, interviews, and archival materials this book traces the development of national identity and statehood in Kazakhstan, focusing in particular on the attempts to build a national state. It argues that Russification and Sovietization were not simply 'top-down' processes, that they provide considerable scope for local initiatives, and that Soviet ethnically-based affirmative action policies have had a lasting impact on ethnic élite formation and the rise of a distinct brand of national consciousness.

Customer Reviews (1)

Good review of post-Soviet nation-building
This is a good solid book on the connections between Soviet formation of citizens and ethnic groups in Central Asia, and the way in which local Soviet elites have transformed themselves into post-Soviet national leaders. Dave argues that the Kazakh state is modeled on earlier Soviet ideas of a nation, a citizen, and a national or ethnic culture, and that this model provides a means for elites to use Kazakh ethnicity and language as continuing means of power. Very academic, but a good exploration of these ideas in the context of post-independence Kazakhstan.

... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. on October 1, 1993. The length of the article is 2087 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The political, economic and cultural fate of Kazakhstan is open to debate. The country has a unique combination of whites and Asians, capitalism and socialism, and diverse religions. Western countries are investing in Kazakhstan, which has a rich supply of oil.

Citation Details
Title: Finding its own way. (Kazakhstan)(Special Issue: Kazakhstan) (Cover Story)
Author: Leonid Zagalsky
Publication: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 1993
Publisher: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.
Volume: v49Issue: n8Page: p16(8)

Article Type: Cover Story

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Beautiful hardcover book in DJ and hardcover slipcase with bright full page photographs illustrating the art and culture of the country. In Kazakh, Russian and English. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1127 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Provides comprehensive coverage of the foods and recipes of approximately 75 cultural groups from more than 60 countries. Entries provide 10-15 recipes for each group and include data on the agriculture and dietary habits of each group as well as an overview of each group's nutrition and health. ... Read more

Product Description
Kazakhstan has recently come to the attention to global strategic planners.This report puts these executives on the fast track.Ten chapters provide: an overview of how to strategically access this important market, a discussion on economic fundamentals, marketing & distribution options, export and direct investment options, and full risk assessments (political, cultural, legal, human resources).Ample statistical benchmarks and comparative graphs are given. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of family e-mail correspondence reveals the fears and tribulations of a mother and father relocated to a nation and region far from the suburban culture from which they had come. The observations encompass helicopter trips over an Asian mountain range, opera, ballet, the International Ladies Society in the capital city of Almaty, and an unforgettable six-day trip on the historic Silk Road of Central Asia to the ancient homeland of Tamerlane in Samarkand and Bukhara in central Uzbekistan. These letters reveal a couple who became experts on the integration of an emerging, isolated nation into a new international business community. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Golden senior adventures - try it yourself!
What a charming little book!This couple took time out of retirement to jump out of their comfortable suburban lives and head to Kazakhstan to offer volunteer assistance to budding small businesses.The tales of their adventures are touching, funny, and heartwarming.It's a sort of study abroad for the golden years model - more seniors should try it!A wonderful read and an inspiring story!

not worth it if you have to actually buy it...
We're adopting a baby from Kaz and wanted some background on the country. Not a lot of books out there, as you well know! This is a series of e-mails from a retired couple who spent 3 months in the early 90's in Almaty, the husband helping Kaz companies with business plans. It's kind of cool to hear about their trips to the green market and trips to Uzbekistan, but the stuff their relatives write back to them is worthless for Kaz learning purposes. I skipped over a lot. Get it used or from a library if you want to try it or skip all together... ... Read more

Product Description
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, nationality groups have claimed sovereignty in the new republics bearing their names. With the ascendance of these titular nationality groups, Russian speakers living in the post-Soviet republics face a radical crisis of identity. That crisis is at the heart of David D. Laitin's keenly awaited book.

Laitin portrays these Russian speakers as a "beached diaspora" since the populations did not cross international borders; the borders themselves receded. He asks what will become of these populations. Will they learn the languages of the republics in which they live and prepare their children for assimilation? Will they return to a homeland many have never seen? Or will they become loyal citizens of the new republics while maintaining a Russian identity? Through questions such as these and on the basis of ethnographic field research, discourse analysis, and mass surveys, Laitin analyzes trends in four post-Soviet republics: Estonia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.

Laitin concludes that the "Russian-speaking population" is a new category of identity in the post-Soviet world. This conglomerate identity of those who share a language is analogous, Laitin suggests, to such designations as "Palestinian" in the Middle East and "Hispanic" in the United States. The development of this new identity has implications both for the success of the national projects in these states and for interethnic peace. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Well written and extremely interesting
This is a carefully researched, thoughtful and well-written examination ofthe Russian speaking population in the "near abroad" since thebreak up of the Soviet Union.While my experience is largely withLithuania, his discussion of the Russian speaking population in Estonia andLatvia seemed insightful. As a minor criticism, or perhaps more as a termof reference for readers, I should note that Laitin seemed more sympatheticto the diaspora Russians than to the local populations.His discussion ofBaltic events struck me as distinctly pro-ethnic Russian, although notoutrageously so.Persons with Baltic ties may disagree with some hisviews, but they will still find them interesting. ... Read more

Product Description
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is a 2006 mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was written, produced by, and stars the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role of a fictitious Kazakh journalist travelling through the United States, recording real-life interactions with Americans. It is the second film built around one of Baron Cohen's characters from Da Ali G Show, following Ali G Indahouse, which also featured a cameo by Borat.Despite a limited initial release in the United States, the satire was a critical and commercial success. Baron Cohen won the 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor: Musical or Comedy, as Borat, while the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture in the same category. Borat was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 79th Academy Awards. ... Read more