Search

How does the closure of prisons impact local communities where the prison is sited? The paper compares three prison closures in northern and central Kazakhstan through field observations, interviews, and focus groups at the sites. We find that respondents unanimously opposed closure by appealing to the apparent good performance of the prison. Beyond the economic loss incurred by closure, respondents reported a loss of communal identity, as well as prestige connected to the presence of the military at the colony. The paper analyzes these responses by examining the logics by which the prisons came to be opened in the Soviet period as well as investigating how the relationship between punishment, economy, and society in Kazakhstan has changed since that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes conflict resolution strategies in public procurement in two transition economies, Russia and Kazakhstan, based on a supplier survey. The results show that 25% of suppliers in Kazakhstan and 32% of suppliers in Russia said preferred to resolve all public procurement conflicts through negotiations with the procurer without involving a third party represented by the regulator and/or the judicial system. The findings also revealed that Russian suppliers, potentially affiliated with procurers, are less likely to encounter conflict situations. The attitude to the practice of "predetermined choice," when the procurer selects a supplier before the formal procurement procedure, was used as an indirect indicator of such affiliation. In addition, the empirical analysis shows that, in both countries, suppliers who are not inclined to trust the court and indicate high costs of participation in litigation are more likely to use the strategy of direct negotiations to resolve procurement conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In social networks research, geographical distance between places of residence partially explains patterns of friendship ties in semi-isolated communities like classrooms or schools. For example, individuals that live close to one another are more likely to be friends than chance alone predicts. Explaining this pattern, researchers often argue that distance approximates meeting opportunities: when individuals live nearby, they are more likely to meet, both by chance and deliberately. This paper discusses the effect of distance in post-Soviet urban space and argues that, at least in this context, shared access to public transit explains the structure of social relationships better than geographical distance. I model the pattern of friendship ties among a cohort of 145 high-school students considering the distances between residential locations and the available public transit. Results suggest that students that live along the same bus routes are more likely to be friends than those who just live close to one another. I conclude with a discussion about how research in the post-Soviet region can enrich debates about the association between the social and spatial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to this special issue by studying power from the perspective of the ability of actors to induce compliance with international norms. Presenting a case study of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative implementation in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the paper explores how states get involved with and comply with the initiative. This case study shows that Central Asian states are socialized through a multiplicity of actors. Also, the power of inducing compliance with a norm is attained by various actors throughout the norm-implementation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adapts and estimates the DSGE model of Medina and Soto (2007) in the context of Kazakhstani economy. The main goal of the paper is to contribute to the scarce macroeconomic modelling literature on Kazakhstan and analyse the structure of the Kazakhstani economy using the DSGE framework. Overall, we find that the oil price shock is key in explaining the variance of virtually all the variables of interest – in particular, it accounts for more than 40% of variance in real exchange rate over the long-term horizon. Furthermore, while the oil price and commodity (oil) production shocks contributed positively to the country's GDP growth in real terms before the Great Recession, their effects have been primarily negative during the two major economic crises of 2007 and 2015, and the fiscal policy has had mixed success in counteracting them. Lastly, the counterfactual exercises show that the choice to adopt the floating exchange rate policy in 2015 has prevented a larger output slump in the short-term at the cost of stronger currency depreciation, and that countercyclical fiscal rules would have greatly mitigated the immediate negative impact of the 2007–08 and 2015 crises, in addition to making real output more stable overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the lives of LGBT people in Central Asia have recently received scholarly attention, authors do not pay due attention to transgender (trans) issues. This paper explores living conditions of trans people in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as trans organizing in these countries. Semi-structured interviews with 11 trans activists were conducted in March–April 2022. According to the respondents, trans people in Central Asia face pervasive discrimination, harassment and rejection on behalf of society at large and their families. Many live in a desperate economic situation. Access to legal gender recognition aimed to align the person's legal gender with their gender identity is limited; the process requires psychiatric evaluation, medical interventions and/or going to courts. A limited number of doctors can provide transition-related medical care (hormone replacement therapy, surgeries). Trans activists self-organize to address these issues and promote trans rights in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Their areas of work include providing direct support, educating doctors, and conducting advocacy with state institutions and international actors. The political environment is hostile towards trans activism. Organizations face problems receiving official registration; in Tajikistan, state pressure on civil society is especially severe. Anti-gender movements are another obstacle for trans activists. Political instability often disrupts activists' advocacy efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how comments about Kazakhstan's 2019 and 2022 presidential elections posted on Tengrinews, one of the most commonly used news websites in Kazakhstan, reflected public sentiment toward the elections after two political flashpoints: Nazarbayev's resignation and the January 2022 protests (known as Bloody January - Qandy Qantar). In particular, the study seeks an answer to the question, "How has public sentiment changed between 9 April 2019 and 25 June 2019, as well as between 20 September 2022 and 21 November 2022?" In this paper, we applied a content analysis of all user-generated comments (n = 3,147) to identify Kazakhstani people's mood through the lenses of cues given in comments. The method demonstrates that people were most concerned about presidential nominations and candidates, election costs, protests, and social problems, and showed some hope for change. The results also demonstrate that Kazakhstanis tend to use sarcastic language and indicate the performative nature of the country's elections. Based on comparative analysis, we confirm that political flashpoints significantly affect citizens' sentiments, even regarding topics such as protests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores eight Kazakhstani postgraduate students' reflections of their international educational experiences in the UK after their immediate re-entry into Kazakhstan. Special focus was on their language identity development after their one-year stay in the UK. It was informed by Benson et al.'s ([2013]. Second Language Identity in Narratives of Study Abroad. London: Palgrave Macmillan) three-dimensional model of L2 identity: (a) identity-related aspects of L2 proficiency, (b) linguistic self-concept, and (c) L2-mediated aspects of personal development. The qualitative data collected from a written narrative and three subsequent rounds of individual semi-structured interviews suggest that most participants had lofty goals in the first period of their study abroad. They gradually became aware that full immersion in the host country could take a long time, and accordingly, they set concrete goals. The analysis of the data also revealed that the participants exercised their agency in displaying their development of sociopragmatic competence and a global citizenship identity, by respecting different opinions and accepting cultural differences. Nevertheless, some of them experienced racism based on their usage of English and presumed ethnicity. This study underlines the significance of introducing pedagogical interventions in all phases of study abroad to avoid student sojourners' unrealistic or impractical goals and empower their language identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the asymmetric impact of oil price fluctuations on non-performing loans (NPLs) between 2009-Q1 and 2020-Q1 for 28 banks in Kazakhstan. Dynamic panel threshold analysis revealed an initial increase of oil prices, improving creditworthiness, thereby reducing NPLs; however, after cross a certain threshold, the relationship was shown to become the opposite. This finding is in line with the Ricardian curse and resource windfall. The results suggest that optimal borrowings and lending should be actively monitored to mitigate potential liquidity problems of banks and consequently NPLs. The practical implications and policy recommendation of which are important to policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we assess the forecasting performance of three types of structural models – DSGE, BVAR with Minnesota priors, and DSGE-BVAR – in the context of a commodity-exporting small open developing economy using the data for Kazakhstan. We find that BVAR and DSGE-BVAR models generally produce point forecasts that are more accurate and less biased compared to those of DSGE in the short term, but that BVAR forecasts rapidly deteriorate in quality as the length of the forecast horizon increases. The density forecast analysis shows that when all variables are jointly considered, the models have similar prediction accuracy, and when financial sector variables are omitted, the BVAR and DSGE-BVAR models demonstrate superior performance in the short term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health resources are an important factor to reduce infant and child mortality. However, taking into account budget constraints, it is very difficult to increase public health resources for all regions within a country at the same time. For this reason, in this paper, we assess the effects of the regional health government expenditure assignment as well as the regional health resources available such as beds or paediatricians. We estimate a dynamic model using a system-GMM (Generalised Method of Moments) to explain infant and child-mortality in Kazakhstan during the period 2000–2018. In this period, Kazakhstan experiences a sharp decrease in infant and child mortality reaching the target values from sustainable development goals (SDG). We evaluate several variables to capture the effects of public health resources assignment, such as expenditure per capita, expenditure depending on previous year mortality rates as well as health facilities resources for children by region. Results show that an increase in health expenditure per capita in those regions with high mortality levels is particularly relevant to reduce infant mortality while health facilities are actually more important to reduce an under-5 mortality rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 outbreak has brought a drastic change in the current educational system. While distance learning and online instruction is not really a new concept in the field of education (Kurzman, 2013), it has been intensified with the aim of minimizing physical interactions without jeopardizing the quality of knowledge transfer. The emergence of technology has also implicated changes in the information-seeking behavior of students over time (Oliveira & Greenidge, 2020). Online library orientations and virtual one-shot information literacy (IL) sessions have been in place to supplement virtual classroom instructions by teachers (Lierman & Santiago, 2019). The Nazarbayev University (NU) Library through its Reference Office took action and managed to implement creative ways to conduct online sessions. This paper documented NU students' virtual library experiences with subject librarians during the pandemic as perceived by students. The 10-item workshop evaluation revealed that students felt very satisfied with the content, coverage, and organization of library sessions. They also highly agreed that the conduct of library sessions was practical, clear, and has an avenue for interaction and development of their IL skills. In a follow-up study with workshop evaluation respondents, a stratified sample size of 101 was determined to identify the current IL skills of students. Students were given the opportunity to conduct a self-assessment of their IL skills. With a 31.68% response rate, the eight-item IL skillset affirmed that students personally believed they were moderate users in searching and evaluating information sources. This paper also determined the frequency of follow-up sessions requested by the students even after attending the online library orientations and IL sessions. Data included in this research was gathered between August 17 to November 27, 2020. To investigate further, an analysis of the reference queries received during the Fall 2020 semester using Reference Analytics was conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) framework has become popular for analyzing innovation dynamics and as a systematic approach to understanding the development of new technologies. This paper aims to identify the main drivers and issues faced by EdTech startups and the entrepreneurs' innovation role within Kazakhstan's entrepreneurial ecosystem using the TIS framework, but from the role of the entrepreneur as the main actor, as opposed to systems. This study offers relevant information for new entrepreneurs in the EdTech field aiming for similar goals and potentially facing similar challenges faced by current entrepreneurs in that country. Data were collected from an online survey and semi-structured interviews using a quasi-quantitative and qualitative approach. The main research findings include identifying critical categories of risks and success indicators for Kazakhstan's EdTech startup entrepreneurs, including the ability to attract foreign and local investments, risk management, monetization strategies, developing trends, and government support. A total of 30 companies were analyzed, with findings suggesting that the quality of the entrepreneurial ecosystem reflects the level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses publications in the periodic press about the tribal composition, ethnographic features, traditions and other features of the Kazakh people in the "Turkestan collection." A textual analysis of research papers on the culture of the Kazakh people of the early twentieth century is given. The historical and cultural data on the Kazakhstan and Central Asia peoples in the "Turkestan collection" are critically evaluated by comparing them with studies conducted in Soviet times. Historical information about how the revolution in Russia in February 1917 affected the lifestyle of the Turkestan peoples is attached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kazakhstan is the location of some of the most important Gulag heritage from the Soviet period of domination. However, commemoration, conservation and interpretation of Gulag sites is at best partial, visitation low and the attitude to this element of Kazakh history is ambiguous. This paper considers key heritage sites and museums in Kazakhstan and a qualitative case study approach is adopted based on a combination of interviews with twenty-four key stakeholders involved in the development and operation of Gulag tourism. Direct observations and qualitative document analysis of the major national Gulag museums and other important Gulag heritage sites was also undertaken. This research questions the orthodoxy inherent in the supposed attraction of dark tourism sites and seeks to ascertain why domestic and international visitation remains low given the scale and importance of the Gulag narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Central Asia, archaeology has become a renewed focus of attention in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The infrastructure projects associated with the BRI could have a marked impact on the preservation of archaeological heritage, local understanding and use of cultural heritage. With reference to a case study centred on Kazakhstan, the paper examines the complications posed by the BRI in achieving the balance between economic development and tangible heritage preservation. While analysing weaknesses of the current legal cultural framework, it suggests that the archaeological custodianship, both local and international, should be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the rigorous reading of Social Identity Theory (SIT), this paper reconstructs the ideational sources of Kazakhstan's status seeking by identifying the Kazakhstani perception of the (un)fairness of the international system, and the nature of the existing hierarchies in world society. By using the fine-tuned ideal types of status enhancement strategies as the basis of the coding scheme, a qualitative content analysis of Kazakhstan's first president's speeches and texts reveals that Nursultan Nazarbayev adopted a social cooperation strategy. He perceived the international system as permeable, although rather unfair, but nevertheless open for improvement through multilateral cooperation. Nazarbayev accepted the negative results of comparison and responded with an adequate agency. He cultivated a special niche of foreign policy as a champion of nuclear non-proliferation, and a place for open and constructive dialogue. Therefore, Kazakhstan projected itself as a doctrineless good power, without an alignment to a particular great power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the everyday lives of queer people in Kazakhstan, exploring how they express agentic power and negotiate their queer identity. This research is based on a Foucauldian-informed narrative analysis of in-depth interviews with 11 people who identify as queer and live in Kazakhstan. Findings show that the choice and ability to regulate one's visibility are crucial expressions of queer agency and resistance. This paper expands on previously published research on gender and sexuality in Central Asia by focusing beyond the issues of violation of human rights and the difficult experiences of queer people, by considering instances of acceptance, support and positive experiences alongside experiences of homophobia, transphobia and discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Kazakhstan today, overt dissent is not typically tolerated. However, recent large-scale citizen protests over land use and the environment have resulted in significant concessions by the government. This paper examines the discourses and slogans of protests spaces, which invoke the (inter)national legal frameworks of the United Nations, the legacy of land and bio-species conservation in the former Soviet Union, and a nationalized moral paradigm of respect for ancestral lands, cultural heritage, and sovereignty. Protesters not only call upon government leaders to respect these existing structures of authority, but also position themselves pragmatically as agents of social and political change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the understandings (‘constructs’) of teachers’ professional knowledge and its sources that underpin current practice in initial teacher education in Kazakhstan and in particular the way in which pedagogika contributes to these. Drawing on empirical data collected over four years, the paper illustrates the ways in which professional knowledge and professional preparation of teachers in pre-service institutions are constructed within the Kazakh and Soviet pedagogical traditions, albeit with some reference to international scholars. Teachers’ professional knowledge is formed from pedagogic theory mediated by academic staff in what is seen by many from outside and inside the country who are engaged in educational ‘reform’ in Kazakhstan as a largely didactic style with little or no critical engagement or exploration of the implications for practice. This stands in contrast with two recent professional development programmes: the Collaborative Action Research and Center of Excellence, which are focused on interactive learning and teaching, reflective practice, classroom action research, and teachers’ collaboration as sources for teachers’ professional knowledge. This paper highlights this contrast and begins to explore what happens when these two different approaches to the construction of teachers’ professional knowledge encounter each other. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the factors important for bilateral services trade between Kazakhstan and other countries. The subject of this article is trade in services in Kazakhstan. Our goal is to determine the factors significantly affecting trade in services in Kazakhstan. Our central hypothesis is that the Eurasian economic union (EAEU) membership was not essential for trade in services in Kazakhstan. The main result is that external trade in services is mainly influenced by factors such as the distance between Kazakhstan and partner countries and the GDP growth rate of partner countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its independence, Kazakhstan has adopted a multi-vectorism approach to balance between various great powers, especially between Russia and China. Despite extensive theorisation of such foreign policy, scholarly research has rarely investigated the topic beyond diplomatic power dynamics. Based on a systematic search of China's joint projects in Kazakhstan in the past 30 years, this paper illuminates several unexpected developmental intricacies based on Kazakhstan's multi-vectorism, its geo-strategic location, the availability of oil-driven sovereign wealth funds, and the public pressure for more responsible industrial policies: (1) China's ambition to connect to the West has unintentionally amplified Kazakhstan's multi-vector bargaining power; (2) Kazakhstan's industrial policies, supported by various financial tools backed by its oil-driven sovereign wealth funds, are integral to its multi-sector economic development and diversification of exports to include more high-value intermediate and consumer goods; and (3) shown via a case study on Kazakhstan's agricultural development, initial state-level negotiation and sub-national implementation, coupled with a mix of Sinophobic and Sinophilic sentiments, have led to a nuanced path of economic diversification. Given the authoritarian legacy in both China and Kazakhstan, empirical research to compare industry-specific development variations would be enlightening for developing economies to design optimal paths to leverage China's rising dream and capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on research into the top-down implementation of CLIL in the trilingual context of Kazakhstan, with a focus on teachers' conceptualization of integration. Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian country to introduce CLIL for using three different languages as a medium of instruction for different content subjects as part of an ambitious national language-in-education policy. With a constructivist position, the study sought to explore the reality, i.e. the conceptualization of CLIL from teachers' own perspectives through interviews and observations with five participants, working in the network of 20 state-funded and highly selective Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools. Findings suggest that most of the participating teachers were not aware of the pedagogical intentions behind CLIL and understood it merely as just teaching through another language. The subject teachers, who worked in the context of demanding enquiry-based curriculum, prioritized content over language, assuming only an indirect role in facilitating students' language development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the experiences of educational researchers undertaking fieldwork within three Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Drawing on interviews with educational researchers from within and outside the region, the findings show that researchers encounter numerous ethical and methodological challenges in the process of gaining access to sites and participants, in data collection and in dissemination of findings. Many of them stem from a persistence of Soviet style controls, an underdeveloped research culture and use of standard research ethics guidelines. However, I argue that not all challenges can be blamed on the context of these countries, but in some cases neglect in proper planning and implementation of research is another reason for some challenges faced by researchers. The paper shows that some of the dilemmas and challenges faced by researchers are not unique to Central Asia, but ones that are also encountered in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent discoveries in north-west China and the Central Asian steppes have shed new light on the study of power display and material connections amongst nomadic groups during the development of gold-making technology in Iron Age Eurasia. Bringing together material science and archaeological approaches, this paper presents an interdisciplinary study of serially produced gold artefacts recovered from the elite burials of north-west China, to gain a better understanding of the inventive nature of early gold-making industry. In particular, we find that the technology used to craft the gold appliqués found in the Xigou cemetery (3rd-2nd centuries BCE) in north-west China attested to the use of moulds or matrices for serial production, closely linked to technological practice of the central Asians steppes. We consider the spread of the peculiar technique and iconography as a tangible way to examine technology transfer and cultural interactions. The contextual analysis reveals that the mould-pressing technique, the animal-style gold artefacts, and the burial practice of using prestigious gold as body adornment constitute a shared set of material expressions of the status and power of nomadic elites in north-west China, Kazakhstan and southern Siberia. Technological practice, in turn, opens up new research avenues in the field, recalibrating our recognition and understanding the active involvement of material objects in human life and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the sources of business cycle fluctuations in Kazakhstan and the relevance of various frictions in the economy using a medium-scale DSGE model with imperfect exchange rate pass-through. We estimate the model via Bayesian methods and present estimates of structural parameters of the model and highlight the role of various shocks in explaining the actual dynamics of observed variables. In the absence of quality and deseasonalized data, we show that the DSGE model with time-varying markups possesses a reasonable level of accuracy as the one-sided Kalman filter predictions match the dynamics of the observable variables. Posterior estimates of the model show that the long-run growth rate of output is 4.5% per annum and the exchange rate pass-through to domestic prices is between 21% and 35% within a quarter. We also find that risk premium shocks have played an important role in determining the inflation rate, the interest rate and the real exchange rate in the economy since 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the aged binder properties, high Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) content asphalt mixtures are more susceptible to cracking failures than virgin mixtures. Thus the production of recycled Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) for cold climate regions, in which asphalt pavement is subjected to severe thermal stresses, needs more considerations. The present paper deals with three recycling agents for producing recycled HMA with standard quality for paving applications in cold climate regions. These additives were three eco-friendly bio-based materials from which two of them were derived from Amine and Oleic acid reaction and the third was a solid compound of Furanone. As a complete study, the research plan consisted of both binder and mixture-phase tests investigating the efficiency of the additives as a recycling agent, particularly for cold region HMA paving applications. In the binder phase, the additives were investigated in two different scenarios: (I) first the reference asphalt binder was aged then the additives were added (2) first the additive was added to the virgin binder then the compounds were aged. This was mainly for investigating the efficiency of the additives as a softening agent. Considering the goal of this research, all the tests were carried out following the testing methods of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the obtained tests' results were compared to the requirements of its technical specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and suicidality are intersecting social problems. However, limited studies have examined IPV and suicidality among socially marginalized women, such as women living with HIV (WLHIV), or in low- and middle-income countries, where social services vary widely. This paper seeks to fill this gap by exploring the association between IPV and suicidal ideation among a sample of WLHIV. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 249 WLHIV across five regions of Kazakhstan, Central Asia. Both IPV (50.2%) and suicidal ideation (40.5%) were common. Adjusted multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated critical associations between all types of IPV and suicidal ideation: verbal (aOR = 2.5, p <.05); psychological (aOR = 3.3, p <.01); physical (aOR = 2.3, p <.05); sexual (aOR = 3.6, p <.01); injurious (aOR = 4.6, p <.01); and any IPV (aOR = 2.3, p <.05). Consistently significant covariates included marital status, social support, injection drug use, and HIV-related stigma (p <.05). Findings suggest a need to examine the crossover pathways and rates of IPV, HIV, and suicidality. Implications include the need for increased capacity building among providers to address these co-occurring problems through comprehensive assessments, safety planning, and linkage to care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity and conservation assessments rise and fall with taxonomic accuracy. An example of a still largely unresolved taxonomy is found in the Gastropoda of the Caspian Sea. The present paper clarifies the taxonomy of the genus Abeskunus and its three species of anomalohaline gastropods endemic to the Caspian Sea. Based on material from Pleistocene, Holocene, and (sub-)recent deposits from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan we discuss species discriminations, synonyms, systematic position, as well as uncertainties regarding the type species. Given the apparent loss of all type material, we designate neotypes for all three species. Despite our efforts to collect and analyse new material and available material housed in museum collections, molecular data, and soft-part anatomy are unavailable precluding a firm systematic classification. Overall shell morphology and protoconch microsculpture are indicative of the family Lithoglyphidae. Comparison with Miocene and Pliocene fossils attributed to the genus Zagrabica suggests it to be a likely ancestor of Abeskunus, tracing back the lineage to the late Miocene Lake Pannon. Although the recent literature lists all three species of Abeskunus among the extant Pontocaspian fauna, two of the three species have never been found living and the third one not since the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a part of a three-year study, ‘Internationalisation and reform of secondary schooling in Kazakhstan’, jointly conducted by an international team of UK- and Kazakhstan-based researchers in 2012–2014. The study was conceived as a mechanism to support education reform in the country. This was achieved through reconstructing the education policy narrative of the last two decades and understanding the effects of the newly established Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools and the Centres of Excellence in-service professional development programme on the larger system. While the focus of the study was on Kazakhstan’s educational present, the references to the previous system of education, which was often referred to asSoviet,traditional, but alsosuccessful, fundamentalandthe best in the world, were numerous. These continuous references to the past prompted the authors of this paper to address the questions:What memories and practices of Soviet education are still dominant in the field of education in Kazakhstan? How do these beliefs continue to shape educational debate in the country?In support of its argument, the paper draws on the literature on Soviet schooling and contemporary education reform, interview data with national and international teachers in Kazakhstan, and field observations. The resultant narrative, which brings together the analysis of educational change and changes in teachers’ beliefs, may appeal to many involved in the construction of the contemporary reform agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In arid lands of Central Kazakhstan, fires commonly occur due to both man-made (e.g. space rocket launches) and natural factors. Remote sensing is the best method to identify burned landscapes and to assess their long-term dynamics. In this paper, we assessed total areas and seasonal features of fires using Landsat 8 OLI data of high spatial and temporal resolution , corrected for atmospheric effects. We defined data requirements, considered various spectral indices, and evaluated their suitability for automated delineation of burned areas. Spectral indices included special burn indices (NBRT, MIRBI, NBR, NBR2, BAI) and vegetation indices (MSAVI, MSAVI2, MTVI2, GEMI3) that allowed us to determine the boundaries and severity of fires indirectly based on the state of vegetation. Our study showed that burned areas were most accurately identified using indices of NBR2 (normalized burn ratio 2) and MSAVI2 (modified soil adjusted vegetation index 2). They were extracted using image segmentation and natural breaks classification methods. We have assessed MSAVI2 and NBR2 segmentation results with machine learning metrics, i.e. for Soyuz drop zone (landing area of rocket stages) precision of NBR segmentation equaled 99.5%, recall − 99.5%, accuracy − 98.5%. For Proton drop zone NBR segmentation precision equaled 99.3%, recall − 99.7%, accuracy − 99.4%. MSAVI2 results are less accurate. The accuracy of segmentation significantly depended on the vegetation state which was predetermined by the frequency and severity of previous fires within certain territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the current education reform agenda in Kazakhstan, which is underpinned, in part, by the argument that investment in human capital through elite institutions for gifted children can lift up the whole system of education. The paper revisits two broad theoretical perspectives, relating to human capital and to ideas about education for gifted and talented children in their role as important assets for economic prosperity. Drawing upon examples from primary data, this paper examines the multifaceted model of education for gifted children that is being developed in Kazakhstan, which seeks to combine an internationally recognised curriculum with elements from national educational traditions. It involves strategic partnership with major international educational providers focusing on professional development of teachers. The paper argues that elite education as a model for social change has both advantages and drawbacks. Furthermore, any change that is likely to make a long-term difference will take time to become embedded. The paper concludes by highlighting themes that would merit future research in Kazakhstan, and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the last two decades, the Bronze Age chronology of the Great Urals was revolutionized by the first large-scale radiocarbon dating programs. Since then, the chronology of the Bronze Age in this area has been under discussion. In this paper, we present 23 new AMS dates from Late Bronze Age sites in the steppe and forest steppe areas of the southern Trans-Urals and northwestern Kazakhstan. This includes the first successful dating of cremated bone samples from this area. Bayesian modeling was conducted to date the Late Bronze Age into three chronological phases. The considerable number of outliers suggests previously undetected biases in the material. In addition, we found differences between the Bayesian models of the steppe and forest steppe areas that are not reflected in the archaeological record. This study emphasizes the value of Bayesian modeling for the prehistoric chronology of the Great Urals but also highlights its issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After two violent episodes in the cities of Aktobe and Almaty during the summer of 2016, Islamic extremism resurfaced forcibly as an object of securitization in Kazakhstan. By focusing on anti-terror simulations and the performance of a theater play in the city of Aqtau, in this paper I argue that encounters with security measures and performances are formative moments for people's sensual apprehension of "the threat" and "the state" through the circulation of affects and emotions, lending a visceral dimension to the understanding of (in)security. Rather than uncritically enhancing the need for further securitization, the affective encounters were constitutive of wider political assessments, and of the very sense and meaning of "security". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore Lawrence Stenhouse's provocation that too much research has been conducted for the world and not enough for the village. This provocation has taken on additional significance in contemporary global policy contexts where neoliberal systems of governance incorporate discourses of educational effectiveness, measurement, standards, quality and sustainable development. Reform movements draw attention to what forms of professional development are effective in the complex global-national policy agendas, with diverse cultural-historical and socio-political contexts. Furthermore, teachers' work is changing and intensifying under neoliberal systems of governance, specifically what they have to do to interpret and not just to implement policies. Drawing on two contrasting case studies of teacher research in England and Kazakhstan, we examine 'outside in' and 'inside out' approaches to teacher development. We problematize the concepts of teacher autonomy, the interpretational work of teachers in the context of policy intensification, and strategic compliance as a pragmatic and necessary response to policy frameworks and their intended and unintended consequences. We conclude by suggesting a hybrid, dialectical approach to professional development which sustains teacher autonomy and professionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using a qualitative horizontal comparative case study approach, this paper explores the experiences of female leaders in Central Asian academia to identify challenges they face in transition/performance, the sources of the challenges, and any differences in the experiences of the female leaders. The results of the study are consistent with prior studies conducted in other countries. One feature makes the experiences of women in the region distinctive. Unlike women in other contexts, women in Central Asia have to sort out several contradictory sets of gender expectations. The findings of this study also indicate that certain rules of operation of the informal power networks may create barriers to female advancement. Existing Western theories fail to explain the dynamics of informal exchange networks, which create barriers to female advancement. The contribution of this study is in bringing a new theoretical perspective to the analysis of female leadership in academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of COVID-19 on self-reported stress and anxiety and on adverse health behaviors of doctors in Kazakhstan, focusing on gender and family. Addressing the mental health of doctors is vital for both the short- and long-term health of doctors, patients, and the healthcare industry. Comparing survey responses from 2018 to 2020, results find marriage to have a protective effect on men doctors. Unmarried men are more likely to experience stress, anxiety, and engage in poor eating habits during COVID-19 compared to married men. Conversely, unmarried women doctors are less likely to experience stress and anxiety during COVID-19 compared to married women with children; while marriage reduces the likelihood of women doctors engaging in poor eating habits during the pandemic, it increases their likelihood of smoking. The results suggest that policies to enhance the well-being of doctors during the pandemic should consider both occupational and household stresses. HIGHLIGHTS Pandemic-related stress levels of doctors in Kazakhstan differ by gender and family structure. Marriage and children have a protective effect on the mental health of men doctors. Married women doctors with children report greater stress, highlighting the burdens of professional mothers. Addressing mental health concerns requires consideration of occupational and household stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the economic returns to language skills and bilingualism in Kazakhstan, a multi-ethnic country that started switching its official state language from Russian to Kazakh in 1997. Using newly assembled data for four major cities in 1996 and 2010, we find heterogenous wage premia and penalties for speaking Kazakh across cities and over time. We relate the wage patterns to (i) changing demographic environments, (ii) changing gaps in school resources between schools with Russian vs. Kazakh language of instruction, and (iii) changing labour market segmentation. While wage differences narrowed in line with a balancing language policy in some cities, others experienced a rise in labour market segmentation. Regionally emerging wage penalties for Kazakh fluency might impede the formation of a bilingual society, as politically desired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates interaction processes of the Fe3+, Cu2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ cations with humic acids isolated from brown coals of Ekibastuz basin. It was demonstrated that the sorption of heavy metal ions by humic acids (HA) depends on the concentration and nature of cations and decreases in the order of Fe3+ > Cu2+ > Ni2+ > Co2+; while increase in the concentration of humic acids (HA) results in the higher yield of ions and metals. The occurrence of ion exchange and complexation reactions in metal-humic acid systems is confirmed by the appearance of new bands and the shift of the absorption bands corresponding to stretching and deformation vibrations of carboxylate ions, C = O and OH groups. The occurrence of these processes is also evidenced by spectrophotometric data, as well as a decrease in the pH of the solution due to deprotonation of humic acids during these reactions. Thus, based on the data on the degree of sorption of metal cations by humic acids, the results of infra-red spectroscopy and spectrophotometry, it can be concluded that the Fe3+, Ni2+, Co2+, Cu2+ cations interact with HA by the ionic mechanism and by the complexation mechanism with electron-donating functional groups. Electrochemical studies of the Cu2+ – humic acid system carried out by the method of cyclic voltammetry also indicate the occurrence of the interaction of humic acid with copper cations. Modification of humic acid with copper ions shows the electrochemical activity of copper immobilized on the surface of dispersed humic acid, which is important for the implementation of electrocatalytic reactions on modified glassy carbon-humic electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the personal papers of Fatima Gabitova, a writer and pedagogue who fell victim to Stalinist repression as a ‘wife of an enemy of the people’ in the Kazakh SSR. Gabitova’s life was in many ways extraordinary, and many of her experiences were hardly typical. Nevertheless, her exposure to Kazakhstan’s cultural and political elites and the rich textual archive she left behind provide a highly nuanced window into the lived experience of Stalinism in Kazakhstan. Her writings, which include journals, poetry, letters and memoiristic essays, reveal a highly articulated sense of self that was informed and influenced by the realities of life under Stalinism, but was not ultimately determined by the parameters of the Soviet system. Throughout her personal writings, Gabitova exhibits a complicated ambivalence towards the reality of Soviet rule that demonstrates the broader contradictions of Stalinism as a system that was at once repressive and participatory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines students' views about the purpose of university education and its role in their future employability in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Data was gathered through focus groups with 172 undergraduate students. Findings suggest that due to socio-economic pressures, students largely see the purpose of university in terms of its economic value, namely enhanced access to employment opportunities and improved financial wellbeing. While future career prospects are key motivation to pursue a university degree, this study shows that the perceived role of university credentials in employability is declining. Due to an oversupply of graduates and limited employment opportunities, employers have raised the bar for qualifications to select job candidates. Coupled with an undergraduate degree perceived as an 'incomplete degree', students are driven to earn more educational credentials; leading to a greater supply of graduates and what appears to be a widespread occurrence of 'diploma disease'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the Women of Kazakhstan virtual museum project as a case study and explores its principal vectors, missions and strategic lines. It critically analyses the themes and evolution of existing women's museums in Kazakhstan. The key digital methods revealed in the article may be applied to existing women's museums and future museum initiatives in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union there have been major changes in the agricultural sector in Kazakhstan. While during the Soviet Union agricultural production was organized in large scale state and collective farms, after independence Kazakhstan started to privatize the agricultural land and established water user associations (WUAs) on their territories. The paper critically evaluates the existing international blueprints of WUAs. The paper concludes that irrigation management transfer (IMT) should not imply rapid and complete withdrawal of the state, but that the state is. at least in the start up period, necessary to enforce accountability of new formed WUAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a theoretical framework for the Self-Reflective Shapes approach, a creative solution that was developed in response to a practical challenge of supporting the development of a culture of reflection. We frame the problem empirically by outlining the context of our work with Kazakhstani teacher-trainers and theoretically by examining conceptions of professional knowing and reflection that can lead to the overemphasis of either explicit, well-defined knowledge outcomes or tacit, ill-defined embodied knowledge. Drawing on diverse reflective traditions, in this context reflection is focused on developing the freedoms necessary to successfully meet competing educational demands, be they academic, standards-based, developmental, or social-transformational in nature. We propose that acts which balance freedoms and constraints are inherently creative and therefore reflection can be seen as a creative act. This in turn offers a vehicle to manage tensions that arise from the divergent pressures which arise across educators' experiences. Self-Reflective Shapes is presented as an example of such a creative approach as it empowers teachers to focus on the tensions and intentions that are of greatest concern in their context as well as addressing the need to simultaneously develop diverse knowledge forms when addressing multiple, ill-defined and competing educational problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Neogene snake fauna from the central and eastern regions of Eurasia is still largely unknown. This paper reports on a unique snake fauna from the late middle Miocene of the Baikadam and Malyi Kalkaman 1 and 2 localities, northeastern Kazakhstan, which represents the best-documented Miocene snake assemblage in Central Asia. Previous studies admitted that snake fauna could be homogeneous over a large part of Eurasia during the Miocene, with the late middle to early late Miocene assemblages similar to snake assemblages that inhabited Europe in the late early and early middle Miocene. This assumption is partially supported by the presence of Texasophis bohemiacus and Coluber cf. hungaricus, as well as vipers of the 'V. aspis' complex. However, the presence of taxa which are (1) probably not related to European representatives ('Colubrinae' A and B), (2) probably never occurred in Central and Western Europe and (3) are closely related to species recently inhabiting southern Siberia (Elaphe aff. dione, Gloydius sp.) indicates that faunal dissimilarity was relatively high within Eurasia during the late middle Miocene. This assumption is in accordance with studies of small mammal assemblages which show a decreasing homogenity in the Eurasia in the course of the middle Miocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the multifaceted discourse of development and nation-building in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. It addresses the regional clan–central elite relations and Nursultan Nazarbayev regime's legitimating agenda through the Kazakhstan 2030 Strategy for development. The economic developmental component in Nazarbayev's ideological discourses is primarily an exercise of control over regional economic and political elites and that helped building further legitimacy for the regime in various socio-ethnic constituencies on both the regional and central levels. Kazakhstan 2030 was deployed by the regime to substitute the Soviet version of ideology, legitimize the regime among various ethno-lingual audiences, and discipline the behaviour of regional elites. The paper shows how the study of elites’ interests can best explain the nature of national ideology and development projects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper evaluates Kazakhstan's natural resource policies and their impact on the standard of living of the Kazakhstan population within the framework of three determinative factors: globalization and international markets; Soviet legacy and ‘resource nationalism’; and Nursultan Nazarbayev and his authoritarian leadership. It argues that natural resource policies of Kazakhstan failed to improve the living standards of the majority of people in Kazakhstan, especially the poor and those living in oil-producing and rural areas, despite increasing oil prices and revenues. The argument will be supported with an analysis of Kazakhstan's oil wealth distribution in light of global initiatives as well as with evidence derived from official reports and statistical data to find out whether Nazarbayev's widely discussed ‘resource nationalism’ is ‘nationalistic’ enough to favour the whole nation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article tells the story of an attempt to bring about major educational reform of the curriculum and educational values in Kazakhstan, using action research as part of that process. The article begins with a brief and selective review of the literature on aspects of emotion and moves to an account of the context and history of the reforms, before focusing on the ‘self experience’ of the participants and the authors. Emotion, its centrality and the interrelationship of three areas – the nature of teaching and teacher learning, the process of change and the experience of research – are explored in relation to reform and action research. The paper concludes with a reflection on the implications for the use of action research as a strategy for reform. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background. Although China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has received increasing attention at the global level, there is, however, little information about how and with what implications it is being enacted on the ground. This is partly because existing scholarship has primarily focused on Chinese interests and motives behind the grand proposal, while perspectives of other countries participating in the BRI remain understudied.Purpose. The study seeks to bridge this gap by contextualizing the land-based component of the BRI, Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB), in Central Asia. Its purpose is two-fold: (1) to discuss how Beijing perceives the role of Central Asia in general and Kazakhstan in particular in advancing its New Silk Road proposal; (2) to explore how the SREB is being implemented and perceived in Kazakhstan, where it was first announced in September 2013. In particular, it offers a detailed account of how Kazakhstan is trying to integrate its infrastructure development program "Nurly Zhol" for 2015-2019 into the SREB, which is missing from the current scholarly literature. Main Argument. The paper argues that, notwithstanding power asymmetries, the BRI participant/recipient countries do have the agency to develop their own agenda and relevant policies for interactions with Beijing. Conclusion. The case study analysis suggests that there is little evidence that China unilaterally imposes its agenda upon Kazakhstan. Moreover, a shared understanding between the two states about the complementarity of mutual interests provides a solid foundation for overall Kazakh-Chinese cooperation. Yet, the strengthening of relations between the two neighbors, especially in the economic domain, has not led to an improvement of Kazakh popular perceptions of China, whose image is further worsened by the ongoing securitization of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, including Kazakhs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]