The Nation through Cultural Artifacts: What Can Renaming Streets Tell Us about Nation-Building in Kazakhstan?

Abstract

Modern Kazakhstan actively shapes its national identity through changes in the symbols of urban space, including mass renaming of streets. This article analyzes the process of street renaming in the cities of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2019. The article presents a unique database of 6,832 cases of street renaming. Most of the existing studies studying Kazakhstan on this topic focus on qualitative analysis or the study of individual cities. This paper offers a systematic statistical study of the factors influencing the intensity of renaming using quantitative methods. The results of the study show that street renaming occurs more often in large cities and regional centers. This trend indicates the role of centralized and hierarchical national symbolic policy. Another factor influencing the renaming policy is the ethnic composition of the population. In cities with a high percentage of Slavic population, renaming occurs less frequently, which most likely reflects the cautious behavior of the state in symbolic changes in ethnically mixed regions. In addition, in the southern and western regions of Kazakhstan, the active role of local clans in street renaming practices is revealed. In these regions, streets are often named after famous clan representatives, while in the northern and eastern regions, where clan identity is less pronounced, their influence is minimal. The article demonstrates the significance of cultural artifacts, such as toponyms, in the process of nation-building and proposes new research approaches based on quantitative analysis.