The Intersection of Gender and National Identity in History Textbooks in Kazakhstan

Abstract

The history curriculum and textbooks are central to nation-building projects, as school history aims to transmit historical knowledge and create a shared desired national identity particularly in newer nation-states. Although the nation is imagined as a community of equals, national identity is constructed through power relations since it structures the representations of the nation around conceptions of masculinityand femininity. The analysis of school history textbooks is important, as they are a key cultural resource that pupils use to learn about “doing gender” and to develop their national consciousness. This chapter analyzes the construction of gender and national identities in the history textbooks, a compulsory subject taught across all secondary schools. Data sources include seven textbooks recommended by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education and Science, covering 7th to 11th grades used in Kazakh medium schools. The history textbooks for 9th and 11th grades consist of two volumes each. The study employs quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the interrelated constructs of gender as category, construction, and deconstruction. The findings reveal four key observations: the prevalence of male dominance and the invisibility of female icons in national historiography, the perpetuation of hegemonic masculinities, the normalization of idealized femininities, and instances of gender transgression.