Abstract:
In the last several years, a person living in Kazakhstan is likely to notice more and more
of the different manifestations of the Steppe: be that the “Tomiris” 2019 movie, depictions of the
Steppe on billboards, or government campaigns featuring “Nur-Sultan - the heart of the Great
Steppe.” These kinds of expressions are not solely based on historical facts, but they emphasize,
focus, and interpret the ancient past in various, volatile ways. The public narrative and newly
constructed modern traditions in Kazakhstan started employing more Steppe-related themes. The
Eurasian Steppe is being increasingly portrayed with the epithet “Great” - as the “Great Steppe”,
and the Kazakhstani establishment is seeking towards taking ownership over that Steppe. While
it is understandable when people tie their identity to the ancient past and the Steppe (an informal
memory, invoking myths), since people will always look forward to solidifying their identities
and remembering the past in a certain way, it is still unclear what purposes authorities want to
satisfy by over-emphasizing, re-creating the Great Steppe in their projects and state ideology.
The approaches to the Steppe embodied in government rhetoric have been fluctuating, reflecting
changing and often mutually exclusive claims. Purposefully ambiguous, the Great Steppe
narrative experiences internal contradictions as well as external. Kazakhstani officials are trying
to claim everything that happened and everyone who lived in the Steppe for the history of
modern Kazakhstan