THE ROLE OF SCHOOL EDUCATION IN SOVIET EFFORTS TO BUILD AND BREAK NATIONAL AND SUPRANATIONAL IDENTITIES AMONG KAZAKHS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

The article explores the revolutionary function of Soviet school education in building and demolishing national and supranational identities of the Kazakhs in the early 20th century. The Soviet Union employed education as an important instrument of ideological engineering in efforts to systematically address and replace Kazakh Islamic, tribal, and oral knowledge systems with Marxist-Leninist teachings. Through korenizatsiia and subsequent reforms, the Soviet regime initially promoted indigenous language and culture to gain support, only to reverse course in favor of ideological uniformity and Russification. The research examines how the changes reconfigured conceptions of identity, particularly among children, teachers, and women, and instituted deep intergenerational, cultural, and affective ruptures. Drawing upon historical writings and secondary sources, the thesis highlights how education was not only an instrument of literacy and state building but also a contested field of resistance, accommodation, and negotiation of cultures.