On the Construction of Kazakhstan’s National State From the Factor of “Immigration” Between Kazakhstan and Russia

Kazakhstan is the only country in Central Asia with a common border with Russia. Since the tribal Khanate period, the whole grassland has almost borne the pressure of “reclamation immigrants” from Russia, and this colonial memory from the Tsarist Russian period has also been deeply embedded in the history of Central Asia. After the establishment of the Soviet regime, the Kazakh grassland was incorporated into the territory of the Soviet Union. Stalin quickly divided Central Asia into five parts by “language family”. Historical immigrants and indigenous people obtained the identity of “Soviet citizen”, and the unified political identity weakened their national consciousness. In 1992, the five Central Asian countries declared independence as new countries, and the five “language families” became the main ethnic groups and embarked on a new path of political development. After three decades, Kazakhstan, as a neighbor of Russia, “immigration” is one of the factors that cannot be ignored in the construction of its nation-state and involves the issue of demarcation and identification. This paper mainly investigates the history and reality of immigrants from Kazakhstan and Russia and tries to analyze its influence on the construction of Kazakhstan's nation-state.