Immobility and the re-imaginings of ethnic identity among Mongolian Kazakhs in the 21st century

Immobile populations as anchors of rural ethnic identity: Contemporary Kazakh narratives of place and migration in Mongolia

“…Beginning in the early 1990s, following Mongolia's transition to a democratic form of governance and capitalist economic system, Kazakhs in Mongolia began migrating to Kazakhstan in response to calls for “repatriation” to the “Kazakh homeland” by Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev. This outmigration from Mongolia and subsequent return migration have been explored extensively by Diener (), Finke (, ), Barcus and Werner (, ), and Werner and Barcus (). Amongst these studies, Barcus and Werner () note that immobile populations played an important role in facilitating migration and economic development in western Mongolia.…”

“…For this article, we draw on ongoing research amongst the Kazakh ethnic minority population of Mongolia to understand how cultural narratives and place elasticity evolve amongst rural outmigrants who desire to maintain connections with their cultural hearth. Beginning in 2014, we initiated a second study of the Mongolian Kazakhs (see Barcus & Werner, , , Werner & Barcus, for details on the first, 2006–2009, study) seeking to understand how the rapidly and dramatically changing economic circumstances of Mongolia were affecting this rural, socially and economically peripheral ethnic minority population. This research focused on Kazakh migrants from rural aimags (provinces) , such as Bayan‐Ulgii, to Ulaanbaatar.…”

“…Kazakhs in western Mongolia continue to maintain a strong narrative of ethnic and cultural identity that is tied explicitly to place (see Barcus & Werner, ). Barcus and Werner () note that these place‐based identities are grounded in religiosity, kinship ties, and linguistic ability and create a built landscape that increasingly reflects the cultural and religious traditions of the Kazakh population. For example, the building of mosques reinforces this place as Kazakh, as opposed to Mongolian or other ethnic group (see Figure ).…”

“…Immobile populations in the Global South are more recently garnering attention related to their decision‐making process (see, e.g., Barcus & Werner, ; Cadwallader, ; Mondain & Diagne, ; Werner & Barcus, ) and the positive roles that immobile populations might play in rural places (see, e.g., Thao, ). Their role as insiders and the advantages they accrue from not migrating, such as location‐specific insider advantages (Fischer & Malmberg, ), and the importance of place generally to geographers studying mobility (see Relph, ; Tuan, ) are also important aspects of studying immobility.…”

“…In previous articles, we focus on how immobility intersects with the migration decision‐making process (Barcus & Werner, ), transnationalism and homelands (Werner & Barcus, ), and evolving ethnic identities (Barcus & Werner, ). In this paper, we use the Mongolian–Kazakh population to explore the idea of place elasticity and evolving place identities for rural populations in developing and transitioning countries and the role of nonmigrants (immobile) in facilitating these attachments and identities for migrants.…”