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Dialogue Between Nations: ISU Professor’s Work with Kazakhstani Researchers

March 20, 2023

A woman and a man talk at a table.

Outside of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, there is a mountain valley where the original apple comes from. The original apple is smaller and not as sweet as what we’re used to eating today, but all apple species can trace their genetic origin to Kazakhstan. 

Professor Colin Johnson of the Department of Political Science at Idaho State University has been conducting research in Kazakhstan, but not about apples. Johnson says that Kazakhstan is massive, the 9th largest country by land area in the world, but it has always been connected. 

“We might look at Kazakhstan and say what an isolated society, but historically it’s always been a connected society,” he says. “That’s what this program is trying to improve. Maybe we can look at Kazakhstan and instead of thinking ‘Borat,’ we can think ‘apple’ and shift perspective about how to interact, engage, and expand our connections to this part of the world.”

Johnson was recently selected to participate as a fellow in the Kazakhstan Futures Program, which connects American and Kazakhstani scholars on collaborative research regarding Kazakhstan's pressing sociopolitical issues. As part of this program, Johnson traveled to the capital, Astana, for an organizational meeting for the research groups of Kazakhstani think tanks and governmental entities.

This endeavor started with the US Embassy in Kazakhstan, which launched a pilot program around envisioning and providing support for possible Kazakhstani futures. 

“This region of the world is landlocked and it’s usually seen as Russia’s backyard, or China’s,” Johnson says, “and that’s ramped up since the war in Ukraine.”

Johnson says that Kazakhstan is not interested in continuing to be told what to do by these neighbors. They have been investing time and money in building up local expertise, and this project stems from their efforts to become more independent.

“Coming out of the Soviet Union they were tired of outside sources telling them what to do. They began to invest in human capital,” he says. “Russia and China aren’t as interested in new ideas and fostering other interests or collaborating beyond their own priorities.”

“This pilot program is an attempt to engage. One of the things that the U.S. can help provide is to help Kazakhstan with research in pressing societal issues. The mission aligned with the purpose of facilitating connections.” 

Applications were limited to American and Kazakhstani citizens with PhDs and five years of research experience. They’d identified eight thematic areas of interest, which applicants could apply under. That helped them recognize natural fits between Kazakhstan and American researchers. Johnson applied under “Migration and Social Issues.”

“My background is studying migration in this region. Kazakhstan is a new case for me,” Johnsons says. “That was a connection they wanted, someone capable of working in this area, who has not yet had the opportunity, and connecting with local expertise.”

In the collaborative process Johnson explained that American researchers, himself included, primarily listened to their Kazakhstani colleagues and engaged in honest dialogue regarding research possibilities. 

“The more linkages we have with Kazakhstani society, the better,” Johnson says. “This was a program to bring researchers together to increase connectivity, to make other opportunities available to Kazakhstani researchers, and to help with new ideas.”

“This is what the Kazakhstan Futures program is about,” Johnson says. “There are so many possibilities for Kazakhstan. How do we lift those voices within Kazakhstan, how do we amplify the perspective of those experts in Kazakhstan?”

Johnson was part of two groups that were brought together to combine interests in language policy and migration policy. 

“One of the big questions is what does it mean to be ‘Kazakhstani’?” Johnson says. “We generally talk about Kazakhstani society from an ethnic or linguistic lens. We talked about an overarching idea leveraging all our expertise to do one project.”

Johnson’s team will continue to meet via Zoom over six months, and will be evaluating the role of the census in Kazakhstan as an instrument to foster national belonging. Johnson says that censuses really matter for how a state measures a society. 

Kazakhstan has held three censuses since independence. Johnson’s team will evaluate and present to the Kazakhstan government in a research brief showing what researchers find about the census process, what the process encourages in the society, and then engage in open discussion about what they really want. 

 “This is an opportunity for them to improve processes for their own future and hopefully empower and strengthen the relationship between the citizens and the government," Johnson says.  

In the coming months, Johnson will participate in weekly meetings where teams will continue to collaborate, and will write a policy brief together. This will be translated into Russian and Kazakh and distributed in June. Johnson says this might be a point of collaboration for additional research. 

“That’s exactly what the program is meant to provide,” he says. “It’s meant to elevate local perspectives, create dialogue between nations, then create the interest in collaboration to continue.”

“It was a wonderful room of researchers, so friendly, so collaborative,” Johnson says. “And it connects me back to my work as a professor at ISU.”

While Johnson was doing dissertation fieldwork in Russia in 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and that started to shut off access to Russia, his primary research site. This limited his ability to research in the field because his expertise is in qualitative research, which means going to the region and conducting interviews, and that was limited further by the pandemic. 

“Going there is unbelievably important for building trust,” Johnson says. “This was an opportunity for me to get back to the region and work in a society that has gone through a lot of turmoil and instability over the last decade.”

Johnson says that for his students, it’s a means for them to connect to opportunities and possibilities of what they can pursue now. One student, who is in the TRIO McNair program, is going to shadow Johnson’s research group to inform them of their own work.

“This is hopefully building better connections for research, collaboration, and how to strengthen ties and bring more ISU students to the region for research,” Johnson says. “This is the foot in the door for me and hopefully pushing the door wider open for students.”


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