ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the multiple nationalisms in Kazakhstan, and demonstrates how cinema provides an analytical lens to explore the contested and multi-voiced process of nation-building in the country. The social constructivist literature within Nationalism Studies understands nations as products of social engineering'. Nation-building in Kazakhstan does not begin with its exit from the USSR. The Soviet legacy of nation-building has gone on to shape and influence the debate and practices of nation construction in the post-Soviet period. An ethnic discourse related to nationhood and identity is not the only government sponsored narrative in relation to nation-building. The concept of national cinema does not just pertain to the idea of cinematic works produced by a particular nation. The nomadic nature of the Kazakh tribes, and their commitment to a genealogical interpretation of lineage, meant that less attention was paid the ascription of identity vis-vis static borders.
