Nomadisme in Kazakhstan, between identity and tourism.

This paper explores two facets of nomadism, which, for lack of a better term, we qualify as “traditional” and “neo-nomadic.” Arising from nomadism and itinerancy, travel and the dreams associated with it contain as a founding element departure, one of the key words of this text.

The main values of this traditional nomadism include respect for nature, a sense of family and community, all organized around the ties between members of the community and structured by courage and endurance.

The nomadic way of life implies constant movement, a means both to justify attachment to these values and to practice this way of life with flexibility.

It is divided into three aspects: psychic, that is to say without expectation or stagnation, the nomad thus develops a fluidity of mind. Socio-economic, with the absence of State and nation and relationships based on an economy of exchange, gifts and counter-gifts. Finally, from an intellectual and artistic angle, it is analyzed as a language of pure forms, outside of fixed concepts [1].

The whole is even more complex when one looks at the links between sedentary people and nomads and the spatial logics of the latter:

“Nomadism is not limited to the fact of moving: indeed, Western sedentary people travel annually in transport over much greater distances than nomadic herders and hunters […] The specificity of the nomads’ relationship to their territory lies in this tension between, on the one hand, a consubstantial link with inhabited places that are intimately known and, on the other hand, a will to withdraw from them regularly and to leave as few traces there as possible, an absence of individual appropriation of the environment. [2]”

As they evolve towards more development and prosperity, societies would abandon certain practices, including nomadism. However, recent work shows the opposite with the return to nomadic practices and ways of life.

Brousse (2020) identifies and then explores three categories of new nomads: van travelers (vanlife), inhabitants of tiny houses and digital nomads, and underlines that “considering these forms as heirs of the first would of course make no sense. [3]” If all these actors share movement, this is rarely constrained by work or the search for resources, as is the case for traditional nomads.

Nomadism and neo-nomadism from a tourism perspective rely on identical logics: “This is what distinguishes digital nomadism from other professions: whereas lawyers or professors do not economically benefit from the romanticization of their profession, DNLPs (digital nomad lifestyle promoters) derive income from the monetization of their way of life and thus encourage the creation of an identity expected to be embodied and realized by aspiring digital nomads. [4]”

In this context, the examination of the World Nomad Games in 2024 in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, represents a good example for reflecting on the evolution of forms of nomadism, of which three aspects are useful for our purpose. The first concerns identity for the country and the peoples of nomadic tradition in Central Asia.

The second lies in the narrative construction (communication and argumentation) of the games for the rest of the world in order, beyond Sovietism, to claim this heritage. The conscious articulation by the Kazakh government of nomadism between tradition and patrimonialization for tourism purposes forms the third aspect.

The World Nomad Games, sports, identity and neo-nomadism [5]

Nomadism and the games associated with it reflect the traditions of nomadic culture in the vastness of the Great Steppe. Originating from the time of the Mongols and the Golden Horde, these games have evolved to become very recently the World Nomad Games, a global competition. They now form a sporting, cultural, and scientific project, first developed by Kyrgyzstan between 2014 and 2020, then organized in 2024 by Kazakhstan. In the region, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are the two main countries inheriting this way of life, along with Mongolia, which has Naadam, at once a family festival, fair, and nomadic Olympics.

Major international sporting events (MISE), Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup for the best known, are at the heart of a diplomacy of influence and image. Thierry Côme and Marc Falcoz argue that “by nature, the MISE is a moment of rupture in the regularity of sporting competitions. It stands out from the ordinary, the everyday, it brings crowds together and makes them share a common emotion conducive to strengthening a sense of belonging, in a quasi ‘collective celebration’ […] which can have positive or negative economic and social repercussions. [6]” Olympic Games, Asian Games or World Nomad Games clearly fall within this logic: temporal rupture, gathering and sharing. Another dimension is important: “there is also, for States or host cities, the will to access or remain in the club of nations capable of organizing such events. An unparalleled sounding board, these major global events are sources of interest and communication support for host countries to show their dynamism, highlight their know-how and politically consolidate their position [7].”

The World Nomad Games, under the patronage of UNESCO after their inscription as intangible cultural heritage by Kyrgyzstan in 2021, can offer international recognition and a potential tool for influence. The World Nomad Games are an international sporting competition centered on ethnic sports originating from the folkloric culture of the nomads of the Central Asian steppes in the broad sense. Unknown or little known to the rest of the world, they are rooted in steppe traditions.

The main sports are archery on foot and on horseback, horse racing, various forms of wrestling, eagle hunting or Kokpar (goat grabbing [8]). The organizers call them ethnosports and rely on their inclusion on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list of humanity. The Republic of Kazakhstan, the World Ethno Sports Confederation (founded by Turkey in 2015) and the Organization of Turkic States are responsible for organizing these games.

These games attracted 2,000 participants from more than 89 countries. Twenty-one sports were in competition and ten in demonstration, with delegations from France, Nigeria or Spain… These Games also included three days of academic sessions divided into “History and culture,” “Sports science” and “Nutrition of the nomad in Central Asia.” An ethnovillage next to the Astana city hippodrome and the press center completed the whole. Faithful to the form of MISE, an opening ceremony and a closing ceremony with athletes in mostly traditional costumes framed the competitions.

The messages of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and of the Minister of Foreign Affairs are centered on themes such as solidarity, mutual respect, the bridge between nations and the nomadic identity constitutive of Kazakhstan, more broadly of the countries of the region. During his speech at the opening ceremony, the President uses the term “Eurasia,” which makes Kazakhstan a country sharing both European and Asian values. Apart from these last points, the arguments presented are common to all events of this type. During his press conference, the Ministry of Tourism underlines its desire to attract more tourists according to tourism segmentations: ecotourism, nature sports, cuisine and neo-nomadism.

The effectiveness of the promotion of the World Nomad Games by Kazakhstan must be thought differently according to scales. In the countries of the region, the event is followed thanks to the popularity of the sports represented, as they are most often considered “national. [9]” Citizens of participating countries can recognize themselves in them, as these sports are part of their nomadic heritage and are a means of connecting the present with the past.

And if these sports remain traditional, they can evolve towards a more codified mode in order to be integrated and visible in competitions. Internationally, the observation is more mixed, because, although the number of participating countries increased during this fifth edition, the reception and representation of the event remain to be evaluated more finely.

Finally, digital media such as Instagram and X make it possible to develop discourses, often organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to reach different audiences. This process is today visible for Kazakhstan with its proactive discourse which shows that this country is working on its image, as indicated by the X account of the embassy in Brussels. Indeed, the latter actively promotes the World Nomad Games before and during the event with videos of the preparations.

These World Nomad Games are to be seen as a deliberate policy and an action decided by the government and the institutions capable of shaping these games, between international event and messages to nationals, more broadly to the world. Thomas Joly, the stage director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, underlines an identical reflection and a clear intention during the writing of these ceremonies: “To grasp in each ceremony this great ‘we’ that constitutes us. To address the greatest number, without excluding anyone: my obsession since I have been doing theater. [10]”

The World Nomad Games illustrate the development of the public diplomacy of these Central Asian countries and this idea of uniting peoples of nomadic culture allows Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (and Mongolia) to highlight their cultural heritage.

Even if Western audiences know little about nomadic culture, it is visually appealing with unusual equestrian shows, archery, colorful outfits… And the more the World Nomad Games gain this “state” legitimacy, the more they will be broadcast in the international press as a major event of the region, which will greatly contribute to the media coverage of these countries.

Elements that follow one another in a homogeneous way, intangible values around a continuity of heritage traditions, show an emerging neo-nomadic culture. It is then a means of validating the cultural traditions of Kazakh populations whose ancestors are facing globalization. It is also a way of opening up to tourism, as this dimension remains present with its images, both cliché and reality. The imagery of steppes, horses, yurts, eagles and more marginally sports, speaks to Western tourists attracted by a way of life based on itinerancy.

Kazakhstan communicates with a coherent narrative, beyond traditional diplomatic relations, which reinforces a tourism strategy, with a Kazakh Ministry of Tourism founded only in 2020. However, at the border between tourism communication and political communication, the effectiveness of these efforts remains difficult to evaluate [11].

Nevertheless, these nomadic games can become a resource for communication both internally and externally with their achievements in infrastructure construction and cultural aspects serving international recognition. A voluntarist discourse, with the construction of an identity determined to extricate itself from a colonial past, constitutes the dominant axis of our observations.

However, ambiguities remain. According to Ms. Laruelle, nomadism and modernity still appear incompatible. She underlines to what extent the revalorization of nomadism in post-Soviet Kazakhstan is “partial, hesitant and problematic. [12]” In this framework, the exhibition and heritage of nomadism remain anecdotal, purely symbolic, at the risk of becoming frozen in a museification. The second ambiguity concerns borders, a late concept imposed by Russia during colonization, because the creation of the borders of Central Asian countries is the legacy of Russian and Soviet imperialism.

The area long had an imprecise form, as maps were completed at the end of the 19th century, marking the end of one of the last blank areas of the planet. If one asks Westerners to place these Central Asian countries on a map, a large majority is incapable of doing so.

The population is composed of a multitude of peoples with varied and changing names, most being nomadic or perceived as such. However, as a reduced list of elements is necessary for the birth of an imaginary place, a name, a form and a population, three principles well present.

The elements constituting nomadism in this region—yurts, shamans, camels, reindeer, wolves, eagles, nomads, sedentary people, natural environments, modes of sociability, minimized impact on nature... carry an imaginary that makes Westerners dream and on which tourism communication is based. The organization and communication of Kazakhstan around the World Nomad Games is indeed both a direct and indirect contribution to tourism, whose main angle is a nomadism, either reinvented or commodified. The truth seems to lie between the two. These games have indeed highlighted the traditions and imaginaries of nomadism and prove to be the result of a governmental will.

Faced with political destabilizations and ecological and economic changes, the sedentary-nomadic divide is evolving, the term “nomad” becomes metaphorical. It joins itinerancy. Then, linking nomadism with the need for freedom that the traveler has and carefully cultivates is interesting: “(to) arrange for oneself an inner and geographical space that favors long time: the only one that gives permission to clarify memories, to distinguish fragments of meaning, and everything that, in the absurdity that is life, matters or not. [13]”

[1] According to Jean Duvignaud, in Brousse (2020), p. 20.

[2] Roche, S. (2015). Stépanoff, Ferret, Lacaze and Thorez eds., Nomadisms of Central and Northern Asia, Paris, Armand Colin, 2013, 288 p. Études Rurales, 195, p. 5.

[3] Brousse, M. (2020), p. 21.

[4] “This is what distinguishes digital nomadism from other professions: while lawyers or professors do not benefit economically from the romanticisation of their professions, DNLPs derive revenues from the monetisation of their lifestyle and thus foster the creation of an expected identity to be embodied and performed by aspiring digital nomads,” Romanticisation and monetisation of the digital nomad lifestyle: The role played by online narratives in shaping professional identity work. Organization, 30(1), 65–88, p. 82 (our translation).

[5] This passage draws on a reflection on the World Nomad Games published in La diplomatie par le récit, Arifon, Éditions du Cygne, 2024. It is enriched by a reflection on the different aspects of nomadism, identity, and tourism.

[6] Côme T., Falcoz, M., “Major International Sporting Events, between consensual discourse and communicational reality,” in Peyre, N., Rouet, G. (2024). Sport, communication and politics. Les essentiels d’Hermès. Paris: CNRS Éditions, p. 115.

[7] Ibid., p. 118.

[8] “Kokpar (called kôkpar in Kazakh, or buzkashi), a kind of horseback rugby in which participants fiercely compete over a goat carcass, is practiced by Turkic peoples of Central Asia.” Source: Ferret, C. (2018). “Kôkpar, a serious game. Untangling a Central Asian equestrian mêlée.” ethnographiques.org, Issue 36.

[9] Google Alerts monitoring from September 1 to October 15, 2024, with the term World Nomad Games. The main results come from Kazakh and Uzbek media.

[10] Télérama No. 3896, September 2024, pp. 3–6.

[11] On previous editions, Maksüdünov A. (2020). Economic and Socio-Cultural Impacts of the World Nomad Games. Ekonomika.

[12] Laruelle, M. (2008), Identity issues and nomadism. Le Courrier des pays de l’Est, 1067, p. 14.

[13] Azéma, L. (2024), We Need an Elsewhere That Does Not Exist: Re-enchanting Travel. Paris, Allary Éditions, p. 173.

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