Defense of the dissertation of Petrov Bogdan for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the specialty «8D03204 - Journalism»
L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, a dissertation defense for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by Petrov Bogdan on the topic «The role of the media in the formation of the national identity of modern Kazakhstan» to the educational program «8D03204 – Journalism».
The dissertation was carried out at the «Printed and edited education department» of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University.
The language of defense is russian
Official reviewers:
Shaukenova Zarema – Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Honored Worker of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Religious Studies of the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan).
Dudinova Elena – Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication at the Faculty of Journalism, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan).
Temporary members of the Dissertation Council:
Kalashnikova Natalia – Doctor of Political Sciences, Head of the Department of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan of the L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan).
Zholdybalina Alua – Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Associate Professor, Deputy Director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan).
Burkhanov Aziz – Doctor of Philosophy (PhD Vice Dean and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University.
Scientific advisors:
Yesdauletov Aitmukhanbet – Candidate of Philological Sciences, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Printing and Publishing, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan).
Figus Alessandro – Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Professor, Advisor to the Rector of the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio (Cassino, Italy).
The defense will take place on January 24, 2026, at 02:00 PM in the Dissertation Council for the training direction «8D032 – Journalism and information» in the specialty «8D03204 – Journalism» of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. The defense meeting is planned to be held online.
Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/49732909982694?p=KgrKD7NZZI9vzLa2RE
Address: Room 206, Academic and Administrative Building No.1, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, 2 Satbayev Street, Astana.
Abstract (English): Abstract (Eng.): Relevance of the study lies in the increasing importance of issues of national identity and civic unity in a globalizing world, as well as in the expansion of the spheres of influence of the media on citizens’ consciousness. The mediatization of society is taking place, whereby media are embedded into the structure of social institutions and exert influence on their functioning [1]. Therefore, the mass media face an important task – to competently cover ethnocultural issues, taking into account all the nuances of national questions. For Kazakhstan, as a multiethnic state with a rich history and diverse cultural heritage, the role of the media in strengthening a unified information space is especially significant. After gaining independence, the republic has been consistently building a concept of national identity aimed at consolidating all citizens regardless of ethnic affiliation. In the speeches of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, strategic documents, state programs, and initiatives, the priority of preserving and developing national identity as the basis of sustainable development and unity of the country is emphasized. At the same time, the emergence of new digital media, social networks, and the diversity of information sources bring new challenges. The younger generation increasingly receives information outside traditional channels and demonstrates a critical attitude toward official discourse. Under these conditions, comprehensive study of how various media influence the formation of national identity is of scientific interest. The object of the research is the mass media of Kazakhstan as actors in the process of forming national identity. The subject of the research is the features and mechanisms of constructing national identity in the contemporary Kazakhstani media space. Aim and objectives. The aim of the dissertation is a comprehensive study of the role of media in the formation of national identity in modern Kazakhstan. The aim of the dissertation has determined the need to set and solve the following objectives: – to analyze theoretical approaches to the study of national identity and the role of media in its formation; – to examine the functional and role-based aspects of media coverage of national identity issues; – to characterize national identity as an object of media coverage; – to analyze journalistic materials of Kazakhstani and foreign media broadcasting in the Republic of Kazakhstan on the topic of national identity; – to study the influence of media materials on national identity on public opinion; – to identify problem areas and trends in materials devoted to issues of national identity; – to prepare recommendations and educational materials for practicing and future journalists, as well as for state and public institutions. The source base of the study is divided into three groups. The first group includes international and Kazakhstani regulatory legal acts governing issues of national identity. Declarations and conventions adopted at the level of the UN, UNESCO, CIS, the Organization of Turkic States, and the OSCE are considered. Among domestic documents, the basis for political and legal analysis consists of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Code “On Marriage (Matrimony) and Family,” the laws “On Mass Media,” “On Religious Activity and Religious Associations,” “On Languages,” “On the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan,” the Strategy “Kazakhstan-2050,” the Concepts of the formation of state identity, strengthening and development of Kazakhstani identity and unity, development of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan for 2022-2026, state policy in the religious sphere, cultural policy, the Regulation on the National Kurultai under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the State Program for the Implementation of Language Policy in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2020-2025. The second group consists of reports, analytical reviews, and other materials of state bodies and research organizations, such as the brief results of the 2021 National Population Census, annual reports “Youth of Kazakhstan,” sociological research conducted by the Committee on Languages of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Addresses of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and other speeches of the Head of State at the National Kurultai, sessions of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, methodological manuals of the Institute of Applied Ethnopolitical Research, and the register of educational programs of the Unified Platform of Higher Education. The third group is represented by the author’s own research base, namely content analysis of the early period of independence and the era of Kazakhstan’s formation (“Egemen Qazaqstan,” “Kazakhstanskaya Pravda,” etc.) based on secondary data, as well as the contemporary period of the country’s development based on 1,386 articles selected from the websites of online media outlets Tengrinews.kz, Orda.kz, Azattyq.org, and Sputnik.kz. This group also includes empirical data collected through a survey of 905 representatives of the media audience differentiated by language of media consumption, as well as interviews with 11 practicing professional journalists and journalism lecturers from Kazakhstani universities. Methodology. The study implements the principle of comprehensiveness: national identity is considered as a multidimensional phenomenon through ethnocultural, civic, linguistic, and other aspects, while the influence of the media is examined through content analysis of articles from popular media platforms based on secondary data for the period from 1991 to 2021, as well as on the author’s own database of 1,386 materials from popular Kazakhstani online media outlets Tengrinews.kz, Orda.kz, Azattyq.org, and Sputnik.kz for the period from 2022 to 2025; a survey of Kazakh-language and Russian-language media audiences totaling 905 respondents; interviews with 11 media experts and journalism lecturers; and analysis of the content of 42 journalism educational programs of Kazakhstani universities. General scientific methods were applied, including system analysis, which made it possible to identify interconnections and interactions among participants in state national policy, to consider Kazakhstan’s media system as an integral system that includes the training of journalistic personnel, content production, and its perception by the audience; comparative-historical approaches for understanding the evolution of national identity processes and the media environment; and political-legal analysis of documents, on the basis of which specific information was obtained about the current state and features of the formation of Kazakhstan’s national identity and the participation of the media in this process. Scientific novelty: – the theoretical and methodological foundations of the formation of national identity and the participation of the media in this process are generalized and refined; the identifications and symbols constituting the structure of national identity are characterized, and contradictions are detailed; – the political and legal framework for the formation of national identity and the participation of the media in this process is systematized using the example of international and Kazakhstani regulatory legal acts; the evolution of the perception of national identity at the state level during the years of independence is examined; – key media narratives shaping the image of the nation are identified and classified, and the features of their perception by different population groups are determined; – temporal dynamics, thematic clusters, the most frequently used words, commonly mentioned figures, and transmitted symbols in media materials on national identity are identified; – the author’s own empirical study of the perception of national identity in Kazakhstan’s media field is conducted; the structure and trends of media consumption of Kazakh-language and Russian-language media audiences, as well as public opinion regarding the degree of influence of media content on national identity, are analyzed; – the opinions of representatives of the professional journalistic community regarding their role in the formation and construction of national identity are examined; – existing educational practices are analyzed and new approaches to the implementation of national identity issues into the system of journalism education are proposed; – recommendations for improving the coverage of national identity issues are proposed. Practical significance lies in the fact that the research results can be used in the development of journalism training courses, as well as in forecasting state policy in the field of media and ethno-confessional relations. The analyzed journalistic materials will serve as the basis for recommendations to journalists. Main theses to be defended: 1. The national identity of modern Kazakhstan is a socially constructed, multi-component phenomenon formed under the influence of historical, cultural, and informational factors. Media play a key role in this process by transmitting symbolic codes, narratives, and models of the national “Self,” which are integrated into the individual identities of citizens. 2. In Kazakhstan’s media discourse, there is a high demand for the topic of national identity. At the same time, civic identity dominates, represented by the concept of “Kazakhstani,” actively used in the media, which contributes to the consolidation of a unified image of the nation in the public space. However, differences in the perception of the concepts of “nation,” “nationality,” “ethnicity,” and “nationalism” due to historical prerequisites and discussions in academic and socio-political circles, as well as contradictions in society, including divisions within the titular ethnic group, leave an imprint on the very policy of nation-building and its representation in the media. 3. The role of the media in the formation of national identity is realized through the functions they perform. In the era of globalization and mediatization of society, in addition to traditional informational, socializing, educational-enlightening, cultural, and other functions, new functions emerge: agenda setting (formation of the information agenda by focusing audience attention on certain topics) and compensatory function (satisfying unmet human needs, what the audience lacks due to limitations of time and living space). 4. Language occupies a central place in the media representation of national identity, being simultaneously a symbol, an object of policy, an element of cultural affiliation, and a source of public debate. Its coverage in the media reflects both value orientations and problematic aspects of national identity. 5. Media participation in the formation of national identity may come into conflict with freedom of speech. On the one hand, it can become an element of an ideological construct, but on the other hand, in the conditions of the digital media market, media outlets are forced to respond to audience demands, in which the topic of identity retains high significance. Therefore, journalists, as part of the nation, involuntarily participate in the reproduction of identity, even when striving to be “post-national” or critically oriented. At the same time, the boundary between criticism and provocation proves to be fluid, as freedom of speech comes into conflict with the risk of undermining the symbolic foundations of national unity, especially in cases of negative, ironic, or derogatory coverage of identity issues. This substantiates the need for a flexible but justified regulatory framework in which state participation is permissible not for the purpose of censorship, but to protect identity as a public good. 6. There is a media-cultural split between the official agenda and alternative opinions, as well as the preferences of part of the audience, especially Russian-language audiences, which manifests itself in insufficient involvement, an attitude toward informational distancing, and insufficient emotional identification with the nation, indicating a crisis of identity. 7. Differences between Kazakh-language and Russian-language media are expressed mainly in stylistics and audience types, but not in basic value orientations. The topic of national identity is present in the content of both Kazakh-language and Russian-language media, but is presented through different genre and visual practices. 8. National identity is studied incompletely in journalism educational programs. In general education disciplines, this topic is presented as one of many topics required for study. Among base and professional disciplines, it is completely absent in 38% of universities, and in most of the remaining ones it is assigned to the elective component, which reduces the institutional sustainability of the national identity agenda in the training of future journalists. 9. New media, social networks, and digital platforms are becoming the main channels of representation of national identity for modern audiences, outpacing traditional media. This requires a revision of strategies for presenting national identity issues toward greater visual expressiveness, interactivity, cross-platform integration, and representation of diverse viewpoints. 10. Journalists and lecturers, as actors in the process of national identity formation, are aware of their role in this process. At the same time, media act as institutional producers of national meanings, determining which forms of identity are desirable, acceptable, or marginal. Conclusion. Media in modern Kazakhstan represent not only a tool for disseminating information, but also a key socio-cultural actor in the formation of national identity. Their influence manifests itself at the level of discourse, representation, emotional engagement, and institutional legitimacy. The sustainability and inclusiveness of the Kazakhstani nation are directly related to how competently, responsibly, and flexibly media construct images of national identity, guided both by state priorities and by the real demands of society. Approbation and publications. The dissertation was discussed and recommended for defense at an extended meeting of the Department of Press and Publishing of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. 8 articles have been published on the research topic, including 1 in journals indexed in Scopus, 3 in publications recommended by the Committee for Quality Assurance in Science and Higher Education of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and 4 in the proceedings of international and national scientific and practical conferences. The educational and methodological manual “Media Literacy and National Identity” has been published and implemented in the educational process. Structure of the dissertation. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, eight sections, a conclusion, a list of references, and appendices. The total volume of the work is 154 pages.
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