Kazakh identity in the “near abroad”

It's a short store by a Harvard grad student about her trip to Central Asia, where she lived in host families of Kazakhs in China and Uzbekistan.

While the Kazakhs I met in Beijing seemed
to be more religious and knowledgeable about Kazakh folklore,
they did not show an interest in moving to Kazakhstan. Meanwhile,
the Kazakhs I met in western Uzbekistan exhibited more
cultural similarities to the Kazakhs in Kazakhstan because of the
shared Soviet experience.