Following the downturn of the transitional economy in Kazakhstan in the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Kazakh villagers left their homes for urban areas. This research examines the notions of identity, ancestry, the shejyre (Kazakh historical narratives articulating ancestral ties), and the nation that emerged in the testimonies of recent rural to urban migrants in Almaty. In addition, special attention is paid to how their experiences of displacement and adjustment to their new environment have been systematically misconstrued in urban mass media and social analysis in a fashion that...