URBAN BELONGING IN THE DIGITAL PUBLIC SPHERE: SOCIAL IDENTITY RECONSTRUCTION AMONG ETHNIC KAZAKHS IN ALMATY

Abstract

This study examines the reconstruction of social identity among ethnic Kazakhs in the urban environment of Almaty through an analysis of digital public discourse. Drawing on qualitative content analysis of discussions published on the social media platform Threads between October and December 2025, the research focuses on the symbolic distinction between “locals” and “newcomers” as a key axis of urban identity negotiation. In total, 73 discussion threads were analyzed, with particular attention to narratives related to internal migration, everyday urban practices, language use, and perceptions of belonging. The findings demonstrate that urban identity in Almaty is constructed less through explicit ethnic differentiation and more through moral and behavioral criteria, including generational rootedness, emotional attachment to the city, adherence to informal urban norms, and symbolic claims to urban space. Long-term residents frequently position themselves as morally authorized urban subjects, while newcomers are discursively constructed as conditional members whose belonging must be earned through conformity to dominant urban values. At the same time, counter-discourses articulated by newcomers reveal the negotiated and performative nature of urban belonging. The study contributes to constructivist and relational theories of social identity by highlighting the role of digital public spaces in making symbolic boundaries visible and contested. By focusing on a post-Soviet metropolitan context, the research expands international urban sociology and digital identity studies, offering new empirical insights into identity reconstruction under conditions of internal migration and rapid urban transformation