Gender and nation in post-Soviet Central Asia: From national narratives to women's practices

Abstract

This article introduces a thematic issue consisting of five articles, which analyze the complex interrelations between gender norms and representations and the construction of nationalism in the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia. Drawing from gender and feminist studies, the first section explores how Central Asian nationalisms have promoted hierarchized gender roles to reinforce their legitimacy, noticeably invoking the authority of “tradition.” The second section examines not only how the Soviet period continues to shape contemporary nation-building processes in the region, but also how the latter has been creating new historical references to emancipate them from the Soviet legacy - and from the Soviet policy toward women in particular. The third section examines how gender norms promoted by Central Asian states may affect women in their everyday life and how they may negotiate, refuse, or promote these norms. In the final section, we show how “gender equality” has become a watchword of international organizations’ agendas and we analyze the production and implementation of this international agenda setting in a specific national context.

Left Behind? Russia’s Entry Bars and Gender Relations in Tajikistan

“…Tajik families can hardly afford to stay together in Russia due to the high cost of living. Gender relations embedded in culture, religion, and the nationalist discourses assign Tajik women the roles of mothers and caregivers (Cleuziou and Direnberger 2016). The normative expectations of femininity and economic barriers to family migration force women to stay behind while their husbands engage in circular migration.…”

“…Tajik women migrants value more egalitarian gender norms in Russia's urban areas compared to Tajikistan and appreciate less social control Zotova 2014, 2019). Migration allows migrating and non-migrating women to renegotiate traditional gender roles as women who stay behind also enjoy increased decisionmaking power as heads of households, greater mobility, and less social restrictions in local communities (Castellani and Martín-Díaz 2019;Cleuziou 2017, Cleuziou andDirenberger 2016;Erdal and Pawlak 2017;Kikuta 2016;Sinha, Jha, and Negi 2011;Ullah 2017).…”

“…This holds for Central Asia, in which emergent nationalisms since the collapse of the Soviet Union have reinforced hierarchical gender roles to foster their regimes' legitimacy. By appealing to the authority of tradition, the newly independent states-including Tajikistan-seek to emancipate from the Soviet legacy and reaffirm culturally acceptable masculine and feminine behaviors (Bazin 2008;Cleuziou and Direnberger 2016). Gender relations are reproduced and contested through migration; however, structural factors -such as economics and politics-are known to define a large set of social practices, including gender (Erdal and Pawlak 2018).…”

Nation-Building, gênero e política no Cazaquistão: O caso do Homem Dourado

“…44 Nazarbayev vangloria, em seus textos doutrinários que citamos mais acima, as relações de gênero no Cazaquistão, mais simétricas do que nos países vizinhos da Ásia Central, nos quais o dogmatismo islâmico tem se radicalizado nos últimos anos e redefinido os papéis de gênero em detrimento das liberdades individuais das mulheres. As relações de gênero no Cazaquistão ainda em muito são pautadas pelas antigas doutrinas soviéticas voltadas para a transformação das mulheres e dos homens em trabalhadores, com pouca distinção de gênero (Edmondson 1992;Fathi 2011), 45 embora perceba-se que a assimetria de gênero arrolada em padrões considerados como heteronormativos oriundos da sociedade rural "tradicional" tem consequências bastante nefastas, como se pode notar, por exemplo, através de uma história em quadrinhos que fez sucesso recentemente ao apresentar um herói no combate ao chamado "comportamento indecente" da mulher, 46 além de pesquisas realizadas sobre o assunto, denunciando as mazelas da dominação masculina 47 (Cleuziou & Direnberger 2016;Rani & Bonu 2009). Oficialmente, o país talvez prefira de fato manter a ambiguidade também aqui para evitar a desestabilização da estrutura ideológica que mantém a ideia de que a nação cazaque é cazaquistana, voltada para os princípios da igualdade cidadã entre homens e mulheres; mas, ao mesmo tempo, ainda associada aos valores rurais e nômades, "tradicionais" (Megoran 1999;Snajdr 2007) -assim, reproduzir-se-ia uma espécie do que poderíamos propor em chamar aqui, por ora, de "hetero-etno-nacionalismo"... cívico!…”

Negotiating gendered transnationalism and nationalism in post-socialist Latvia

“…Debates on reproductive rights and pronatalist policies became opportunities for governments to distinguish themselves from their socialist predecessors and to "reclaim" national narratives (Funk and Mueller 1993;Gal and Kligman 2000, 22). After decades of gender equality activism, neotraditional gender values are still held by government representatives as well as promoted by increasingly vocal and organized "anti-gender" movements (Heinrich Boll Foundation 2015; Kovats and Poim 2015; Cleuziou and Direnberger 2016).…”