Constructing the authority of women through custom: Bulak village, Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

The traditional authority of Kyrgyz women operates within moral frameworks and through their roles as keepers of hearth and home, and has been recognized by the state for its important role in family life and in society. Women are responsible for the health of future generations, for the quality of children's education, and for safeguarding and passing on moral principles, which contribute to the formation of the traditional Kyrgyz family, and thus to the Kyrgyz nation. Kyrgyz ideas that women are keepers of hearth and home are exactly the ideas that allow women to build authority within the home and family. Not only do Kyrgyz women actually gain a great deal of power in their families over the course of their lives, but also this female power is foundational to the Kyrgyz sense of nation and sovereignty. Thus, what seems to be “domestic” power is, in fact, power with very public connections and effects.

Keywords:

• Kyrgyzstan
• construction of authority
• custom
• gender
• nationalism

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Alison Mandaville, Nathan Light, Juliette Cleuziou, Lucia Direnberger, and Marianne Kamp for their comments and suggestions on the earlier draft of the paper. I express my gratitude to the anonymous reviewer who provided excellent comments.

Notes

1. Den materi v Kyrgyzstane. Internet Portal: Kalendar Sobyti. Accessed 1 July 2015. http://www.calend.ru/holidays/0/0/2905/.

2. The ideal Kyrgyz family consists of three or four generations. Children should respect their parents no matter what. The youngest son is obliged to take care of his parents, and thus he inherits their property. The father is the main figure in the family but the domestic and household authority is given to his wife. Upon marriage, a woman moves to her husband's house (patrilocal) and takes on the patrilineage of her husband (Ismailbekova 2012).

3. The significance of slaughtering a sheep is an act of hospitality, exchange, and obligation and also shows a person's wealth and status.

4. Sart is a name for the settled people of Central Asia. Nomadic peoples, such as Kyrgyz, use the term sart in a pejorative way. This reflects how Kyrgyz have negative views of sart settled populations as being greedy and cowardly. Likewise, settled peoples such as Uzbeks say that Kyrgyz are lazy and dirty.