A mob for hire? Unpacking older women’s political activism in Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACT

This article explores the politics of older women in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, who have emerged as informal leaders in urban neighbourhoods to ‘speak for the poor’ to the state. Their mediating role is crucial for understanding community micro-politics, women’s political agency and more broadly state–society relations in the post-Soviet context. Drawing on in-depth interviews with older female informal leaders, the paper examines their political legitimacy and modes of mediation with the state and elites. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of political capital and ‘double dealings’, the paper argues that older women are important informal mediators, whose representational practices involve communal leadership, protest activism, bargaining and vote mobilization. Their multitasking roles are necessitated by their legitimation struggles and elites’ strategies of state capture. The article challenges the dominant media representation of older women activists as ‘a mob for hire’ and offers a more nuanced account of older women’s politics, addressing a blind spot in the literature on politics in Central Asia.

KEYWORDS:

• Older female informal leaders
• political capital
• double dealings
• mediation
• Central Asian politics

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Selbi Jumayeva, Saltanat Childress and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft. I am also grateful to the journal editor for her support and encouragement. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to the interviewees for their time, guidance and patience. The usual disclaimers apply.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The older women’s erection of a yurt in the centre was a way of creating a safe public space for themselves and their supporters to discuss matters, socialize, strategize, and be visible. When public spaces in Osh became restricted because of commercialization, policing and cold weather, older women set up a yurt as a safe, practical and flexible alternative. Yurts also speak to the ethno-nationalist sentiments of elites and policemen. They are unlikely to be forcefully demolished, and can bolster older women’s claims for economic resources. Historically, yurts have been erected during kurultais (large gatherings) for debate and consensus-building among various tribes.

2 Bayaman Erkinbaev was an infamous Kyrgyzstani nouveau riche who had privatized the Karasuu market and controlled drug trafficking in southern Kyrgyzstan. He also served as a parliamentary deputy three times. He was killed after the 2005 Tulip Revolution.

3 Omurbek Tekebaev was a leader of the Ata Meken Party and a member of the Kyrgyz parliament. He was a leading opposition figure during the regimes of Presidents Akaev and Bakiev.