Repertoires of Family Life and the Anchoring of Afghan Trading Networks in Ukraine

^†The research upon which this article is based was made possible from a grant from the Leverhulme Trust for a project entitled “Islam, Trade, and Citizenship across the Frontiers of South and Central Asia”.

Abstract

This article examines the “repertories” of family life of men of Afghan background in Odessa, Ukraine. It focuses on these men's intimate relationships with “local women” and challenges the notion that such unions merely offer a form of emotional escape for migrants or refugees far from home. Instead, we advance two arguments: first, that Afghan men in Ukraine form part of a complex transnational trading network, rather than a bounded group of refugees or migrants; second, that the cross-community relationships between Afghan men and “local women” play a significant role in the spatial anchoring and commercial fortunes of transnational Afghan traders in Ukraine. In the analysis of our ethnographic data, we consider the importance of the aftermath of the Cold War in shaping the diverse forms of family life within these trading networks.

Keywords:

• Afghanistan
• Ukraine
• Trading Networks
• Marriage
• Transnational Kinship

Notes

^† The research upon which this article is based was made possible from a grant from the Leverhulme Trust for a project entitled “Islam, Trade, and Citizenship across the Frontiers of South and Central Asia”.

[1] On the 7 km container market, see Humphrey and Skvirskaja (2009). Odessa's Afghan community includes both Pashto and Dari speakers, as well as ethnic Hazaras, and comprises approximately 4000 persons. See Skvirskaja (2010).

[2] The legal status of such relationships varies. Some marriages are conducted according to Ukrainian state law (according to Marin (2013) approximately only 100 unions between Afghans and Ukrainians have been submitted to Odessa's civil registry office); others, according to our informants, are officiated by Islamic religious authorities (mullahs) based in the Ukraine. Other relationships are long-term and durable and classified by both parties as a form of “marriage” although such unions are neither officially registered by the civil registry or religious authorities (compare Constable 2014, 128). Ukrainian family law does not permit polygamous marriages to be performed in their civil offices.

[3] The data for this article were collected by Marsden in July and August 2012 and by both authors between September 2012 and August 2013, as well as in April 2014. We interacted with our Afghan informants in Dari and Pashto, and with non-Afghan women in Russian. Pseudonyms for people and small places are used throughout.

[4] Compare Abramson (2008) who argues that in Uzbekistan “Russian speaking” is a category of person that “cut-across ethnic boundaries” and is used to refer to people who speak Russian fluently regardless of their ethno-national identity. In addition, the category of Russian in Uzbekistan also connotes a “life-style” that includes upbringing and education in Russian and mixed-gender socialising.

[5] According to the “All Ukrainian Population Census 2001”, the Odessa region's population comprises 62% Ukrainians, 20% Russians, 6% Bulgarians, 5% Moldovans, and a small percentage of Gagausian, Jews, Armenians, and “Gypsies” (Available online: http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/)

[6] We would like to thank anonymous reviewer three for having most helpfully brought this second aspect of Coe's approach to our attention.

[7] See for example Khan (2014) and Oeppen (2013).

[8] For a discussion of the ways in which the category refugee tends to homogenise the subjectivities of those it is used to classify see Pandolfi (2000).

[9] This image of Afghan autonomy belies the extent to which the commercial activities of such Afghans depend on patronage relationships. See, for example, Humphrey (2002).

[10] “Islamic law” does not require Christian women to convert to Islam should they wish to marry a Muslim. Such unions are however considered as being problematic in Afghanistan because the mother is conceptualized as playing a central role in the “bringing up” (tarbiya kardan) of Muslim children. The acceptability or otherwise of such unions derives not merely from either their status in Islamic law or in “Afghan tradition”, but reflects the issues that cross-cultural marriages raise for specific Muslim communities.

[11] Children of Afghan background study in government schools in Ukrainian and Russian language during weekdays, while at the weekends they can attend one of the two “Afghan-schools” in the city for lessons about “Afghan culture and history” in Dari or Pashto (Marin 2013).

[12] The legal status of Afghans in the Ukraine varies: most established merchants now hold Ukrainian nationality and passports having initially been officially classified as refugees. More recent migrants tend to either hold highly prized official documentation that confirms their refugee status (bezhenost) or no valid travel documents. There are also Afghans working in the Ukraine who hold the passports of other countries in which they have gained citizenship, such as the UK, Germany, and Denmark.