Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:20:33.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A sound family for a healthy nation: Motherhood in Tajik national politics and society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Sophie Roche
Sophie Roche*
Affiliation:
Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies, Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg, Voβstraβe 2, Building 4400, Heidelberg 69115, Germany
*
∗ Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since independence in 1991, Central Asian countries have put great effort into creating their respective national narratives, which are often based on an ethnic imagination. In Tajikistan this included the idea of shaping society via the family unit. Increasingly, motherhood became the focus of attention, which was made possible by merging two concepts. On the one hand, women are considered as “cultured” and educated people who the Soviet Union freed from “backward” traditions. On the other hand, traditions were reinvented such that the woman is considered the ultimate mother of the nation and the backbone of tradition. This article examines the changing status of motherhood in society and politics through efforts to create a sound family and a healthy nation.

Keywords

Tajikistanfamilymotherhoodnationalism
Type
Special Section: Gender and Nation in Post Soviet Central Asia
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , March 2016 , pp. 207 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Abashin, Sergey N. 1999. “Statistika kak instrument etnografi cheskogo issledovaniia. Uzbekskaia sem'ia v XX v” [Statistics as a Mean of Ethnographic Research: The Uzbek Family in the Twentieth Century]. Etnografi cheskoe Obozrenie 1: 3–16.Google Scholar
Acar, Feride, and Günes-Ayata, Ayse, eds. 1999. Gender and Identity Construction Women in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Alimova, Dilorom, and Azimova, Nodira. 1999. “Women's Position in Uzbekistan Before and After Independence” In Gender and Identity Construction. Women in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey, edited by Acar, F. and Günes-Ayata, A., 293–304. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Amirshoeva, Saodat. 2013. “Tadzhichki ne imeiut nikakogo prava vykhodit’ zamuzh za nemusul'man” [Tajik Women have no Right to Marry Non-Muslim Men]. Accessed 1 July, download 18 December 2014, http://catoday.org/centrasia/tjru/9166-saodat-amirshoeva-tadzhichiki-neimeyut-nikakogo-prava-vyhodit-zamuzh-za-nemusulman.html.Google Scholar
Ayubzod, B. 2011. “Rūzi oila dar Varzob tajlil shud” [The Day of the Family was Celebrated in Varzob]. Jumhuriyat 70: 3. 17 May.Google Scholar
Bakhtiyar, M. Babadjanov. 2001. “O fetvakh SADUM protiv ‘neislamskikh obychayev'” [About the Fatwas of the SADUM Against Non-Islamic Customs]. In Islam na postsovetskom prostranstve: vzgliad iznutri [Islam in Post-Soviet Space: A View from Within], edited by Alexei Malashenko and Martha B. Olcott, 170-184. Moscow: Carnegie Center.Google Scholar
Benningsen, Alexander, and Lemercier-Quelquejay, Chantal. 1967. Islam in the Soviet Union. London: Pall Mall.Google Scholar
Blum, Alain. 1994. Naìtre, vivre et mourir en URSS 1917-1991. Paris: Plon.Google Scholar
Bushkov, V. I., and Mikul'skiy, D. V. 1996. Anatomiia grazhdanskoi voyni v Tadzhikistane (ethnosotsial'nie protsessi i politicheskaya bor'ba 1992-1995) [Anatomy of the Civil War in Tajikistan (Ethno-social Processes and Political Struggle 1992-1995)]. Moscow: Institut etnologii i antropologii RAN, Institute prakticheskogo vostokvedeniia.Google Scholar
Conquest, Robert. [1990] 2008. The Great Terror: A Reassessment. Oxford: Oxford University.Google Scholar
DeWeese, Devin. 2011. “Survival Strategies. Reflection on the Notion of Religious ‘Survivals’ in Soviet Ethnographic Studies of Muslim Religious Life in Central Asia.” In Exploring the Edge of Empire, edited by Mühlfried, F. and Sokolovskiy, S., 35–58. Berlin, Zürich: Lit.Google Scholar
Dzhurabaev, D. Kh. 2009. Iz istorii zhilishtchnoi kul'tury tadzhikov [History of the Domestic Culture of Tajiks]. Khujand: Noshir.Google Scholar
Epkenhans, Tim. 2011. “Defining Normative Islam. Some remarks on contemporary Islamic Thought in Tajikistan - Hoji Akbar Turjonzoda's Sharia and Society.” Central Asian Survey 30 (1): 81–96.Google Scholar
Fathi, Habiba. 2004. Femmes d'autorité dans l'Asie centrale contemporaine, Quěte des ancětres et recompositions identitaires dans l'islam postsoviétique. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose/IFEAC. Field, Deborah A. 2007. Private Life and Communist Morality in Khrushchev's Russia. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Gulnoz. 2012. “Munosibat ba modar munosibat ba vatan ast.” [The Relationship with the Mother is the Relationship with the Homeland]. Jumhuriyat 31: 2. 8 March.Google Scholar
Haarr, Robin N. 2005. Violence Against Women in Marriage. A General Population Study in Khatlon Oblast, Tajikistan. Dushanbe: Swiss Cooperation Office Tajikistan.Google Scholar
Hämmerle, Christa, Langreiter, Nikola, Lanzinger, Margareth, and Saurer, Edith, eds. 2008. Gender Politics in Central Asia. Historical Perspectives and Current Living Conditions of Women. Weimar: Böhlau.Google Scholar
Harris, Colette. 2004. Control and Subversion. Gender Relations in Tajikistan. London: Pluto.Google Scholar
Harwin, Judith. 1996. Children of the Russian State: 1917-1995. Aldershot: Avebury.Google Scholar
Hilgers, Irene. 2009. Why Do Uzbek Have To Be Muslims? Exploring Religiousity in the Ferghana Valley. Berlin: Lit.Google Scholar
Hohmann, Sophie. 2009. “La médecine moderne au Turkestan russe. Un outil au service de la politique coloniale.” Cahiers d'Asie Centrale 17 (18): 319–351.Google Scholar
Hohmann, Sophie. 2010. “National Identity and Invented Tradition: The Rehabilitation of Traditional Medicine in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan.” China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly 8 (3): 129–148.Google Scholar
Hohmann, Sophie, and Garenne, Michel. 2005. “Vulnérabilité et santé en Ouzbékistan: origine des différentiels de mortalité selon la richesse des ménages.” Annales de démographie historique 2 (110): 109–138.Google Scholar
Iskandarifar, Sumayya. 2008. Joygohi padaru modar dar islom [The Place of Father and Mother in Islam]. Dushanbe: Irfon.Google Scholar
Jones, E., and Grupp, F. W. 1987. Modernization, Value Change and Fertility in the Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kamp, Marianne. 2006. The New Woman in Uzbekistan: Islam, Modernity, and Unveiling Under Communism. Seattle: University of Washington.Google Scholar
Kamp, Marianne. 2009. “Women's Studies and Gender Studies in Central Asia: Are We Talking To One Another?” Central Eurasian Studies Society 8: 2–12.Google Scholar
Kandiyoti, Deniz. 2007. “The Politics of Gender and the Soviet Paradox: Neither Colonized, Nor Modern?” Central Asian Survey 26 (4): 601–623.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Temma. 1985. “On the Socialist Origins of International Women's Day.” Feminist Studies 11 (1): 163–171.Google Scholar
Kaser, Karl, and Katschnig-Fasch, Elisabeth, eds. 2005. Gender and Nation in South Eastern Europe. Vienna: LIT.Google Scholar
Keller, Shoshona. 1998. “Trapped Between State and Society: Women's Liberation and Islam in Soviet Uzbekistan 1926-1941.” Journal of Women's History 10 (1): 20–44.Google Scholar
Kisliakov, N. A. 1969. Ocherki po istorii sem'i i braka u narodov srednei azii i kazakhstana [Essay on the History of the Family and Marriage Among the People of Central Asia and Kazakhstan]. Leningrad: Akademiia Nauk SSSR.Google Scholar
Kisliakov, N. A., and Pisarchik, A. K. 1976. Tadzhiki Karategina i Darvaza [The Tajiks of Karategin and Darvaz]. Vol. 2. Dushanbe: Donish.Google Scholar
Kuniansky, Anna Sharipo. 1981. “Fertility and Labor Force in USSR. Theories and Models.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Houston.Google Scholar
Laruelle, Marlene. 2007. “The Return of the Aryan Myth: Tajikistan in Search of a Secularized National Ideology.” Nationalities Papers 35 (1): 51–70.Google Scholar
Mahmudov, Mahkam, and Khudoyorov, Bakhtiyor. 2001. Ahdnomai nikoh [Marriage Contract]. Dushanbe: ER-grif.Google Scholar
Mahmudov, Mahkam, and Khudoyorov, Bakhtiyor. 2012. Tafsiri Kodeksi Oilai Jumhurii Tojikiston [The Explanation of the Law on the Family of the Republic Tajikistan]. Dushanbe: ER-grif.Google Scholar
Millii, Markazi. 2012. “Tafsiri Qonuni Jumhorii Tojikiston Dar Borai Mus'uliyati Padaru Modar Dar Ta'limu Tarbiyai Farzand” [Commentary on the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Parental Responsibility for Education and Upbringing of Children]. Dushanbe: Markasi Millii Qonunguzorii Nazdi Prezidenti Jumhorii Tojikiston.Google Scholar
Martine, Elaine. 2007. “Is War Gendered? Issues in Representing Women and the Second World War.” In Production, Reproduction and Communication of Armed Violence. The Practice of War, edited by A. Rao, M. Bolling, and Böck, M., 161–174. New York: Berghahn.Google Scholar
Massell, Gregory J. 1974. The Surrogate Proletariat. Moslem Women and Revolutionary Strategies in Soviet Central Asia: 1919-1929. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.Google Scholar
McClintock, Anne. 1995. Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Monogarova, L. F. 1992. Sovremennaia gorodskaia sem'ia tadzhikov [The Modern Urban Tajik Family]. Moscow: Rossiiskaia Akademiia Nauk, Institut Etnologii i Antropologii.Google Scholar
Monogarova, L. F., and Mukhiddinov, I. 1992. Sovremennaia sel'skaia sem'ia tadzhikov [The Modern Rural Tajik Family]. Moscow: Rossiiskaia Akademiia Nauk, Institut Etnologii i Antropologii.Google Scholar
Northrop, Douglas. 2004. Veiled Empire. Gender and Power in Stalinist Central Asia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Penkala-Gawęcka, Danuta. 2013. “Mentally Ill or Chosen by Spirits? ‘Shamanic Illness’ and the Revival of Kazakh Traditional Medicine in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan.” Central Asian Survey 32 (1): 37–51.Google Scholar
Poliakov, Sergei. 1992. Everyday Islam: Religion and Tradition in Rural Central Asia. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Radzhabov, S. A., ed. 1974. V internatsional'noi sem'e sovetskikh respublik [In the International Family of Soviet Republics]. Dushanbe: Irfon.Google Scholar
Roche, Sophie. 2012. “Gender in Narrative Memory. The Example of Civil War Narratives in Tajikistan.” Ab Imperio 3: 279–307.Google Scholar
Roche, Sophie. 2014. Domesticating Youth. The Youth Bulge and its Socio-political Implications in Tajikistan. New York: Berghahn.Google Scholar
Sangin, Tolibi, ed. 1998. Dastur oid ba ta'limi huquqi zanon [Guide to Instruct on Women's Rights]. Dushanbe: Abasto.Google Scholar
Sarkorova, Anora. 2014. “V Tadzhikistane vrachi proveriaiut zhenshini na devstvennost'” [In Tajikistan, Doctors Verify the Virginity of Girls]. Accessed 19 December, download 19 December 2014. http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/society/2014/12/141218_tajikistan_women_virginity?ocid=socialflow_facebook.Google Scholar
Siddiqiyon, Dilovari. 2011. ‘“Joygohi zan dar islaom’ va ‘solhoi ozodii nisbī’ az didi Tūrajonzoda.” [The Place of the Woman in Islam and the Years of Relative Freedom from the View of Tūrajonzoda]. Jumhuriyat 71-72: 2, 19 May.Google Scholar
Solehiyon, A. 2011. “Volidayni mo - bihishtu dūzakhi mo” [Our parents - Our Paradise and Our Hell]. Jumhuriyat 16-17, 29 January.Google Scholar
Stoler, Ann Laura. 2002. Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule. Berkeley: University of California.Google Scholar
Tadjbakhsh, Shahrbanou. 1994. “Women and War in Tajikistan.” Central Asian Monitor 1: 25–29.Google Scholar
Tett, Gillian. 1995. “Guardians of the Faith? Gender and Religion in an (ex) Soviet Tajik village.” In Muslim Women's Choices. Religious Belief and Social Reality, edited by El-Solh, C. F. and Mabro, J., 128–151. Providence, RI: Berg.Google Scholar
Tlostanova, Madina. 2010. Gender Epistemologies and Eurasian Borderlands. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Tokhtakhodjaeva, Marfua. 1995. Between the Slogans of Communism and the Laws of Islam Translated from the Russian by Sufian Aslam. Lahore: Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Centre.Google Scholar
Turaeva, Rano. 2010. “Identification, Discrimination and Communication: Khorezmian Migrants in Tashkent.” PhD diss., Martin Luther University Halle, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany.Google Scholar
Winter, Jay M. 1992. “War, Family, and Fertility in Twentieth-Century Europe.” In The Quiet Revolution: The European Experience of Declining Fertility, 1850-1970, edited by Gills, John R., 291–309. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Woollacott, Angela. 2006. Gender and Empire. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Zikrioeva, M. F. 2001. Istoriographiia problemy zhenshchin tadzhikistana [Historiography of the Problems of Women of Tajikistan]. Dushanbe: Irfon.Google Scholar
Zilfi, Madeline C., ed. 1997. Women in the Ottoman Empire: Middle Eastern Women in the Early Modern Era. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar

Sources without author

“Dar Tojikiston 8-umi mart ruzi Modar e'lon shudaast” [The 8th of March was Declared Mother's Day in Tajikistan]. Accessed 5 March 2010, download 15 November 2013, http://vatan.tj/news/mart/.Google Scholar
“Tadzhikskiy sud oshtrafoval invalida, zhitelya Bokhtara na $400 za ‘nepravil'nuyu svad'bu'” [Tajik Court has Fined a Disabled Resident from Bokhtar with 400 Dollars for a ‘Wrongful Wedding']. Accessed 16 December 2013 http://catoday.org/centrasia/tjru/11996-tadzhikskiysud-oshtrafoval-invalida-zhitelya-bohtara-na-400-za-nepravilnuyu-svadbu.html.Google Scholar
“Farishta bo nomi modar” [An Angel Named Mother]. Accessed November 2011 http://www.nahzat.tj/video/mediaitem/128.Google Scholar