Subverting oppressive structures: on kelinhood, solidarity and feminist research in the bazaars

Binazirbonu Yusupova

Central Asian Survey, 2024, vol. 43, issue 4, 551-559

Abstract: Feminist principles in research emphasize acknowledging differences to address power imbalances. Taken at face value, discussions on positionality tend to prioritize differences, often turning into mere declarations of the researcher’s social privilege. To counterbalance this tendency, I highlight the critical importance of also focusing on shared experiences between the researcher and research participants. Based on my feminist ethnographic fieldwork, this research note reflects on my positionality as an Uzbek musofir (migrant) kelin (daughter-in-law) conducting doctoral research on the lived experiences of women in Tashkent’s bazaars. It illustrates how my complex, intertwined identity as a locally raised and foreign-educated musofir kelin initially posed challenges in accessing the field and building trust with participants. Yet, it also highlights how, in addition to the shared experience of musofirchilik, the oppressive experience of kelinhood can be subverted to build solidarity and rapport with the women in the bazaars, transforming an oppressive experience into subversive solidarity.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02634937.2024.2409285 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ccasxx:v:43:y:2024:i:4:p:551-559

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/ccas20

DOI: 10.1080/02634937.2024.2409285

Access Statistics for this article

Central Asian Survey is currently edited by Raphael Jacquet

More articles in Central Asian Survey from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().