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Empowering Muslim Women: Independent Religious Fellowships in the Kyrgyz Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Noor O'Neill Borbieva
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Abstract

In this article, Noor O'Neill Borbieva presents research on the work of Muslim female activists in the Kyrgyz Republic and on the religious fellowships they organize, revealing these groups as important but neglected civil society actors. These religious fellowships are “hybrid,” neither complicit with coercive interests nor fully independent of diem. Borbieva explores how the religious sensibilities of her informants inspired unique responses to the institutions and discourses that otherwise shape their lives as Muslim women and Kyrgyz citizens. These women are engaged in more than a struggle for female empowerment; they are crafting a response to national and international power structures, a response informed equally by their gendered identities and their spiritual sensibilities.

Type
Development Landscapes: NGOs, FBOs, and Democratization in Russia and Central Asia
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , Summer 2012 , pp. 288 - 307
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 2012 

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References

My greatest debt is to my informants and friends in the Kyrgyz Republic. For feedback on earlier drafts, I would like to thank Zamir Borbiev, Steven Caton, Engseng Ho, Umida Khikmatillaeva, John O'Neill, Ruth Mandel and the members of the Kennan Institute workshop, “International Development Assistance in the Post-Soviet Space,” and three anonymous reviewers. Material in this paper was presented at the Harvard University Middle Eastern Studies Worship and at the Kellogg Institute. Grants from the Fulbright Program, the Social Sciences Research Council, the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, the International Research and Exchanges Board, the Harvard Department of Anthropology, and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne gready facilitated botii the research and the writing of this article.

1. I have indicated the language of foreign words, including Arabic (Ar.), Kyrgyz (Kz.), Russian (R.), and Uzbek (Uz.). Although many of the Kyrgyz and Uzbek religious terms come from Arabic, I have favored the local spellings. Eje literally means “older sister,” but is required when addressing or referring to females older than the speaker.

2. Cohen, Jean L. and Arato, Andrew, Civil Society and Political Theory (Cambridge, Mass., 1992)Google Scholar; Keane, John, Democracy and Civil Society (London, 1988)Google Scholar; Seligman, Adam B., The Idea of Civil Society (Princeton, 1992).Google Scholar A parallel discussion of social capital is also relevant. See Bourdieu, Pierre, “The Forms of Capital,” in Richardson, John G., ed., Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (Westport, Conn., 1986), 241-58Google Scholar; Coleman, James S., “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital,” American Journal of Sociology 94, supplement (1988): S95-120 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Putnam, Robert D., Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York, 2000)Google Scholar; Sievers, Eric W., The Post-Soviet Decline of Central Asia: Sustainable Development and Comprehensive Capital (London, 2003).Google Scholar Putnam defines social capital as “connections among individuals—social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.” Putnam, Bowling Alone, 19.

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6. All figures taken from CIA World Factbook, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kg.html (last accessed 2 March 2012). Henceforth, “Kyrgyzstani” refers to citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic. “Kyrgyz” and “Uzbek” refer to the ethnic groups (R., natsional'nost’). The latter two ascriptions can function as either adjective or noun.

7. International Crisis Group, “The Pogroms in Kyrgyzstan,” Asia Report No. 193 (Osh/Brussels, 23 August 2010) at http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/central-asia/kyrgyzstan/193-the-pogroms-in-kyrgyzstan.aspx (last accessed 2 March 2012). The communities I discuss here were undoubtedly affected by the violence. I have not returned since the violence, however, so I am reluctant to comment on its impact on my informants. Al though I was aware of underlying ethnic tension from comments made by my Kyrgyz and Uzbek informants, nothing I heard or witnessed led me to expect the extreme violence of the June 2010 events.

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9. The term shamanism is unfortunate, but it is the closest English equivalent to the Kyrgyz word, bakshylyk. See Lewis, David C., After Atheism: Religion and Ethnicity in Russia and Central Asia (Surrey, Eng., 2000)Google Scholar; U.S. Department of State, “International Religious Freedom Report (2010),” http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010/148795.htm (last accessed 2 March 2012).

10. For somewhat dated but still useful information, consult International Crisis Group, “Central Asia: Islam and the State,” Asia Report No. 59 (Osh/Brussels, 10 July 2003), at http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/central-asia/059-central-asia-islam-andthe-state.aspx (last accessed 2 March 2012); Murzakhalilov, Kanatbek, Mamataliev, Kanybek, and Mamaiusupov, Omurzak, “Islam in the Democratic Context of Kyrgyzstan: Comparative Analysis,” Central Asia and the Caucasus 3, no. 33 (2005): 44-54.Google Scholar

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12. At the time of my research, many cities of southern Kyrgyzstan remained segregated, with Uzbeks living in the older mahallas and Kyrgyz living in the newer microraiony. Mahallas are laid out along narrow, twisty streets and dominated by single-family dwellings (Uz., hovli), often spacious compounds with courtyards, gardens, and several apartments. (In Uzbekistan, “mahalla” is a bureaucratic division and refers to neighborhood associations in both single-family dwellings and apartment buildings.) The newer apartment buildings of the microraions are cramped but often include indoor plumbing and other amenities. These patterns reflect the history of setdement in the region. Uzbeks have lived in the urban areas longer and thus tend to live in the older neighborhoods, while Kyrgyz are more recent migrants and thus have been forced into the apartment buildings (although the more affluent are able to move into single-family compounds). This may have changed dramatically since the edinic unrest in 2010, as many Uzbeks have fled the cities, leaving single-family houses empty for Kyrgyz.

13. Veiling (Uz. o'ranmoq) among these women generally implied covering all parts of the body except face, hands, and feet. A few of the women observed niqab (Ar.) which leaves only the eyes uncovered.

14. In speaking of the divine, most Central Asians use a variant of the Persian word (Uz. Xudo; Kz. Kudai). I translate it throughout as “God.” The Arabic word, “Allah,” is increasingly used by the newly devout. I have retained the usage when appropriate.

15. IU is supervised by the Muftiyat and seems to be funded by the Muftiyat and foreign Muslim foundations. U.S. officials I spoke with expressed frustration at the lack of transparency regarding the university's sources of revenue.

16. See International Crisis Group, “Women and Radicalisation.” In the wake of President George W. Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives, donors such as the U.S. government are more willing than ever to fund religious groups, as long as these groups do not use American government money to support proselytism. See Kevin Baron, Peter S. Canellos, Michael Kranish, and Farah Stockman, “Bush Brings Faith to Foreign Aid,” Boston Sunday Globe, 8 October 2006, Al. Although American missionary groups are good at compartmentalizing their activism in Kyrgyzstan in order to secure international funding, this was less true of the Muslim women's groups I discuss here. See Noor Borbieva, “Development in the Kyrgyz Republic: Exchange, Communal Networks, and the Foreign Presence” (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2007), 102-3; Pelkmans, Mathijs, “The ‘Transparency’ of Christian Proselytizing in Kyrgyzstan,” Anthropological Quarterly 82, no. 2 (Spring 2009): 423-45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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18. See Northrop, Douglas, Veiled Empire: Gender and Power in Stalinist Central Asia (Ithaca, 2004).Google Scholar

19. On oppressive practices, see Halle, Fannina W., Women in the Soviet East, trans. Green, Margaret M. (New York, 1938).Google Scholar On women's more nuanced roles, see Fathi, Habiba, “Gender, Islam, and Social Change in Uzbekistan,” Central Asian Survey 25, no. 3 (September 2006): 303-17CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Northrop, Veiled Empire; Svetlana Peshkova, “Otinchalar in the Ferghana Valley: Islam, Gender, and Power” (PhD diss., Syracuse University, 2006).

20. Kamp, Marianne, The New Woman in Uzbekistan: Islam, Modernity, and Unveiling under Communism (Seattle, 2006)Google Scholar; Lapidus, Gail Warshofsky, Women in Soviet Society: Equality, Development, and Social Change (Berkeley, 1978)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Massell, Gregory J., The Surrogate Proletariat: Moslem Women and Revolutionary Strategies in Soviet Central Asia, 1919-1929 (Princeton, 1974)Google Scholar; Northrop, Veiled Empire.

21. Ashwin, Sarah and Bowers, Elain, “Do Russian Women Want to Work?” in Buckley, Mary, ed., Post-Soviet Women:From the Balticto Central Asia (Cambridge, Eng., 1997), 21-37 Google Scholar; Kuehnast, Kathleen Rae, “From Pioneers to Entrepreneurs: Young Women, Consumerism, and The ‘World Picture’ in Kyrgyzstan,” Central Asian Survey 17, no. 4 (1998): 639-54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kuehnast, “Let the Stone Lie Where It Has Fallen: Dilemmas of Gender and Generation in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan” (PhD diss., University of Minnesota, 1997).

22. Nurgul Asylbekova et al., “The United Nations in the Kyrgyz Republic: Translating Commitments on Gender Equality into Actions” (Bishkek, n.d), at http://www.un.org.kg/en/publications/publications/artide/5-publications/3624-translating-commitmentson-gender-equality-into-actions (last accessed 2 March 2012); Human Rights Watch, “Reconciled to Violence: State Failure to Stop Domestic Abuse and Abduction of Women in Kyrgyzstan” (September 2006), at http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2006/09/06/reconciledviolence (last accessed 2 March 2012); Ikramova, Ula, and McConnell, Kathryn, “Women's NGOs in Central Asia's Evolving Societies,” in Holt Ruffin, M. and Waugh, Daniel Clarke, eds., Civil Society in Central Asia (Seattle, 1999), 198-213.Google Scholar

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24. Kandiyoti, Deniz, “Bargaining with Patriarchy,” Gender and Society 2, no. 3 (September 1988): 274-90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar I have some reservations with her analysis. See the discussion in Noor O'Neill Borbieva, “Kidnapping Women: Discourses of Emotion and Social Change in the Kyrgyz Republic,” Anthropological Quarterly 85, no. 1 (Winter 2012): 152-53.

25. I did not record these interviews electronically but took detailed notes during the encounters. Because of the risk of error in such a process of transcription and translation, I have kept quotations as short as possible.

26. The oyi appended to Rabiya's name is an Uzbek honorific that means, literally, “mother,” but is often used to address unrelated elderly women. Remittances have become an important source of revenue for populations across Central Asia. See International Crisis Group, “Central Asia: Migrants and the Economic Crisis,” Asia Report No. 183 (Osh/Brussels, 5 January 2010), at http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/central-asia/183-central-asia-migrants-and-the-economic-crisis.aspx (last accessed 2 March 2012).

27. Borbieva, “Kidnapping Women.“

28. This is a controversial issue, reflecting a diversity of interpretations of the relevant Qur'anic verse, 4:34.

29. In Islam, a hadith is an account of a saying or deed of the prophet or one of his companions.

30. Kyrgyz and Uzbek women face different challenges regarding veiling. Among Kyrgyz, a devout woman's desire to veil can create tension in a family and/or community. Among Uzbeks, veiling has become the norm to the extent that many women feel pressured to veil. One of my friends from the Uzbek community, Gulchehrahon, confided to me that she did not want to veil but was becoming increasingly self-conscious about the fact that she was one of only a few women in the neighborhood who did not veil.

31. When a law was passed in 2009 that prevented girls from wearing Islamic dress in school, Frontbek kyzy led a campaign to force the retraction of the law. See International Crisis Group, “Women and Radicalisation,” 12; “Joolukchan Mektepke Uruksatpy? [Is it Permissible to Go to School Wearing the Veil?],” Islam Ajary 2(17) (2009). She has also led a movement to overturn state laws against polygamy. See Darya Malevanaya, “Kyrgyzstan's Muslim Women Want Polygamy,” Times of Central Asia, 24 March 2005.

32. Aitpaeva, Gul'nara Amanovna, Egemberdieva, Aida, and Toktogulova, Mukaram, eds., Mazar Worship in Kyrgyzstan: Rituals and Practitioners in Talas (Bishkek, 2007)Google Scholar; Louw, Maria Elisabeth, Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia (London, 2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Montgomery, David W., “ Namaz, Wishing Trees, and Vodka: The Diversity of Everyday Religious Life in Central Asia,” in Sahadeo, and Zanca, , eds., Everyday Life in Central Asia, 355-70Google Scholar; Privratsky, Muslim Turkistan; Ro'i, Yaacov and Wainer, Alon, “Muslim Identity and Islamic Practice in Post-Soviet Central Asia,” Central Asian Survey 28, no. 3 (September 2009): 303-22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

33. Geertz, Clifford, Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia (Chicago, 1968)Google Scholar; Roy, Olivier, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (New York, 2004)Google Scholar; Fathi, “Gender, Islam.“

34. Alisher Khamidov, “Religious Discontent Evident in the Fergana Valley,” Reliefweb (17 January 2007), at http://www.reliefweb.int/node/224043 (last accessed 2 March 2012); Tolkun Sagynova, “Pilgrims’ Protest in Kyrgyzstan,” Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Reporting Central Asia no. 474 (15 December 2006), at http://www.iwpr.net/report-news/pilgrims'-protest-kyrgyzstan (last accessed 2 March 2012).

35. Askhad Myrzabekov, “Allaga Shirk Keltiruii [Worshipping Idols Other Than God],” Islam Madaniyaty 36 (52) (May 2004). For a discussion of kyrgyzchylyk and musulmanchylyk, see Aitpaeva, Gulnara, “Sacred Sites in Kyrgyzstan: Spiritual Mission, Health and Pilgrimage,” in Bergmann, Sigurd et al., eds., Nature, Space and the Sacred: Transdisciplinary Perspectives (Burlington, Vt, 2009), 253.Google Scholar

36. Opa, like eje, literally means “older sister” and is required when addressing or referring to females older uian the speaker.

37. Frontbek kyzy studied at IU. Leaders in the study circle and Kunduz-eje participate in davaat (religious education) workshops. A few of the women in the study circle had children who were studying at a local medrese. At home, the women listen to tape recordings of sermons given by Uzbek imams working in Kyrgyzstani mosques. On occasion, they discussed television broadcasts featuring Muftiyat officials and imams. The Kyrgyzlanguage books I saw being used were published in Kyrgyzstan and thus had been vetted by the Muftiyat. The Uzbek books used by women in the study circle may have diverged from the Muftiyat's doctrine on some points, as they were published in Uzbekistan and thus subject to censorship by the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan (Uzbekistan's equivalent to the Muftiyat), an extension of the Uzbek state. See Khalid, Adeeb, Islam after Communism: Religion and Politics in Central Asia (Berkeley, 2007), 171.Google Scholar

38. Fathi, “Gender, Islam,” 313.

39. Ozubek Chotonov, Yiman Sabagy [Faith Class] (Bishkek, 2004), 332-35.

40. McBrien, Julie, “Listening to the Wedding Speaker: Discussing Religion and Culture in Southern Kyrgyzstan,” Central Asian Survey 25, no. 3 (September 2006): 341-57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

41. Elsewhere in the Islamic world, hijab refers to a style of head covering. Among Central Asian Muslims, it often refers to the long, shapeless tunic worn with the proper head covering. For more on veiling in Kyrgyzstan, see Julie McBrien, “Mukadas's Struggle: Veils and Modernity in Kyrgyzstan,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 15 (May 2009): S127-44.

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46. Hann, “Introduction,” 5.

47. Fathi, Habiba, “ Otines: The Unknown Women Clerics of Central Asian Islam,” Central Asian Survey 16, no. 1 (1997): 27-43 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fathi, “Gender, Islam“; Khalid, Adeeb, The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia (Berkeley, 1998)Google Scholar; Khalid, Islam after Communism; Louw, Everyday Islam; Peshkova, “Otinchalar in the Ferghana Valley.“

48. Observers of the NGO sector throughout the former Soviet Union have noted a lack of genuine volunteer organizations. Active NGOs in this region tend to be professional organizations that employ full-time, professional staffs and are formed with the express purpose of attracting grants. See Abramson, “Critical Look“; Hemment, Empowering Women, 51-52. On the neglect of these organizations by international donors, see International Crisis Group, “Women and Radicalisation.“

49. Putnam, , Bowling Alone, 117.Google Scholar

50. For a history of how these concerns emerged in the development community, see Leys, Colin, “The Rise and Fall of Development Theory,” in Edelman, Marc and Haugerud, Angelique, eds., The Anthropology of Development and Globalization: From Classical Political Economy to Contemporary Neoliberalism (Maiden, Mass., 2005), 109-25.Google Scholar For more background on the U.S. government's objectives, see USAID Web sites such as “Democracy and Governance” (which includes advocacy and corruption), at http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/democracy_and_governance/ (last accessed 2 March 2012) and “Education and Universities” at http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/education_and_universities/ (last accessed 2 March 2012).

51. Asylbekova et al., “United Nations,” 29-31.

52. Most of the study circles I was aware of consisted of young, unmarried women or middle-aged women. Despite the growing popularity of Islam in southern Kyrgyzstan, young married women I knew in the Uzbek community were reluctant to take time away from their household responsibilities or to leave the household unchaperoned on a regular basis, for fear of social reprisal.

53. International Crisis Group, “Women and Radicalisation“; Pelkmans, ‘“Transparency“'; Canellos, Kranish, and Stockman, “Bush Brings Faith to Foreign Aid“; U.S. Department of State, “International Religious Freedom Report.“

54. I have said little about the legality of religious associations, partly because the recent political turmoil has left the future of religious freedom unclear. Legislation still pending when Bakiev was forced out of office in April 2010 threatened to limit citizens’ rights to form religious associations. See Mushfig Bayram, “Kyrgyzstan: Restore Religious Freedom at Least to the Level We Had before Qakiev,” Forum 18 News Service (Oslo, 16 April 2010), at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1432 (last accessed 2 March 2012).