This article argues that rituals are the creative link between state hegemony and the everyday practices of ordinary people. Based on the idea of ritual as experimental technology developed by the Comaroffs (1993), we analyse the Tajik wedding as a means to deal creatively with the tension between the nation-state's claims to exert control over its citizens, on the one hand, and the use of traditions as historical continuity to create a common identity, on the other. Whereas weddings conform to state law and have thus adapted to the changing legal frames during the Soviet period and continue to do so in independent Tajikistan, they have also been used as rituals of cultural resistance in which ethnic, local and national identities are asserted against homogenizing efforts. Taking an historical perspective on weddings, this article contributes to the debate on the role of rituals in the creation and contestation of national identity and state ideologies.In this paper, we wish to analyse weddings as central rituals in the relations between the state and ordinary people. We argue that the struggle over weddings and their changes over the last 100 years demonstrate how people use rituals to comply with national demands while manipulating symbols and practices. They do so by constantly reshaping wedding rituals within the legal framework set by the central government so as to express local and ethnic identities, 1 which people claim are truly Tajik. This subtle process of homogenizing and shaping identities has made the wedding ritual the most dynamic ritual and a central item in state politics. We will address the question of how the wedding ritual has contributed to the imagination of a national identity in which ordinary people and the state engage. Even if the outcome is presented as 'harmonious' 2 and 'authentic Tajik', this process is marked by tension and negotiations.This article is based on ethnographic and demographic material collected during several field trips to various regions of Tajikistan. Sophie Roche has worked on the wedding as an ethnographic event since 2002, while Sophie Hohmann has recently conducted research on how migration affects wedding practices in the districts of Hissar, Vardat and Khorog. The ethnographic material stems to a large degree from the Qarotegin Valley, which is of special interest because both older (Kizljakov 1976, Bushkov 1993) and more recent publications (for example, Niyazi 1993(for example, Niyazi , 1999 have described it as a refuge of tradition. This framing of the region as traditional and backward expresses Soviet attitudes towards the region and the cultural practices of the people.The Qarotegin Valley east of the capital Dushanbe is characterized by steep mountains and a paucity of agricultural land. Along with growing apples, pears and potatoes to sell at Dushanbe's markets, people mainly depend on seasonal labour migration to secure their livelihoods. During the civil war in the 1990s, the area was the stronghold of the United Tajik Opposition and especially ...
The study investigates the complex relationships between sex-selective abortion and family composition in two countries of the Southern Caucasus: Armenia and Azerbaijan. Data were drawn from maternity histories recorded in Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs). In both countries, the relationship between the sex ratio of the next birth and the number of girls already born changed from negative to positive after 1992, when sex-selective abortion became prevalent. In Azerbaijan, but not in Armenia, a similar change was noticed for the relationship between the sex ratio of the next birth and the number of boys already born, this time from positive to negative. All changes in slopes were highly statistically significant. These findings indicate that sex-selective abortion was prevalent in both countries, and could work both ways in Azerbaijan. The results are interpreted in terms of 'gender saturation', that is a desire of families to better balance the composition of the family when too many children of the same sex are already born, which is consistent with opinion surveys indicating a preference for balanced families.
The paper proposes a socioeconomic framework of supply, demand, and regulation to explain the development of sex-selective abortion in several parts of the world. The framework is then applied to three countries of southern Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) where sex-selective abortion has developed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The authors argue that sex-selective abortion cannot be explained simply by patriarchal social systems, sex discrimination, or son preference. The emphasis is put on the long-term acceptability of abortion in the region, on acceptability of sex-screening by both the medical establishment and by the population, on newly imported techniques of sex-screening, and on the changing demand for children associated with the major economic and social changes that followed the dismantlement of the Soviet Union.
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