Women’s Narratives: Resistance to Oppression and the Empowerment of Women in Uzbekistan

Abstract

The article presents women’s narratives to understand gendered aspects of socio-economic and political transformations in women’s lives in post-Soviet Central Asia. The author considers that narrative functions within a multi-disciplinary theory, research, and practice of livelihood, empowerment and conflict resolution. Given the colonial representations of women in the past and the storytelling ambiguity in misrepresenting women’s lives and locating them in marginal spaces in the narrative and society, the Soviet authorities claimed to end the seclusion of women ignoring women’s voices and social movements for equality and social change in the society. The article aims to understand gendered aspects of socio-economic and political transformations in women’s lives in post-Soviet Central Asia through women’s narratives. These narratives, based on oral history and autobiography rather than writings based on Soviet sources, demonstrate a complex picture of women’s struggles in their families and communities. Women describe their social, economic and environmental stresses and the ways they learn to live with social changes and empower themselves.