Gesture, Gender, Nation: Dance and Social Change in Uzbekistan

(Hardback)

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The national dancers of Uzbekistan are almost always female. In a society that has been Muslim for nearly seven hundred years, why and how did unveiled female dancers become a beloved national icon during the Soviet period Also, why has their popularity continued after the Uzbek republic became independent The author argues that dancers, as symbolic "girls" or unmarried females in the Uzbek kinship system, are effective mediators between extended kin groups, and the Uzbek nation-state. The female dancing body became a "tabula rasa" upon which the state inscribed, and reinscribed, constructions of "Uzbek" nationalism.

Reviews

[O]one of the first contemporary studies of Uzbek expressive arts.-Slavic Review
[T]he author has done a fine job of introducing readers to the art form....Her descriptive writing is clear and concise, and her honesty in relating her own fieldwork experiences is worthy of praise. This book will be a useful platform from which other Central Asian dance researchers can dive further into this fascinating subject.-Journal of American Folklore
Scholars are in her debt for showing a fascinating new area of inquiry.-The Russian Review
"Oone of the first contemporary studies of Uzbek expressive arts."-Slavic Review
"The author has done a fine job of introducing readers to the art form....Her descriptive writing is clear and concise, and her honesty in relating her own fieldwork experiences is worthy of praise. This book will be a useful platform from which other Central Asian dance researchers can dive further into this fascinating subject."-Journal of American Folklore
"[O]one of the first contemporary studies of Uzbek expressive arts."-Slavic Review
"Scholars are in her debt for showing a fascinating new area of inquiry."-The Russian Review
"[T]he author has done a fine job of introducing readers to the art form....Her descriptive writing is clear and concise, and her honesty in relating her own fieldwork experiences is worthy of praise. This book will be a useful platform from which other Central Asian dance researchers can dive further into this fascinating subject."-Journal of American Folklore

Author Bio

MARY MASAYO DOI is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Bryn Mawr College.