Paper long abstract:

Textbook discourses are central to realizing inclusion for all. Given the secure institutional location and the compulsory exposure of students to textbook discourses, identity positions in textbooks can significantly shape students' (gender) identities. However, gender bias in textbooks is reported to be an insurmountable barrier in achieving gender equality in education.

This paper explores the construction of gender in Kazakhstani textbooks. While Kazakhstan is close to achieving gender parity in schooling, women continue to be overrepresented in teaching and health and underrepresented in scientific and technological fields, resulting in their concentration of women in feminised occupations with high prevalence of low-wages. The gendered labour outcomes, as well as a high incidence of gender-based violence in Kazakhstan are linked to expected gender role s and unequal power relations. Although, Kazakhstan has undertaken ambitious large-scale curriculum reforms, rigorous gender analyses of Kazakhstani textbooks are non-existent.

The paper draws on Butler's(1990) notion of 'gender' as 'always a doing', performed within the constraints of particular social contexts and intersected by other social structures and identity markers. Secondary school textbooks in languages (English, Kazakh and Russian) and algebra were subjected to qualitative and quantitative gender analyses. Pilot analyses were undertaken on the first chapter of each textbook to refine the analytical tools. These are currently being applied to a larger data corpus.

Preliminary findings indicated that textbooks entrench gender hierarchies by making females less visible in text (32%) and illustrations (21%) relative to men (68% appearances in text and 59% in illustrations), although this varies across different subjects. Textbooks normalise desirable femininities by portraying female characters predominantly in familial and gender stereotypical roles (dancers or singers) and marking beauty as a symbol of the 'ideal' woman. By contrast, mathematicians or scientists are exclusively male. The 'ideal' man is muscular, brave, wise, courageous, sporty and engaged in leisure activities, while non-binary gender identities and people with disabilities remain invisible. The implications of gendered textbook discourses on student subjectivities are discussed.

Paper long abstract:

Despite the fact that the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, the social and political life of Uzbekistan became shaped according to the "Strategy of Actions" model, which reflects the influence of the globalization of the modern world, the women's issue, the problems of religious belief and religious identity formed under this phenomenon, still remains plans are accepted. Almost a century ago, an enhanced method of secularization was used as a way to turn Turkestan into a colonial region. In this presentation, we will analyze such questions as, under the influence of what socio-political, cultural circumstances, the traditional woman of Uzbekistan wanted to regain religious clothing, the so-called hijab, which replaces the function of the paranji, and in what modern motives for the desecularization of the traditional society were reflected?

Аlthough the fact that this period is huge in terms of time scale, under the phenomenon of culture, gender and religious beliefs of the beginning of the 20th and 21st centuries, paradoxical parallels can be drawn of the values and realities that form the social identity matrix. Historical sources also claim that during the implementation of the policy of Bolsheviks, the paranji was the subject of a long dispute of the colonial periodicals.

In fact, the ideology of the colonial regime interpreted the paranji in a negative way, in order to create such an impression that all the negative of society proceeded from this element of culture. The fact that the Soviet ideology actually wanted to take a woman out of the house was hidden, so that she too was a participant in the construction of the Soviet state, which required human labor on a gigantic scale. But who does the Uzbek press of the 21st century want to see in the image of an Uzbek woman of the new period? A century later, the state in the face of the media what wants to promise for Uzbek woman of traditional society, who again wished to wear the hijab to return her to secular society, and how this task will be fulfilled - this question is also an equally important research question.

The authors of this study in a comparative way tried to highlight the model of identity and cognitiveness between the beginning of the past and the new century on the basis of an analysis of religious beliefs.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to explore how the Khujand's proximity to international borders affects Tajik women's fashion and women's perceptions of their national dress.

Women's national dress, or 'libosi milli', is a crucial piece of Tajikistan's brand image: a brand image that the government has even tried to actively enforce in recent years. Scholars have begun to examine this politicization, from Marintha Miles' exploration of Muslim headdress in 2015 to Diana Ibañez-Tirado's article on balance between national dress and foreign fashions in 2016.

Yet, these scholars have concentrated on the capital, Dushanbe, and the southern Kulob region. No research has been conducted on what influences fashion in the northern Sughd region, whether that be national narratives of fashion, international inspiration, or the conflict between modern and traditional conceptions of what it means to be 'Tajik'. This question is vital given the region's status as a multinational space where ethnic Tajiks live side-by-side with Uzbek and Kyrgyz people and 'nationality' does not necessarily match borders.

I conducted research in Khujand over July and August, with the support of the Laidlaw Undergraduate Research Programme. To complete this project, I interviewed over 40 women, primarily from Khujand, who are involved in the fashion industry as fabric sellers, seamstresses, embroiderers, and designers. I documented all these interviews, as well as the sartorial choices of women around the city and in several surrounding villages, on film.

I ultimately hope to present a range of attitudes towards national dress, from the perspectives of those involved in its creation.