Contribution short abstract:

The contributor presents outcomes of her research on the lives and voices of female manaschis in Kyrgyzstan.

Contribution long abstract:

The contributor discusses invisibilities and struggles for recognition of female manaschis in Kyrgyz society. Although many papers have been written on epic tale singers, the life stories of female manaschis and their recitation practices has received little scholarly attention. The dominant views on epic reciters are based predominately on the experiences of male bards. A. Lord, who investigated European epic tale singers, identified three stages of becoming a bard: 1) Listening and absorbing, 2) individual practices, 3) first public performance. N. van der Heide supplemented Lord’s stages by highlighting the significance that blessing and vocation dreams play in becoming an epic reciter or manaschy. Notwithstanding the merits of their scholarship on the performative skills and spiritual connection of the male bards with their ancestors, both Lord and Heide have missed to recognize the specific requirements for female reciters. In a society where, traditional patriarchal norms are strong, female epic tellers need not only to master and improve their recitation skills but also to accept male dominance and to “bargain with patriarchy” (to borrow D. Kandioty’s terms), in order to be recognized as manaschy. The dicussant presents life stories of female manaschis, for data analysis recognition theory (A. Honneth) will be applied, the sources will be analyzed with regard to the key aspects of family support (“love field”) and “solidarity field” (A. Honneth). It will show how interactions between female manaschis, on the one hand, and male-dominated society (rights field), on the other, serve as a good example for “bargaining with patriarchy”. In particular, the paper reflects upon the role male members play in a society (father, husband, father -in -law, tribal man) in bestowing recognition upon female manaschilar.

Keywords: epic, epic reciter, female manaschi, recognition, bargaining with patriarchy.