Muslim Women of the Fergana Valley: A 19th-Century Ethnography from Central Asia

Vladimir Nalivkin · Maria Nalivkina

Jul 2016 · Indiana University Press

About this ebook

Muslim Women of the Fergana Valley is the first English translation of an important 19th-century Russian text describing everyday life in Uzbek communities. Vladimir and Maria Nalivkin were Russians who settled in a "Sart" village in 1878, in a territory newly conquered by the Russian Empire. During their six years in Nanay, Maria Nalivkina learned the local language, befriended her neighbors, and wrote observations about their lives from birth to death. Together, Maria and Vladimir published this account, which met with great acclaim from Russia's Imperial Geographic Society and among Orientalists internationally. While they recognized that Islam shaped social attitudes, the Nalivkins never relied on common stereotypes about the "plight" of Muslim women. The Fergana Valley women of their ethnographic portrait emerge as lively, hard-working, clever, and able to navigate the cultural challenges of early Russian colonialism. Rich with social and cultural detail of a sort not available in other kinds of historical sources, this work offers rare insight into life in rural Central Asia and serves as an instructive example of the genre of ethnographic writing that was emerging at the time. Annotations by the translators and an editor's introduction by Marianne Kamp help contemporary readers understand the Nalivkins' work in context.

Ratings and reviews

Shaikh Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf look his book there is more information about Uzbekistan ethnography this is not much true.

About the author

Marianne Kamp is Associate Professor of History at the University of Wyoming. She is author of The New Woman in Uzbekistan: Islam, Modernity and Unveiling under Communism.

Mariana Markova is an editor, translator, instructor, and researcher. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Washington.