THE EVOLUTION OF THE EDUCATION AND SOCIAL STATUS OF UZBEK GIRLS IN THE MEMOIRS OF FOREIGN TRAVELERS AND AMBASSADORS (14TH – EARLY 20TH CENTURIES): AN ETHNOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Keywords:
Gender socialization, historical ethnology, institution, cultural dichotomy, critique of Eurocentrism, decolonial discourse, women’s status, social anthropology.Abstract
This study provides a historical-ethnological analysis of the evolution of the socio-legal status, gender socialization, and upbringing of women and girls in traditional Uzbek society, based on the memoirs of foreign travelers, ambassadors, and military personnel who visited the region from the 14th to the early 20th centuries. The methodological framework is based on the cultural-ecological approach, the dichotomy of cultures, and the critical-hermeneutic analysis of historical sources. The findings indicate that the social status of women did not evolve linearly but underwent a complex regressive transformation from the social openness and nomadic egalitarianism of the Middle Ages to the strict spatial segregation “isolation” of 19th-century oasis life. The article deconstructs Eurocentric and Orientalist stereotypes found in foreign chronicles, proving that the “isolation” institution was not merely a prison of disenfranchisement, but an independent, autonomous micro-society equipped with alternative cognitive education, systemic property immunity dowry and mahr, and local-hierarchical authority. Ultimately, the study concludes that even within a closed spatial system, women retained their status as active social subjects with their own life strategies, rather than remaining passive objects.
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