‘Our Traditions Will Kill Us!’: Negotiating Marriage Celebrations in Tajikistan

What is it about?

Based on extensive ethnographic research in northern Tajikistan, this article examines the implications of the law ordering traditions and rituals, including marriage celebrations, in Tajikistan. Following the Farkhod’s daughter’s wedding, it reveals the tensions and negotiations around enacting the traditional through social rituals. Powerful sources of moral experience in the community, such events mark a family’s new status, structure social relations, and form the basis for one’s reputation and sense of self-worth. The Tajik state has attempted to curb constantly inflating ritual expenses by codifying and regulating tradition through a specific law (tanzim). In the name of economic development and social justice, the law limits conspicuous consumption and promotes a kind of ‘modern’, forward-looking tradition compatible with ideas about economic rationality. However, this understanding of tradition diverges from the ideas ‘on the ground’ about what it means to be a modern and a moral person honouring tradition. As a result, people have to navigate the expectations and power relations among kin and community in the affectively charged space of ambiguity borne out of the mismatch between different lexicons of tradition.

Featured Image

Photo by Joel Heard on Unsplash

Photo by Joel Heard on Unsplash