Kelin (Central Asia)

Kelin 🇰🇿 🇹🇯 🇺🇿 🇰🇬 🇹🇲
Location: Central Asia
Definition: Lit. “daughter-in-law”, is a newlywed woman who moves with the family of her husband
Keywords: Central Asia – FSU – Marriage – Wedding – Informal welfare – Mutual Help – Family – Sexuality – Gender
Clusters: Domination – Age – Motivational ambivalence
Author: Tommaso Aguzzi
Affiliation: PhD Researcher at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia

By Tommaso Aguzzi, PhD Researcher at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia

Lit. “daughter-in-law”, kelin, or kelinchak, (Turkmen gelin) is a newlywed woman who moves with the family of her husband and lives there until she advances to a higher position in the informal family hierarchy or the parents-in-law decide otherwise. Kelins carry out all the household chores in the in-law’s family, such as housekeeping, childcare, buying groceries, cooking, cleaning, serving meals and tea, taking care of her husband and his family, while paying due respect to all family members and following an austere code of conduct and social rituals.

Ethnographers ascribe the origin of the informal tradition of becoming a kelin to the ancient nomadic family life where many social rituals and traditions were observed. It was customary for the newlyweds’ parents and relatives to arrange marriages for the younger generations following the reception of a dowry by the bride’s family, and for the bride to move into the groom’s family (Golden 2011). At the end of the 19th century, this custom became popular among Muslim populations, and at the beginning of the 20th, in the Tsarist empire, where the so-called kalym was paid as a bride price to her parents (Brusina 2008).

Today, kelins are present in all the Central Asian countries, some parts of the Caucasus region, and Turkey. Studies found that the percentage of women living with their mother-in-law in Central Asia is statistically among the highest worldwide, with Tajikistan reporting 48.5% of married women living with their in-law family (Bietsch et al. 2021). Unlike the Western nuclear family, the Central Asian one comprehends different generations. Marriage, for its part, represents an important institution that has implications on several aspects of family life, such as status, financial resources, social security, inheritance, and descent. Family is hence a site where gender, social relationships, and kin membership are negotiated and contested (Reynolds 2012).

In Central Asia, kelins occupy the lowest position in the family hierarchy, and respond directly to the authority of their mother-in-law (ene or kainene). In this informal hierarchical spectrum, one can consider being kelin as a transitional phase, or rite of passage, between girlhood and motherhood, but also from stranger to full member of the family. The kelin follows the steps and guidance of the baibishe, the oldest woman in the family and the highest position that a woman can attain in the traditional Central Asian communities. This status is achieved according to a seniority system after the woman has had grandchildren. In their first year after marriage, kelins are undertaking an ‘apprenticeship’ where they are closely followed and instructed by their mothers-in-law. In some cases, kelins are also subject to judgment on what they do, how they do it, and how they look (e.g., what they wear) by the in-law family members, and occasionally by the neighbours (Zhussipbek & Nagayeva 2021).

In a family, several kelins married to the sons of the in-law family may live under the same roof. Kelins are usually responsible for the household (housekeeper or khozyayka); childcare and upbringing (her children and those of her husband’s brothers if they live in the same house); buying groceries, running errands and cooking; cleaning, serving meals and tea. Kelins are expected to honour the authority of their husbands and especially the elderly members of the family, such as the aqsaqal and the ene. In return they receive hospitality and, in some cases, honours and social status within the kinship circle. Women in this role are constantly mediating between the fulfillment of their own desires and the expectations of their husbands and in-law families (Reynolds 2012). For many women, the decision of being a kelin is imposed by peer pressure and results from the fear of accusation, smear, or violence.

In most cases, this family position limits women’s social and economic freedoms. In Central Asian patriarchal societies, women are relegated to housework and family care, without decision-making powers over assets or production activities (Lerman 2021). They are often forced to renounce their studies or professional careers, and this condition may be further exacerbated by labour migration, where a woman’s husband leaves the home for extended periods and sends remittances to his family, thereby necessitating the woman to live with her in-laws to support during his absence (Bietsch et al. 2021).

Nationalist propaganda goes hand in hand with what numerous scholars have called the ‘re-traditionalisation’ of the Central Asian societies (Beyer & Finke 2019; Kudaibergenova 2018). This process is characterised by three elements. Firstly, the division between the private (domestic) sphere, usually ascribed to women, and the public one, often consisting of male overrepresentation and female social exclusion. Secondly, the state’s control over the female body proposing maternity as a moral female duty, made evident by the lack of fertility control campaigns and maternity support from the government. Finally, it limited women participation in the political sphere through the articulation of discourses of traditions and authenticity (Cleuziou & Direnberger 2016). This patriarchal rhetoric succeeds in creating a positive depiction of the obedient kelin, conveying this role an economic and social status to which young Central Asian women aspire by marrying at a young age (Ismailbekova 2016; Turaeva 2020).

Over the last decade, this tradition has attracted public attention due to the increase in episodes of domestic violence against women. In 2011, a tv series called Kelinka Sabina became very popular among Central Asian audiences. The series portrays the life of a young Kazakh woman who was kidnapped and forced into marriage in a remote Kazakh village. The attention toward this practice also triggered online debates and discussions on the kelin’s family role, with an increasing amount of online material on the topic, such as a vademecum on how to be a good daughter-in-law or quizzes to test their abilities as daughters-in-law (Kudaibergenova 2018). As noted by experts in the field, media representation of patriarchy (e.g., bride kidnapping, ala kachuu, or domestic abuses) “normalizes it through the humor lens” (Dildabayeva 2021). On the other hand, this popularisation sparked the reaction of feminist activists, who expressed their dissent toward these practices. Another major problem is that kelin often get married young. According to national laws of Central Asian states, child marriage is formally forbidden, but in rural and deprived areas it often occurs that minors get married (UNFPA EECARO 2014).

Phenomena that are resulting from the re-traditionalisation of Central Asian societies require further attention and investigation by the academic community and feminist scholars. In particular, ethnographic studies exploring the first-hand experience of Central Asian women are critical to gaining precious insights into their daily experience while taking account of our privileged position as researchers (see Turaeva 2020). The Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on women’s domestic conditions worldwide and episodes of domestic violence and abuse are on the rise.

Funding

This research was realized as part of the EU Commission Horizon2020 MSCA Innovative Training Networks (MSCA-ITN) project MARKETS: Mapping Uncertainties, Challenges and Future Opportunities of Emerging Markets: Informal Barriers, Business Environments and Future Trends in Eastern Europe, The Caucasus and Central Asia, Grant agreement ID: 861034.

References

Beyer, J. & Finke, P. 2019. ‘Practices of traditionalization in Central Asia’, Central Asian Survey, 38(3): 310-328

Bietsch K.E., La Nasa K.H. and Sonneveldt E. 2021. ‘Women living with their mothers-in-law’, Gates Open Research, 5:170

Brusina, O. I. 2008. ‘Sharia and Civil Law in Marital Relations of the Muslim Population in Central Asia’, Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia, 47(2): 53-68

Cleuziou, J. & Direnberger, L. 2016. ‘Gender and nation in post-Soviet Central Asia: from national narratives to women's practices’, Nationalities Papers, 44(2): 195-206

Dildabayeva, Z. 2021. ‘Do movies like “Kelinka Sabina” reflect an attitude of society towards women or form it?’, Cabar Asia, 6 September, https://cabar.asia/en/do-movies-like-kelinka-sabina-reflect-an-attitude-of-society-towards-women-or-form-it

Golden, P. B. 2011. Central Asia in world history. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ismailbekova, A. 2016. ‘Constructing the Authority of Women through Custom: Bulak Village, Kyrgyzstan’, Nationalities Papers, 44(2): 266–280.

Kudaibergenova, D. 2018. ‘Project Kelin Marriage, Women, and Re-Traditionalization in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan’ in Najafizadeh, M. & Lindsey, L.L. (Eds.), Women of Asia: Globalization, Development, and Gender Equity. London: Routledge: 379–390.

Lerman, Z. 2021. ‘Gender gaps in Central Asia: A reassessment’, Central Asian Journal of Water Research, 7(2): 47–73

Reynolds, R. 2012. ‘Homemaking, Homebuilding, and the Significance of Place and Kin in Rural Kyrgyzstan’, Home Cultures, 9(3): 285-302

Statistical Committee of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 2017. Sample Survey on Violence Against Women in Kazahstan. https://kazakhstan.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Kazakhstan%20VAW%20report_final%2031-10-2017.pdf

Turaeva, R. 2020. ‘Kelin in Central Asia’, in Roche, S. (Ed.), The Family in Central Asia: New Perspectives. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter: 171-183

Werner, C. 2004. ‘Feminizing the New Silk Road: Women Traders in Rural Kazakhstan’, in K. Keuhnast, K. & Nechemias, C. (Eds.), Post-Soviet Women Encountering Transition: Nation Building, Economic Survival, and Civic Activism. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press: 105–126

Zhussipbek, G. & Nagayeva, Z. 2021. ‘Human rights of daughters-in-law (kelins) in Central Asia: harmful traditional practices and structural oppression’, Central Asian Survey, 40(2): 222-241