An Economy of Subjection
Based on ethnologic fieldwork conducted in Uzbekistan, this article explores the transformations of work in Uzbekistan, where the post soviet regime has adopted the Uzbek national identity as the new State ideology and maintained some forms of subjection inherited from the USSR. The author shows the importance of the changes that affect work in its exercise, as well as the social context and the representations related to it. The article details three situations which are especially significant of the new architectures of work : working force markets, teams of workers in the construction sector and in a cotton mill. It analyses how the representations of work are built on gender differentiations and how the circulation of incomes within the family hinders the possibilities of individual emancipation and strengthens the structures of kinship. Wedding constitutes a key operator, an essential moment of expenses and a symbolic support of the renewal of national identity ; it forces submission on juniors and servility on young spouses.