Bound to be grooms: the imbrication of economy, ecology, and bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

This article explores intersections among gender, violence and socio-economic insecurities through examining the practice of women’s abduction for forced marriage in rural Kyrgyzstan. In the post-Soviet period, bride-kidnapping has been discussed as an expression of reviving 'traditional' ethnic culture and as a system of social rules that constrain actors in a variety of ways. Understanding of this practice requires a more nuanced analysis of the links between various forms of vulnerabilities and gender violence it expresses. Previous work has overlooked men's roles within bride abduction process which are not simply men's exertion of authority but are intricate reflections of wider changes taking place in newly independent Kyrgyzstan. Through an analysis of interviews with forty-five men who have been involved in bride kidnappings we build a nuanced account of the broader system of structural and institutional inequalities that comprise ala kachuu and make social actors less agentic. The article links bride-kidnapping to ecological & economic transformations, and the social importance given to marriage - all in the context of neofamilial national state politics where gender violence takes shape as unsanctioned rituals cast as ‘tradition’.