Leading against Odds: Muslim Women Leaders and Teachers in Uzbekistan

Muslim women’s leadership cannot be reduced to its social manifestations and formation. While analyzing a case study of leadership provided by some Muslim women in Uzbekistan, a post-Soviet Central Asian country, the author demonstrates that this leadership is essentially personal, propelled from within individuals and driven by their motivations. At the same time, Muslim women’s leadership is relational—conceptualized and enacted always in relation to someone or something, including the self. By highlighting the importance of individual experiences, this article highlights the personal-relational dynamic and calls for an analytical reassessment of the role of the human body beyond its expected use in cultivating certain dispositions and sensibilities in the debates about Muslim women’s leadership. As a venue for a more detailed understanding of existing forms of leadership among Muslim women, this dynamic helps us better comprehend human leadership in general.