Gendered Nostalgia: Tajik Traditional Dance and the Logic of Nationalism

A combination of ethnographic research and close reading reveals that the traditional dances of contemporary Tajikistan are built upon a contradictory logic of gender performance. Professional dancers perform Tajik femininity envisioned as passiveness, youthfulness, and innocent pastoralism, even while women dancers suffer significant social stigma as a result of their public performances. This reveals a deeper contradiction between the Tajik national identity as currently constructed and cultural ideas about gender and modernity.