Zhao, Yang

PhD Candidate in Anthropology,
University of Queensland (Australia)

This paper examines how the use of color, particularly black, becomes a contested aesthetic and affective space for the discursive entanglement of self-making, masculinity, and nationalism among Uzbek men in post-Soviet Uzbekistan. The global rise of nationalism, a process interwoven with twentieth century anti-colonialist movements, is seen everywhere nowadays, including in Uzbekistan. Since independence in 1991, nationalist discourses in Uzbekistan have been highly gendered and reinforced a masculinized national identity. “Wearing black as a true man” is a common perception, frequently mentioned by Uzbek men, suggesting color is a key identifier of Uzbek masculinities which are central to the gendered nationalist project in Uzbekistan. However, research theorizing gender and social change in post-Soviet societies, including Uzbekistan, tends to focus on women, and we know very little about the historical and contemporary identities, experiences, and subjectivities of Uzbek men in Uzbekistan. Based on thirteen months of fieldwork in Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, including participant observation and thirty in-depth interviews with Uzbek men from 2021 to 2022, this ethnographic study aims to explore how color preference for everyday clothing is embedded with affective implications and becomes a discursive and affective field for Uzbek men to reinforce hegemonic masculinities and subsequently preserve the gender structure, perfectly resonating with the rise of masculinized nationalism in contemporary Uzbekistan. Drawing from Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities, postcolonial studies, and affect theory, this paper captures how Uzbek men have been affectively projected into a national gender narrative through which further reinforces the dominant position of Uzbek men. With a focus on wearing black and the symbolic meanings associated with this, the study also documents how Uzbek masculinities have been visualized in relation to wider discourses concerning Uzbek nationhood. The findings also highlight the color preference of black is a reflect of current economic life and gender norms in Uzbekistan where the current level of income limits a more diverse expression of aesthetic values. Uncovering how a preference for black is aligned with hegemonic masculinities speaks to the ongoing discussion of nationalism, postcolonial masculinities, and affect theory. Specifically, through studying clothing and Uzbek masculinities, we are able to glimpse a changing Uzbek society and post-Soviet transitions expanding our knowledge of other former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus.