Analysis of the theme of motherhood in contemporary Uzbek cinema

This article addresses the validity of the maternal discourse in films, as it builds a certain model for young viewers. Cinema is a powerful medium for addressing important topics and encouraging debates about pressing social issues. Movies covering a wide range of sensitive themes help raise the audience’s awareness, foster civic consciousness, and ensure public morality and its spread. In societies where a woman’s primary duty has historically been defined by her capacity to produce and raise children, cinema is effective for reinforcing and shaping opinions about women’s social roles and their “natural destiny.” Frequently, women are brought into the narrative exclusively through the motherly function or the supposed motherhood—girlfriend or bride. This can also be seen in Uzbek cinema’s approach to expressing femininity, which is tied not only to the cultural custom of honoring mothers but also to the peculiarities of the maternal discourse. However, motherhood, mothers, and their portrayal onscreen reveal much more about society, culture, and the messages they transmit have real-life impacts.

1. Yuval-Davis, N., & Anthias, F. (Eds.). (1989). Woman-Nation-State. London: Macmillan.

2. Kandiyoti, D. (1997). Identity and its Discontents: Women and the Nation // Dossier, № 20. P. 7-23.

3. Huber, J. (2000). Comparative Gender Stratification (I. Karaicheva, Trans.). In E. I. Gapova & A. R. Ousmanova (Eds.), Antologiya gendernoj teorii [Anthology of gender theory] (pp. 77-98). Minsk: Propilei. (Original work published 1993)

4. Correa, S. & Petchesky, R. (1994). Reproductive and social rights: a feminist perspective. In G. Sen, A. Germain, & L. C. Cohen (Eds.), Population Policies Considered (pp. 107-126). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

5. Ducloux, A. (2012). When “to Welcome” Is “to Take” and “to Give Back” Is “to Release” // Revue du MAUSS, 1 (39). P. 123-140.

6. Maurer, B. (2000). Sexualitites and Separate Spheres: Gender, Sexual Identity, and Work in Dominica and Beyond. In A. Lugo & B. Maurer (Eds.), Gender Matters: Rereading Michelle Rosaldo (pp. 90-115). The University of Michigan Press.

7. Gapova, E. (2001). Feministskij proekt v antropologii [Feminist Project in Anthropology]. In I. Zherebkina (Ed.), Vvedenie v genderny`e issledovaniya [Introduction to Gender Studies] (Vol 1., pp. 370-390). Saint-Petersburg: Aletejya. p. 380

8. Cleuziou, J. & Direnberger, L. (2016). Gender and nation in post-Soviet Central Asia: from national narratives to women’s practices // Nationalities Papers, 44(2). P. 195-206. doi: 10.1080/00905992.2015.1082997

9. Gapova, E. (2016). Klassy` nacij: feministskaya kritika naciostroitel`stva [Classes of nations: feminist criticism of nation-building]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie.

10. Klimova, O. (2010). Bakhrom Yakubov: Super Daughter-in-law (Super Kelinchak, 2008). Retrieved from KinoKultura website: http://www.kinokultura.com/2010/30r-kelinchak.shtml/

11. Ousmanova, A. (2001). Zhenshhiny` i iskusstvo politiki reprezentacii [Women and the art of representative politics]. In I. A. Zherebkina (Ed.), Vvedenie v genderny`e issledovaniya [Introduction to Gender Studies], vol. 1. Kharkov: Aletejya

12. Tokhtakhodjaeva, M. (1999). Traditional Stereotypes and Women’s Problems in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan: A Survey of the Mass Media // Dossier, № 22. P. 32-43.

13. Faludi, S. (2006). Backlash: the undeclared war against American women. New York: Three river Press.

14. Yuval-Davis, N. (1997). Gender & Nation. London: Sage Publications.

15. Dissanayake, W. (1993). Introduction. In W. Dissanayake (Ed.), Melodrama and Asian Cinema (pp. 1-8). Cambridge University Press. p.4