‘Our Traditions Will Kill Us!’: Negotiating Marriage Celebrations in the Face of Legal Regulation of Tradition in Tajikistan

Abstract

Based on extensive ethnographic research in northern Tajikistan, this article examines the implications of the law ordering traditions and rituals (tanzim), including marriage celebrations, in Tajikistan. At the centre of my analysis is the figure of a state employed ‘worker of culture’, Farkhod, whose family was affected by recent, rather militant, attempts by the state to regulate tradition. By following the story of his daughter’s wedding, I analyse how Farkhod tries to reconcile his roles of a caring father, a respectful community member, and a law-abiding citizen. I argue that the tanzim exacerbates the mismatch between the government’s attempts to impose a rigid notion of tradition and promote the idea of a certain kind of modern citizen, and people’s own understandings of being a modern and moral person having a good wedding.