8 "Guardians of the Nation": Women, Islam, and the Soviet Legacy of Modernization in Azerbaijan (original) (raw)

Women in Muslim Societies

A glamorous picture of a blonde, smiling Turkish beauty was plastered on the walls of many stores, offices, and homes that I visited [in 1991-1992 in what was then Soviet Azerbaijan. Together with other byproducts of glasnost and perestroika in those last days of the Soviet Union were certain Western images openly promoted in almost all I republics, particularly Russia, that were in sharp contrast to socialist ideals. In the context of Azerbaijan, however, this particular new image-a beauty queen from Turkey-conveyed not only certain gender-related messages but also important political statements concerning the growing ethnic and nationalist orientation of society. Yet in less than four years, another new image entered into the fluid popular culture of the country, in sharp contrast to both the secular pro-Russian and pro-Soviet ideals of the past and the secular, nationalist pro-Turkish and pro-Westem orientation of contemporary Azerbaijan. This most recent image, at times co-opting the Turkish beauty queen, portrays a demure young girl veiled in a white scarf, timidly looking down at a set of prayer beads she holds. The picture is accompanied by an arresting caption: a hadith concerning the virtues of prayer. Like the earlier one, this new image is loaded with messages regarding gender roles and the evolving identity of Azerbaijan. Although the previous image reflects the post-Soviet, postcommunist culture of display, emphasizing physical beauty, Western fashion, consumerism, and Turkish identity, the new one signals modesty, morality, Islamic values, and Muslim identity. The popularity of such contradictory images is suggestive of, first, the complexity, diversity, and fluidity of national cultural identity in post-Soviet Azerbaijan and, second, a thesis that here, as in many colonial and postcolonial contexts, gender issues are intertwined with 66 Nayereh ТОНIDI and children. 3 This war have devastated the economy and morale of both nations. It is in such an interethnic, war-stricken, and nationally and internally contested milieu that women and men in Azerbaijan are going through a semidecolonization process as they seek to reassess, reimagine, and redefine their identities. This is, inevitably, a gendered process. Gender-related images and issues, especially women's place in this transitional society, are part of the ideological terrain upon which questions of national identity, ethnic loyalty, Islamic revival, and cultural authenticity are being debated.