The book under review represents a positive and an important contribution to the growing literature on the history of the Central Asian republics during the Soviet period. It aims to provide a complete picture of one of the most fascinating stories of the ways in which the Central Asian nations were incorporated into the Soviet Empire – the unveiling campaign. The author describes this campaign in Uzbekistan, a country that stands at the heart of Central Asia. He provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the so-called hujum (assault against veils), from the establishment of Soviet rule to the beginning of World War Two, which drastically diverted the attention from the hujum to fending off the German assault.
The unveiling of Uzbek women marked a significant and conspicuous sign of Soviet intervention into the life of Central Asian Muslims, and challenged the very fabric of their identity. As such it provoked widespread resistance across the Central Asian republics to the Soviet Empire and the new Soviet identity. This resistance was multifaceted, involving many layers of society, from peasants in remote villages to members of the communist party, who tried to accommodate their new roles and positions within their cultural, social, and religious affiliations.
The process of unveiling and “re-veiling” is well depicted in the monograph. The analysis draws upon extensive and substantial material from various archives that were previously inaccessible for critical research agendas, or when used, simply depicted pro-Soviet sentiments and interests with an insufficiently critical outlook. The author manages to provide the other side of the story: the complexity and subtleties of the unveiling campaign, its successes and pitfalls, and the challenges Soviet authorities could hardly acknowledge but had to deal with. The arguments and assumptions proposed by the author are substantiated by the voices of the people who experienced and led this transition.
By pointing out the intricacies of this campaign, the author reveals the extent of Soviet power and domination over the Central Asian republics. He underlines the fact that Central Asian Muslims were not simply recipients of Moscow’s directives and orders, but demonstrated covertly and overtly their own interpretations and, when necessary, resisted in order to preserve the attributes of their identity, in particular the veiling and seclusion of women.
Despite these strengths, the book needs to be approached with a certain critical eye. The author seems to overemphasize the extent of Soviet hegemony in Uzbekistan, comparing it to the British Empire and its campaigns in India. He looks at the whole situation of the unveiling campaign from a colonial perspective, which limits the overarching nature of the transformation of Central Asian Muslims. The values and principles advocated and perhaps reinforced by coercive Soviet measures are underestimated. Perhaps resistance would have been more persistent if the principles of social justice and equality were adhered to. Yet opportunities for women to work and advance in their careers as well as be more active members of society were simply rhetoric and far from reality. The author concedes, though with a certain bias against the Soviet system, that the religious clergy and boi (wealthy people who lost their property in the Soviet system) stood behind the many upheavals against the unveiling campaign. It was also apparent that the social changes advocated by the Communists did not match their interests, depriving them of the benefits the social structure bestowed on them.
Questions may arise in the mind of the reader regarding the importance of the unveiling of women in Central Asia: “Was the campaign for unveiling of women the right approach taken by the party or they should have been left veiled?”, “Were there other alternatives to liberating the women while they remained veiled?” These and many similar questions remain unexplored in the book, which probably stems from the relativistic approach undertaken by the author. Such an approach could be looked upon as one of the strengths of the book, which allows the author to observe the complexity and interplay of the various forces that forge power relations and the grassroots response to foreign intervention into the social fabric of a society. However, the resistance to the veiling campaign could be seen not just as resistance to Soviet policies and Soviet rule, as the author tried to convey, but also as resistance to any kind of social change – and the changes in attitudes, beliefs, and perception that such change entails. This important component of change was probably more conspicuous in Central Asia than anywhere else. Central Asia was at the crossroads of many civilizations and religions, which left their mark on ethnicity, culture, tradition, and ways of life. Hujum against the veils and the seclusion of women were meant to penetrate the forged and established customs and traditions of these people. Thus, resistance was the natural response to the drastic changes in the society, and the signs of success would have been hard to notice and appreciate in a few decades.
To comprehend and better understand the nature of the resistance to the unveiling of women and their seclusion, a historical perspective on Central Asian society, in particular on the emergence of the Uzbek nation, would have enhanced the advantages of his approach. The author limits himself to the particular period of Soviet expansion in Central Asia, namely the two decades (1920-1940) of the most challenging period of the establishment of the Soviet system. There may be parallel between the longitudinal nature of the process of unveiling and its failure with the overall transformation of Central Asian society into a socialist state. The change was more painful in light of the Marxian theory of social revolution. The proletariat as a product of the capitalist mode of production was supposed to be a vanguard of social revolution. The drastic changes initiated by Communist Party leaders in Central Asia lacked the kind of theoretical ground that underpinned the revolution and subsequent transformation in Russia. Agricultural and feudal modes of production, with only minor elements of industry, were not conducive to the Party’s attempts to reshape the social fabric of Central Asian society in a short period of time. This important element in the process of change in Central Asia has not been stressed sufficiently in the book.
Another point that undermines the strength of the book is the lack of sufficient analysis of the cultural particularities of the Uzbeks and their Central Asian Muslim neighbours, as well as the political atmosphere and demarcation of the Central Asian republics. In this context the veil does not appear as a part of their Islamic identity. The veil had different extents of prevalence in different parts of Central Asia and among various Muslim communities in the region. In the mountainous areas of Central Asia, for example, where Ismaili Muslims predominantly reside, veiling was hardly an issue and women there enjoyed more freedom than those in urban areas. Thus, paranja and chachwon do not appear as an attribute of their Muslim identity in a general sense, as the author tried to convey. A proper historical perspective on the emergence of the veil in Muslim societies might have shed light on many questions that seem to be associated with Islamic interpretation of various social phenomena.
The demarcation of the Central Asian republics, which the author does not touch upon, put its own mark on the emancipation and unveiling of women. Tajikistan was part of the Uzbek Republic until 1927 and gained its independence after a considerable struggle of convincing Party leaders in the center of its Iranian origins and linguistic particularities, in contrast to the Uzbeks who have Turkic origins. However, Tajiks believed they had lost their cultural centers, such as the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, to the Uzbek Republic in the process of obtaining their independence. The success of the unveiling campaign in Bukhara might have been conditioned by the coercive efforts of Party leaders in Uzbekistan to “Uzbekisize” the population in these cities. Therefore, the hujum could not just be seen as an attempt to eradicate their patriarchal relations and Muslim identity, as the author proposes, but also to alienate them from their cultural and ethnic identity. This intricate and internal nationalist struggle within the Central Asian republics questions the whole idea of Stalinist Central Asia. The influence of Stalin’s dictatorship filtered through local party activists who imbued it with their own prejudices and national and ethnic interests, and thus gave it new forms of expression and practical implications.
The author’s conclusion emphasizes that “decades of all-out effort failed to transform Uzbek culture the way the Bolsheviks had intended.” Yet, the success of Bolshevik efforts is evident in many ways. The subsequent achievements in social and economic development, including gender equality, education, health and other infrastructure in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian Republics indicate that the efforts of Bolsheviks and their unveiling campaign was not a failure after all.
Summing up, one has to say that Northrop’s book is an important contribution to understanding the complex social transformation that took place in Uzbekistan. The lessons drawn from the book may provide implications for the approaches and encounters of Western countries with the countries of the East, as well as other developing countries seeking to preserve their national, cultural and political identity.