ABSTRACT
Tajiks tend to develop close relationships between family members, while they hold the rest of the world at a distance, and parents retain considerable power over their children, even when the latter are legally adults. This derives in part from the gender norms that give adult males control over the whole family and in part from the Muslim ideology that states that parents, especially mothers, deserve high levels of respect. In Tajikistan, where collectivism is expressed through hierarchical, gerontocratie power relationships, young people are expected not to have a voice of their own. The narration relates the story of a contemporary family and shows the dynamics that keep young people, especially girls, from being able to express their desires in front of their parents. The father, Jumabek, strongly upholds Tajik traditions, but he also has contradictory attitudes about the influence he thinks Russians should have on his children.
