ABSTRACT
In the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan, female religious leaders (otinlar) effect social change through intentional efforts to transform themselves and their communities into better Muslims, better humans. The post-Socialist quasi-market economy in Uzbekistan, otinlar's leadership reflects social changes and contributes to social transformations in their communities in small yet significant ways. The chapter demonstrates the women's role in social change. It focuses on otinlar's advice and didactic storytelling to demonstrate their role in social change as a powerful decolonizing resource for questioning patrimonial elites and the quasi-market economy controlled by a politically oppressive state. Uzbekistan is one of the regional countries that provide a steady flow of labor migrants to Russia and to other countries such as Turkey. Individual experiences of labor migration are gendered and idiosyncratic; some migrate seasonally and a small number with children, while others create permanent families with Russian citizens and eventually receive Russian citizenship.
