ABSTRACT
In Kyrgyzstan, post-colonial resistance and building of the independent nation state has become focused upon revival of pre-Communist nomad practices, traditions, and culture. Kyrgyz women participate in these processes ambivalently as naturalized keepers of tradition and state citizens. Sports, specifically ethnic sports, have recently also begun to provide space for re-establishment and redefinition of post-independent national identity. We examine strategies of the Kyrgyz government for marketing and internalisation of nomad sports serving to highlight their inherence to the traditional Kyrgyz culture denied under the Soviet rule. We examine hallmark ethnic sport events organised by the Kyrgyz political leadership, which are less internationally visible revivals of sport practices. Our analytical focus is on the position which women came to occupy within these processes. We argue that post-colonial struggles through ethnic sports are gendered and serve to perpetuate and normalise oppressive practices against local women in the name of tradition, and to legitimise authority of the dominant and masculine national identity-building projects.
