Introduction

In 2011 and 2012, shocking videos of the abuse and torture of Kyrgyz female migrants in Russia were posted on the Internet. The videos captured scenes of beating, insults and death threats, as well as women being forced to get naked. These acts of violence were committed, filmed and posted online by their compatriots, a group of ethnic Kyrgyz male migrants in Russia, who called themselves ‘patriots of the [Kyrgyz] nation’. They claim to have punished the female ‘traitors of the [Kyrgyz] nation’ for being ‘morally loose’ and ‘having relations with men of other ethnicities [non-Kyrgyz]’ (Ibraeva et al, 2015: 4). These cases are indicative of a violent ethno-nationalist sentiment that has emerged in contemporary Kyrgyz society. They also highlight the following phenomena: (1) the role of the media in promoting rather than countering ethno-nationalism; and (2) the securitization of mixed couples/marriages seen as a threat to the Kyrgyz nation. Similar cases can also be observed in Kazakhstan, where male ‘patriots’ who are on social media, also referred as ‘uyat men’ (uyat from Kazakh/Kyrgyz/Uzbek can be translated as ‘shame’), shame women for moral ‘crimes’ (marrying foreigners, prostitution, promiscuous behaviour and so on) (Kumemov, 2018).

The monitoring and shaming of women for moral ‘crimes’ and the crossing of ethnic boundaries is a global phenomenon and not unique to Central Asia. A number of scholars worldwide have illuminated this problem in their works on honour and shame, the control of women's sexuality, and honour and moral crimes. These include, for example, Goddard's (2013) work on the control of women's sexuality in Nepal, Yeşilçiçek's (2017) study of violence against women in the name of honour in Turkey, research on women from minority groups murdered in the name of honour in Britain (Gill, 2017) and research on patriarchal social control over young women's clothing and bodies (Honkatukia and Keskinen, 2018).

In Kyrgyzstan, the suppression of women is often discussed in the context of bride kidnapping/abduction, which is referred to in the Kyrgyz language as literally ‘grab and run’ (ala/alyp kachuu).