What are some of the challenges you face in researching the histories of Central Asian women?
Marfua Tokhtakhodjaeva:I thought that there would be new reseach and many new studies on this topic, but there have not been new points of view on the position of women. Most reseach was done under government orders and so the problems faced by women stays closed off from view. There were many challenges in Uzbekistan and there were many new problems that we had not imagined 17 years ago. My country became more poor and, despite democratic rhetoric, autocracy increased and became a mixture of communistic and medieval styles. Freedom of speech and opinion remains limited. In this situation, there is an absence of communal public life and everybody is face-to-face with their own problems. My book [Between the Slogans of Communism and the Laws of Islam] was written 17 years ago and I can state that the situation has become worse. ALS: Who has inspired you? MT:Many women who were actively involved with civil society organisations until 2005, at which time many NGOs were closed. The NGOs th
