Article set in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Reviewed on 2019/05: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx54jwDACqh/
This article is basically a great example on how easy and inevitable it is for any of us to project our own struggles, understanding of the world onto other phenomena taking place in other parts of the world and end up seeing just what we want to see. #theboydancersofuzbekistan written by the one and only #langstonhughes in 1934 for the then #travelmagazine is quite the fascinating read for a few different reasons. You have to take into consideration what #hughes was coming from, the period of time in both the US and the #sovietunion in the 1930s, everything else happening in Europe and of course the #sovietuzbekistan rapidly changing under #stalin communism. You don’t have to be a history expert to notice the clash between a Langston Hughes who wants to reminisce about old #localcustoms such as #bacha or #dancingboys being swept away by rapid Soviet communism and how much these traditions at the same time excluded women from any social interaction and for the dancing boys it meant sexual abuse, prostitution and slavery. It’s a highly complicated and #multidimensional situation which Hughes masterfully balances in just a handful of pages. At the end I do have to say, he seems to side more with the idea of wanting to preserve customs which were being obliterated by rapid #sovietization . He might have chosen a topic for which he didn’t have all the needed sources and based his opinion on hearsay and anecdotes of the people he was only allowed to talk to. My next book set in #pakistan also talks briefly about the Bacha or #bachabazi boys. But I’d love to hear any recommendations on other fiction books treating this topic. #recommended #tashkent #samarkand#uzbekistan #fromtheoutsidein#genderqueerlit
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