Life in Domination: Stay or Escape? What do Wives of Tajik Migrants Think and Do

Sammanfattning: The thesis focuses on the perceptions and strategies of migrant’s wives in Tajikistan influenced by the male out-migration. We discuss how migrants’ wives view and bargain their positions in the family setting. We point to the power relations in the families and scrutinize the mechanism of misrecognition through which the domination is justified by the migrant wives. We also suggest how such perceptions can be adjusted to improve their positions. To benefit from the sociological discourses we choose the Theory of Practice by Pierre Bourdieu which recognizes both objective and subjective aspects influencing agents’ choices. This theory allowed us to conceptualise the misrecognition of power and make it operational for the development. We apply a qualitative research drawing on open-ended interviews. Composite narratives followed by the discussion serve to interpret our data. Our findings indicate that it is the combination of individual behavioural patterns and resources that make women either reconcile with their inferior positions or opt for changes. Taking their life conditions as inevitable many lack agency or do not see opportunities brought about with the migration. Only very few succeed in turning the new conditions to their benefit. Recommendations to development practitioners finalise the research.