Women in Kyrgyz Music Videos : A Social Semiotic Analysis of Women’s Representation in Kyrgyz Visual Media

Sammanfattning: This master thesis study examines Kyrgyz-language music videos to explore the visual representation of women, including women experiencing gender-based violence. It addresses a gap in the literature regarding women in Kyrgyz music videos and argues that media communicates context-specific meaning about gendered cultural realities. Following an inductive and qualitative research design, the study conducts a social semiotic analysis of 22 Kyrgyz-language music videos focusing on what and how meaning about women is created through visual content. The study analyzes its material through the lens of cultural representation theory (Hall et al., 2013) and discusses its findings in relation to Okin’s (1989) feminist critique regarding gendered vulnerabilities. It finds that women in Kyrgyz music videos are represented within familial roles. The study argues that the “ideal” Kyrgyz woman, as embodied through female main characters, is portrayed as young, beautiful, and good of character, while marriage, motherhood, and domesticity are connoted as life goals. Women experiencing violence are represented as vulnerable to domestic violence and bride abduction.