Several TV channels in Uzbekistan are now broadcasting shows with the participation of the Kelins - Daughters-in-law who are going through the preparation stages for marriage in future. Media critic of the “New Reporter” Nargis Kosimova analyzed what an ideal kelin is in Uzbekistan.
Agile Kelin
In March 2019, the Mahalla TV channel began the project “Epli Kelin” (“The Agile Daughter-in-Law”, author Gulmira Ziyoyeva) where 7 wannabe brides selected at the casting to learn sewing machine, cleaning, cooking and baking. The assessors are the lady instructors of training courses who work in Uzbekistan who share with their knowledge about the housekeeping.
In one of the programs, the adviser raises the topic of relations between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. “Do not set yourself the goal of taking her daughter’s place,” she teaches.
Where then is the place of the daughter-in-law? She's almost a servant. Participants in reality shows are diligently taught not to confront their mothers-in-law, are instructed to say “you’re right, mommy,” “of course, mommy,” “forgive me, mommy.”
Kelin’s entire life in the show passes between the kitchen and the dining room; finally, in the 4th episode, the girls were taken to bowling, and this was the only moment of celebration in Kelin’s life. During the existence of the show, the presenter Maftuna Ashurova was replaced by Diera Shermatova, but nothing else has changed. According to the project managers, the daughter-in-law should be obedient and apologize just in case, even if she is not guilty of anything.
Stranger kelin
On the Sevimli TV channel, the “Kelgindi Kelin” (“The Stranger Daughter-in-Law”) reality show gathers an audience of millions which is reminiscent of the Kelin project, which in 2017 activists demanded to be removed from public television in Kyrgyzstan for creating stereotypes.
The show sends the city girls to a village to perform the daily duties of a kelin: cooking, baking, mowing, collecting dung, chopping wood, doing laundry and caring for livestock. The winner receives the title “Kelgindi Kelin.” On the one hand, this reality show shows the difficult life of village women, on the other hand, here too girls are taught to be obedient and not to contradict their “show mother-in-laws”.
Are there any examples? How are they taught to be obedient?
My mother-in-law is a general
The idea of another TV project of the Sevimli channel, “My Mother-in-Law is a General,” is similar to the American reality show “Battle of the Chefs.” With an obvious stark contrast not fighting for the Michelin star, but for the refrigerator. The woman’s team must buy food for 200 thousand soums (18 US dollars). According to recipes written in advance by other participants, kelin, under the supervision of her mother-in-law, must prepare three dishes and feed 10 participants, including the two presenters of the program - Nigora Ismailova and Muhabbat Khamroeva. Participants evaluate each dish served and express their opinions about the daughter-in-law herself.
At the beginning of the reality show, the hosts announce that the main goal of the television project is for the food prepared by the daughter-in-law to surprise not only the mother-in-law, but also all the participants. It is not entirely clear how the mother-in-law achieves the rank of general, which the title promises us, no less than by commanding the daughter-in-law. In the first season, the contestants mostly judged the cooking battle and made negative comments about each other. Viewers on YouTube are asking more about food recipes. It’s interesting that Kelin’s husband remains behind the scenes, how he treats his wife, and whether he helps in raising children. We don’t know anything about the youngest woman, what she dreams about, how she manages to work and raise children.
In essence, reality shows have become the television version of training courses that teach culinary skills and basic sewing. But in Uzbek families, girls learn this from an early age from their mothers and grandmothers, without attending any courses. But neither in the city, nor in the villages, nor in these training courses, nor on television reality shows do they teach family psychology: how to behave in various conflict situations, how to solve problems, how to build relationships with your mother-in-law. The scenery of the show creates the feeling that the audience in Uzbekistan is not interested in anything other than food and clothes.
Reality shows on TV channels in Uzbekistan create the image of a silent, submissive, ignorant kelin who does not know her rights and does not defend them. It is unlikely that they help create a warm relationship between the bride and mother-in-law; they do not exist in the concept of soldiers and generals, but such shows may well influence public opinion. A stereotype is created that a woman who also lives with other interests besides the kitchen and the sewing machine, or who may disagree with her mother-in-law, is not a real kelin, not like the one shown on TV.
Nargis Kosimova