FRIENDSHIP OF PEOPLES BEGINS AT THE KITCHEN TABLE: WHAT ONE KARAKALPAK HOUSEHOLD SAYS ABOUT UZBEKISTAN’S DIVERSITY POLICY

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines how Uzbekistan’s institutional architecture for interethnic relations is experienced in ordinary life, using the household of Haytboy and Tatyana Sobirov in the Karakalpak town of Takhiatash as a case study. It sets the country’s legal and administrative framework — constitutional guarantees, the Committee on Interethnic Relations and Friendly Ties with Foreign Countries, the state concept on interethnic relations, and the mahalla system — against the family’s lived history of intermarriage, employment and neighbourhood leadership. The article argues that formal declarations of tolerance are tested, and ultimately confirmed or disproved, not in decrees but in kitchens, workplaces and mahalla courtyards.