Buckley, Joseph Guy Thurlow;
(2025)
The saddlebag that never fills: masculinity, neoliberalism
and temporality amongst working-class young men in Tashkent.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
Abstract
This thesis is about the decisions, disappointment and dreams of a group of working-class young men in Tashkent. It follows their everyday lives against the backdrop of neoliberalisation of the economy, epitomised in a debt-fuelled construction boom tearing through the city since 2018. The men strive towards a hegemonic masculine ideal: to be a resourceful breadwinner who buys cars, holds weddings and undertakes housing renovations. However, this ideal requires ever more money and the men experience anxiety over their (in)ability to provide. Their attempts to bridge the growing gap between income and outgoings through flexible labour and debt are sometimes successful and this brings obro’ (prestige). More often, however, their work and debt strategies lead to failure, disappointment and sharmanda (shame). Amidst the instability and uncertainty of everyday life, this thesis explores how an uncertain future becomes a driver for action in the present. At times hopeful, the men take on debt and pray that God will send them a generous benefactor or excitedly discuss far-fetched biznes (business) ideas in the construction sector. At other times hopeless, they critique the corruption and inequality symbolised in the construction boom, dream of migrating abroad and work all hours as insurance against the unpredictability of tomorrow. Caught between present realities and the ever-receding horizon of future dreams, I argue that the teahouse (choyxona) becomes a ‘chronotope’ carved out through shared practices of drinking, humour and timeless conversation. This enables the men to persevere through their everyday lives, even as it reinforces some of the hegemonic masculine norms which drive them in the first place. This thesis thereby argues that neoliberal discourse and the material environment inflect my interlocutors’ everyday strategies and future orientations, in turn making their lives harder and dispossessing them of their cars, quality time with their families and mental health.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | The saddlebag that never fills: masculinity, neoliberalism and temporality amongst working-class young men in Tashkent |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2025. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10207144 |
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