Collective action as a space of agency, power and knowledge : a case study of GAPS in Uzbekistan

The purpose of this article is to describe how indigenous social and economic network of gap of rural women in Uzbekistan functions as a collective action for social and economic empowerment since 1991 up to the present, the time when Uzbekistan moved from Soviet centrally planned to a market-oriented economy. This system of economic empowerment shows how women’s agency, power and knowledge reorganises male dominated gendered space. In particular, I will examine women’s gap and chenrnay kassa function as a mechanism for livelihood resilience and social and economic empowerment in the post-socialist economy..