Gender, power, and the performance of justice: Muslim women's responses to domestic violence in Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT The grassroots assistance that Muslim women activists provide to victims of domestic abuse in Kazakhstan differs significantly from approaches commonly used by service providers in the United States. Yet the activists' informal remedies, which are shaped by discourses of religion and ethnicity and which have attracted women who seek something other than safety or formal justice, are implicitly regulated by cultural politics. By examining particular cases, I show how activists prescribe gender ideologies that guide victims' choices while supporting their own group's broader political goals. These findings may help in understanding the dynamics of women's political agency outside the state.