Market hierarchy
Chapter 5
Chorsu Market, Tashkent, 2024 and 2019
Vibrant space
(1)
The market’s flexibility allows people from different demographic groups to adapt easily and find their place within it. This was especially important in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when specialists from various professions had to engage in trade following the dissolution of the USSR.
Trade was not seen as a prestigious occupation, especially by those with a Soviet mindset, so it made this transition particularly difficult. But trade made it possible for people to earn their living, unlike the volatile government workers salaries.
Financial motivation remains the primary driver for trade workers, including people who have no other options, as well as specialists with higher education who have chosen this path.
The attitude toward the bazaar changes depending on the generation. Elderly sellers are very proud of the fact that they have built a business and passed it on to their children. The younger generation, on the contrary, try to do their best to ensure a different future for their kids.
A significant role in this was played by the emergence of new high-paying jobs: IT, private education, advertising and online professions.
Grocery market, Khiva, 2024
Grocery market, Khiva, 2024
Polyethnic environment
(2)
Termez city, 2019
Uzbekistan is a multinational country. 80% of the population are Uzbeks. The republic is also home to other ethnic groups, including Tajiks, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Uighurs, Kyrgyz, Turkmens, Central Asian Gypsies (Leli), Arabs and Iranians, Russians, Volga and Crimean Tatars, and Koreans.
Termez city, 2019
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Termez city, 2019
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Termez city, 2019
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This multinational nature is reflected in the specialization of sellers. Most of them — especially in the vegetable and fruit sections, the dairy counters, and among the owners of small shops — are Uzbeks. Russians are most often found among the buyers, but there are also sellers, particularly in the cheese section, bakeries, and pickle aisles.
Tajiks are found among artisans and as sellers of spices, dried fruits, and textiles. Kazakhs and Kyrgyz are also involved in trade, especially in inter-regional trades or as buyers from the south of Kazakhstan. Koreans are engaged in farming and often sell vegetables and pickled salads. Armenians and Azerbaijanis are found among cheese, spices, dried fruits sellers. Meskhetian Turks are in the meat trade and bakery segment.
Chorsu market, Tashkent, 2019 and 2024
Chorsu Market, Tashkent, 2024
Chorsu Market, Tashkent, 2024
The main language of communication is Uzbek, especially between sellers. Tajik language is also very common, it is the main language in some regions of Uzbekistan, and it is very noticeable in the market and in the surrounding areas.
Russian sounds everywhere, it is still in many ways the language of international communication. And more and more often you can hear English in communication between sellers and tourists.
Grocery market, Ferghana, 2019
The national diversity of Tashkent is also reflected in the assortment of products, especially gastronomic ones. Uzbek traditions coexist at Chorsu (in rows of ready-made food such as samsa, flatbread, spices, and pilaf) with Korean offerings (pickled vegetables and salads), Caucasian products (cheeses, nuts, lavash, and pomegranates), Russian goods (pickles, dried fruits, and some types of bread), alongside influences from Iran and Afghanistan (spices, teas, and handicrafts).
Geography and status
(3)
Historically, Uzbekistan has been located at the crossroads of trade routes that ran through Asia. A seller’s authority was often shaped by the geography of their trade interactions and the nature of their products. While the Great Silk Road is long gone, the principles of building a seller’s reputation remain much the same today.
The hierarchy of goods is formed based on their cost. Appliances, jewelry, and cars are on top of that list. At the very bottom are goods sold in small quantities at low prices, such as fresh herbs, single-piece cigarettes, and napkins.
Chorsu Market, Tashkent, 2024
Boysun city market, 2019
Shuttle trade and trade in expensive and rare imported goods have always been considered prestigious. Sellers who traveled to buy goods from other countries—who, in other words, ‘saw the world'—earned authority among their colleagues and within their families.
Nowadays, trade in goods from Europe and the United States is considered the highest level, followed by goods from Belarus, Russia, Turkey, and the UAE. Chinese factory production has a higher status than mass-produced goods from the same country of lower quality.
Tashkent, 2024
The bazaar not only mirrors the local economy, but also the international interactions. It illustrates the relationships between people and the land on the scale of an entire region, woven together by trade ties.
But regardless of the hierarchies that emerge within the bazaar, its nature is defined by egalitarian, equality-seeking client relationships that are symmetrical at their core.
American anthropologist Clifford Geertz called this phenomenon ‘clientelization'—the tendency to make repeated purchases of certain goods and services in order to establish long-term relationships with vendors. At the same time, a seller of, say, meat or fruit is attached to their regular customer just as the buyer is attached to them.
Chorsu Market, Tashkent, 2024
Chorsu Market, Tashkent, 2024
Bargaining occurs between seller and buyer on equal terms. As market researcher Olesya Merkulova notes, it requires active participation, communication skills, knowledge, and sometimes even the art of concealing information about the goods from the buyer.
