"Homo Bazaaricus"

Chapter 6

(1)

Siyob Bazaar, Samarkand, 2019

Siyob Bazaar, Samarkand, 2024

Visiting Uzbekistan’s bazaars is a must. In recent years, Chorsu has become more oriented toward tourists, both in its assortment and pricing.

During the peak season, there are many tourists at Chorsu who come to buy souvenirs and experience the spirit of oriental bazaar. At the same time, the value of goods in the bazaar increases due to their local specifics. This is how the place transforms into a symbolic capital.

Some categories of goods, mainly handicrafts, are made specifically for tourists: expensive jewelry, handmade carpets, ceramics, carvings and embossing, and silk clothing. Many locals can’t afford them even for special occasions.

Siyob Bazaar, Samarkand, 2024

In the last decade, special products—untypical for the bazaar’s assortment and made specifically for tourists—have appeared on the counters. These are mostly souvenirs: ceramics, carved chess, small things like magnets, T-shirts.

Tourist packages have also emerged: sets of spices, individually packaged dried fruits. Sellers learn foreign languages, add English signs, and stick ‘Made in Uzbekistan' labels everywhere.

All ethnically themed goods, reflecting a reinterpretation and reassessment of heritage, have boomed—antiques and handicrafts in particular. This part of the bazaar’s economy lies in its embeddedness within a particular space. It reflects the cultural and economic characteristics of this space, drawing its essence from the past, as sociologist Luke Boltansky once observed.

The key to the prosperity of an oriental bazaar lies in its regular customers, with whom sellers cultivate long-term, trusting relationships. Chorsu is still the main daily shopping market for residents of the central area of the city.

The majority of tourists to Uzbekistan come from neighboring countries, but visitors from India, South Korea, China, and Turkey also account for a significant share. However, the bazaar—especially Chorsu, due to its scale—cannot survive solely on seasonal waves of tourists.

Chorsu Market, Tashkent, 2024

(2)

Chorsu Market, Tashkent, 2019

The main regular visitors of Chorsu bazaar are the older generation and housewives, for whom time allows not only a visit to the bazaar but also the opportunity to walk around, talking with sellers in search of the best deals. The younger generation, usually limited in time, prefers supermarkets and delivery services. However, if visits to the bazaar were a family tradition, children could also continue following these established patterns of behavior.

Hikoyat Salimova

PhD candidate at the University of HafenCity, Hamburg

"When I was a child, my mum used to send me to the nearby bazaar to buy small things whenever she ran out of something for dinner. But the main, big bazaar was my father’s responsibility. He went there on Sundays. He bought groceries for the week at the bazaar’s collective farm. I picked up this habit from him and carried it into my adult life: I try to go to the big bazaar on Sundays, and then buy whatever else I need from nearby shops during the week.

Sunday is a big market day: the choice of goods is wider, and many residents of nearby villages come with homemade products such as eggs, milk, fermented dairy, fresh herbs, and fruits from their farms. It’s pretty hard to find it on weekdays in Tashkent right now. Most often, both in the bazaar and in the supermarket, the goods are stale.

Boysun city market, 2019

Chorsu Market, Tashkent, 2024

Buying behavior also differs depending on the generation. The older generation prefers bazaars close to home, where they can take their time choosing and pay in cash. Young people, on the other hand, usually visit sellers for a quick purchase or a specific product they’ve already seen on social media or online platforms.

The concept of baraka (a blessing) is very important here. It’s the symbolic meaning of good deeds. It is believed that baraka brings good luck to those who commit such acts.

Boysun city market, 2019

The bazaar is a place of mutual help. It can be something simple—like helping an elderly person carry their bags or giving a discount to a regular customer in a difficult situation. Or it can be something much bigger, when the entire mahalla comes together to support a family left without a breadwinner.

(3)

Siyob Bazaar, Samarkand, 2019

Siyob Bazaar, Samarkand, 2019

In Uzbek society, bazaar culture is associated with teaching the younger generation the skills of proper behavior in a trading place. The basic program includes trading skills: how to choose a product, bargain for a lower price, make a payment, and, in general, how to behave in the bazaar. If a child fails to observe the informal ethics of the bazaar, they may be gently corrected, and some nuances may be explained to them.

This often happens to visitors, but always in a friendly manner. Trading does not tolerate negativity: seller’s rudeness is condemned by others, since in the process of trade both the seller and the buyer must remain satisfied with the deal (rozi bo’lish).

Children from around the age of seven or eight can be sent to the nearest grocery store for small purchases. A little older children can be taken to the bazaar—first as assistants (bozorchi-yordamchi), and later sent to the nearest bazaar on their own. Children can also help their parents behind the counter.

Dilbar Abdunabieva

Member of the Institute of Tourism Development

A father always takes his sons with him to the market, even very young ones: ‘You are the future breadwinner; you must be able to provide for the family, know the rules of trade, and understand proper behavior.' A man teaches his children to bargain and select products: tomatoes should not be yellow, melons should be heavy, and watermelons should be light and sound sonorous when tapped. It is important to learn how to properly distribute weight when carrying products from the market. And the child must necessarily carry something himself from the bazaar, you simply can’t return back with empty hands. Of course, compliant to an age.

Siyob Bazaar, Samarkand, 2024

The appearance of both sellers and buyers is also deliberate. The dress code at the bazaar reflects modern fashion as well as certain unspoken rules of the area where the market is located. Women follow stricter rules than men, and this is especially visible in the regions.

The style of tying a headscarf, the cut and length of clothing, and accompanying accessories are influenced by the region: in Tashkent and Ferghana, women wear more conservative, fully covered outfits, while in Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva, the styles are less strict.

Hikoyat Salimova

PhD candidate at the University of HafenCity, Hamburg

"During one of my trips to Tashkent’s Chorsu, I happened to strike up a conversation on the bus with a woman in her fifties. When she learned that I was going to the bazaar for research, she decided to become my guide, giving me the chance to see the market through her eyes. She took me to a place that sold ‘decent' clothes—my jeans immediately prompted her to teach me how to dress properly.

Many people in Western clothes can be seen on the streets of Tashkent, but women—especially from the older generation—consider it rather awkwardly. There is no formal dress code in Tashkent, but in some areas, there is an unwritten code of conduct and appearance. The old city, where Chorsu is located, is quite conservative. I wouldn’t dare to show up in this place in a short or mini skirt. Girls in hijabs and women in headscarves are noticeably more common in the streets closest to the market.

"Changing clothes" at Chorsu, 2018. Photo from Hikoyat Salimova’s personal archive

Tashkent, 2019

Thus, the bazaar forms a unique social space that requires knowledge of unspoken rules to navigate there effortlessly. These rules govern people’s relationships at all levels: from how they address and interact with one another to the allowed dress code. These rules reflect and support the social structure of the market.

Сontinue reading

Chapter 7

Bazaar: a culture show