Lecture by Prof Jamilya Vafayeva with discussion: "The Uzbek Mahalla as a civil society actor and its potential in mediating domestic violence"

Prof Jamilya Vafayeva is currently a fellow at the FHP at the invitation of the Departments of Social Sciences and Education, CITY | BUILDING | CULTURE and Civil Engineering as part of the DAAD project "Interdisciplinary at the Monument 2.0". She teaches sociology, geopolitics and modern history of Uzbekistan at Samarkand State University. Jamilya Vafayeva is currently researching the role of civil society in Uzbekistan and is also looking at the relationship between German civil society and the state against this backdrop.

In her lecture, she will focus on a centuries-old peculiarity of Uzbekistan, the mahalla. In this smallest administrative unit, the residents elect their own representatives, who mediate in conflicts between the various actors in the neighbourhood and accompany negotiation processes.

Since Uzbekistan's independence in 1991, the mahallas have been under enormous pressure to change as a result of modernisation processes. Prof. Vafayeva analyses the consequences of gentrification for the social life of the population and focuses in particular on the issue of domestic violence.

Moderation: Dr Marit Cremer