Polygyny in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Faculty Development Competitive Research Grant Program 2019-2021

This research focuses on the phenomenon of polygyny in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and seeks to investigate the factors responsible for the increase of polygynous relationships. In the last two decades, there has been an increase in the number of second (non-official or unregistered) marriages in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. My intention is to explore a single phenomenon – polygyny in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan – which prominence has very distinct origins in these two countries. Polygyny will be analysed along four axes: migration, Islamisation, financial imperatives and family obligations.