Oasis in the steppe: health and masculinity of Kazakhstani miners

ABSTRACT

This article studies the masculinities of Russian-speaking miners in Kazakhstan through an ethnographic study conducted in a miners’ sanatorium, a place of heightened sociality. Studies of gender in Central Asia have mostly focussed on women, and both masculinity and femininity are studied in relation to Islam and the nation-state. This article aims to make a contribution to the study of working-class masculinities in Northern Kazakhstan, arguing that labour and professional identities are important in performing masculinities. Kazakhstani miners wish to show that they are good colleagues, good drinkers, sexually capable and providers for the family. New economic pressures and deteriorating work conditions challenge the miner’s body and make it hard for miners to live up to the hegemonic masculinity.     

试论职工疗养院的生存与发展

在社会主义市场经济条件下,各级工会举办的疗养院都经历一个生存发展难以维系的艰辛历程。职工疗养事业要想在新的形势下发展壮大,就必须面对现实,转变观念,放弃等、靠、要的思想,坚持改革,适应市场,办出特色,提高水平。