Conclusion

By looking at transnational masculine practices of Tajik men, this research has explored the reconstruction processes of Tajik men’s gender identity, which is contested, negotiated and adapted as a result of their migration experiences and existing differences between two gender orders. This final chapter provides key findings in relation to the central three research questions, related to different transnational masculine practices which require flexible and strategic renegotiation of Tajik men’s masculinity. First, it sums up multiple coping strategies that Tajik migrants develop to deal with marginalized masculinity, which they embrace in Russia. Second, it summarizes what effects a prolonged immersion into the Russian gender system has on familial practices of Tajik migrants. Third, it outlines how non-migrant Tajik men maintain and masculinize their gender performances in relation to migrant men, by giving hegemonic and dominant meanings to practices which are not always seen as such in Tajik society, where migration is a default option for many young men.