1

Rachel Nilles

OGL 350

19 September 2021

About the Subject

Raykhona Nabiyeva was born in Uzbekistan in 1997. Uzbekistan is in Central Asia. Her

family moved to the United States after having three daughters and wanting to find a better life

for their family. Once in the United States her parents had a little boy. They used to regularly

visit Uzbekistan as they have some family there still but have not been in a little while. Ray is

one of my good friends, as well as my coworker.

Interview Questions with Response Summary and Narrative

What is your definition of “culture?”

Raykhona described culture as a set of values and beliefs, a certain group of people. She

mentioned that there is good culture and there is bad culture. For example, intensely religious,

conservative groups, with traditions dating back hundreds of years. There are many different

cultures, and it can be hard to break traditions when it is all one knows.

What is your culture and/or ethnic background?

Raykhona is Uzbek, their background is Turkish. Uzbekistan used to be a part of the

Soviet Union, finally getting independence on September 1, 1991. Raykhona mentioned that

Uzbek means “own owner” and this is very sweet since they very recently became an

independent country. Her family is Muslim and practices moderately, they are not as strict as

some of her family members. Their culture is very family and community oriented. They come
2

together as “mahalla” and organize their traditional cultural events and ceremonies, (Uzbek,

2021, para. 8).

What is your family structure?

Their family structure is where the father is in control of everything. Whatever he says

goes. In the Uzbek culture they get married very young. Typically, around 16 and 17 years of

age. Her mother got married to her father when she was 17 years old. They are arranged

marriages, where the woman does whatever, the man wants. Raykhona’s mom never got to be

herself, find her meaning, she got married off so young. The man in the family must be the

breadwinner. Raykhona remembers hearing this all her life in Uzbekistan, “An 8-year-old boy

will have more value than a 60-year-old woman.” Thankfully Ray does not believe this and is

trying to actively change how her family thinks. Ray has a little brother who gets away without

doing chores around the house, but she does not let him. She makes sure he does his dishes and

helps around the kitchen because it does not matter what your gender is. You help your family

out. However, her family is changing, they realize that is not the way to do things anymore. They

are getting their children educations and not doing arranged marriages.

What is the primary language spoken in your family? Any foreign language speakers?

Uzbek is the primary language spoken in Raykhona’s family. In fact, if you do not speak

Uzbek around her parents, you will get reprimanded. It is important to them to keep the language

alive. Uzbek is a Turkic language, during this interview I had the pleasure of hearing it, and it is

beautiful. All her siblings know how to speak Uzbek and English. Uzbek is the official language

of Uzbekistan, (Uzbek, 2021, para. 3).

3

How important is education to your family?

In Raykhona’s family, education is extremely important. The whole reason they came to

the United States was for them to get the education they deserve. Ray’s father has around 20

siblings, his grandmother got married at 14 years old. He wanted to give his daughters the

opportunities none of his family received. Education is considered gold to them, especially for

females, since they get married at such a young age and start families. Raykhona’s father gets

criticized for sending his daughters to school and many people do not like them back in

Uzbekistan because they are forming their own opinions and getting an education. They fear

women with a voice.

Do you have any eating habits/rituals that are specific to your culture?

In Uzbekistan, eating is everything. When they are back in their country, they eat full

course meals six to eight times a day. Everything they do is surrounded by food. Every day back

in Uzbekistan they would have a party, gather everyone around, have lots of food and drinks.

Drinking is also a huge part of their culture, especially vodka. They eat rice with everything, at

weddings, gatherings, parties.

What are your holidays and traditions?

Uzbekistan has a few huge holidays. Their biggest one being New Year’s called Yangi

Yil. They drink all day into the next morning and make a lot of food. During New Year’s they

also give gifts. Raykhona compared it to Christmas, where it is their time to give gifts to their

loved ones and celebrate the year. Another holiday is Independence Day, this one is significant

in that they have had Independence for only 30 years, September 1, 1991. They celebrate with

parties, concerts, and fireworks. The last holiday Raykhona mentioned is called Navruz, meaning

New Day, (Lee, 2021, Para. 7). Navruz is over 3,000 years old and is known as the “Eastern New
4

Year,” (Lee, 2021, Para. 3). It marks the beginning of spring, bringing with it joy and harmony.

They make a dish with sugar, wheat, and milk, and while mixing this treat up, they make wishes.

What kind of government system do they have in your country of origin?

Raykhona mentioned that the government likes to say it is a democracy there, but it is

officially a presidential constitutional republic (Uzbekistan: Government 2021). They have

elections; however, it does not matter because they are rigged. Raykhona says it is a dictatorship

again. There is corruption everywhere in her eyes, there are not many jobs, another reason she is

very glad to be in the United States. She just graduated and is a nurse in the Neuro ICU. In

Uzbekistan she says the health system is failing everyone, they are not sanitary in their practices.

How do people spend their leisure time?

As mentioned before, during their free time they go out to restaurants and the restaurants

in Uzbekistan have dance floors because when everyone goes out it is this whole festivity. They

stay out and party with everyone, making friends with random people and everyone drinking all

together. They bring their whole families out and this is just a part of their culture.

Have you ever experienced racism? In what form?

Raykhona experienced racism when she worked at a McDonald’s for her first job. She

was on drive thru when a lady came thru and ordered an ice cream cone. The lady was made at

Ray because she saw her touch her cone, so Ray made another one for her. The manager on duty

is now listening in and seeing what is going on. Ray goes to hand the lady another cone, the lady

says the same thing. Ray does not understand what is going on, however the manager

immediately picks up on it and goes to shut the lady down. They had the lady leave the

McDonald’s and could not believe that just happened. This lady was made because Raykhona

was the one giving her the cone. It took Ray awhile to understand completely what had happened
5

that day and why the lady was acting like that. This is just upsetting to hear, and I know now that

Ray would not stand for something like this today. If it were to happen now, everyone at our

store would immediately be at her side standing up for her. She may only be 5’3”, but she is a

little cannon and will not put up with any nonsense.

6

Works Cited

Lee, Kevin. (2021, March 18). Navruz Festival a symbol of Kindness, INTERETHNIC harmony,

and tolerance in Uzbekistan. The Korea Post. Retrieved September 18, 2021, from

https://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=22369.

Uzbek. Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2021,

from https://celcar.indiana.edu/materials/language-portal/uzbek/index.html.

Uzbekistan: Government. global EDGE: Your source for Global Business Knowledge. (2021).

Retrieved September 16, 2021, from

https://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/uzbekistan/government.