Błędne koło błazna, czyli krok wstecz z letniej kuchni Gulnary
The vicious circle of a clown, or a step back from Gulnary’s summer kitchen

Summary/Abstract: The paper is a reflection on participating in distinct cultures while conducting anthropological research. The observations, recorded by me in my fieldwork diary, contain feelings, memories and judgements, resulting from my personal involvement and experiences, and serve as a pretext for considering anthropological knowledge and the way in which it is created. The snapshots excerpted from some events and interviews do not concern a single character, although they create a consistent story – an image of Kyrgyz social life, in which marriage by abduction is still practiced. Among various practices found in Kyrgyz fami- lies, I continually experience and interpret this particular custom, which is hard to accept in the “Western world”. Most of the questions I raised are seemingly without answers. However, dense descriptions of events, together with large quantity of examples and ob- servations should bring the readers to their own conclusions. The paper is based on field studies in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2014 in the north-western Kyrystan, in district of Talas Province.

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