TY - JOUR A1 - Cörüt, Gözde Yazıcı A1 - Cörüt, İlker T1 - The neo-liberal conception of empowerment and its limits T2 - Central Asian survey N2 - Through qualitative research conducted in the bazaars of Bishkek, this paper examines the posited tripartite relationship between the free market, micro-finance and women's empowerment by focusing on how loans from micro-finance institutions in Bishkek influence the lives of female loanees. The neo-liberal conception of 'individual autonomy' and 'empowerment', it is argued, may not adequately serve as indicators of actual female empowerment/disempowerment in Bishkek and lead us to fail to recognize moments of self-exploitation and forms of claim-making. The research also underlines the disempowering effects of the affectional burden, that is, the constant sense of anxiety, that the loanees have to manage in order to survive in the neo-liberal business environment, which offers high interest rate loans and exposes the loanees to over-indebtedness. These effects can be followed through the analysis of the role the desire for stability and 'ontological security' plays in the formation of the identities/world views of the loanees. KW - Kyrgyzstan KW - micro-credit KW - self-employed women KW - women's empowerment KW - neo-liberalism KW - debt Y1 - 2021 UR - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/58394 SN - 0263-4937 SN - 1465-3354 VL - 41 IS - 1 SP - 118 EP - 137 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER -