Between 19 and 23 November 2025, the ASEEES Annual Convention (Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) was held in Washington, D.C., USA, one of the leading international gatherings dedicated to the study of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Eurasian space.
One of the highlights of the convention was the panel “Moral Economies of Reproduction in Central Asia and the Caucasus”, which brought together Madeleine Reeves, Polina Vlasenko, Elene Gavashelishvili, and Nino Rcheulishvili. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in different countries across the region, the panel examined how infertility treatments, egg donation, and transnational surrogacy are shaped by moral expectations, market pressures, religious ethics, and gender norms. Particular attention was paid to the experiences of Georgian and Central Asian surrogates, analysing the rapid expansion of the surrogacy sector in Georgia, the migration of women from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan to work in the country, and the growth of surrogacy in Kazakhstan in a context marked by the decline of the Ukrainian market.
Polina Vlasenko presented her ethnographic research in Kazakhstan and Georgia, showing how commodified reproductive labour, although heavily stigmatised, becomes a crucial source of income for many women. Her contribution focused on the strategies through which Central Asian surrogates manage secrecy, family honour, and motherhood while moving between their communities of origin and transnational reproductive programmes. Elene Gavashelishvili and Nino Rcheulishvili, for their part, analysed how Georgian surrogates reconcile motherhood and surrogacy, and how they manage stigma through linguistic and emotional strategies that differentiate the gestated baby from their own children.
Participation in a roundtable with Nari Shelekpayev, Usmon Boron, and Erica Marat on the impact of the war in Central Asia was also particularly relevant. In this space, Polina Vlasenko reflected on her positionality as a Ukrainian researcher conducting fieldwork in Kazakhstan and Georgia, as well as on recent transformations in the dynamics of reproductive labour and mobility in the region.