The Political Economy of Marriage: Joanne Payton
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
‘Honour’ and the political economy of marriage Joanne Payton Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD, 2015 i DECLARATION This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed (candidate) Date: 13 April 2015 STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signed (candidate) Date: 13 April 2015 STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed (candidate) Date: 13 April 2015 STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (candidate) Date: 13 April 2015 Summary ‘Honour’-based violence (HBV) is defined as a form of crime, predominantly against women, committed by the agnates of the victim, often in collaboration, which are justified by the victims’ perceived violation of social norms, particularly those around sexuality and gender roles. While HBV is often considered as a cultural phenomenon, I argue that the cross-cultural distribution of crimes fitting this definition prohibits a purely cultural explanation. I advance an alternate explanation for HBV through a deployment of the cultural materialist strategy and the anthropological theories of Pierre Bourdieu, Claude Lévi-Strauss (as interpreted by Gayle Rubin) and Eric Wolf. I argue that HBV is an epiphenomenon of the ‘exchange of women’ model of marriage transactions occurring within the patrilinear kinship structures typical of Central Eurasia, and that this is particularly marked amongst peoples with a history of agrarian and pastoral modes of production, in which kinship underwrites relations of resource and labour sharing. Within these scenarios, marriage is an aspect of the political economy of the group, since it extends or consolidates kinship networks. In post- agrarian neopatrimonial states, kinship relations remain salient to social status through nepotism and the intensification of subgroup identification. I argue that women’s embodiment of the standards of marriageability — their ‘honour’ — within their communities is a form of symbolic capital which inflects the status of their families, and their ability to participate in strategic marital exchanges. ii This theory is investigated through an extensive and historicised survey of kinship and marriage in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and through original survey data on marriage forms and attitudes and experiences of HBV in the region, suggesting that HBV and understandings of gender, marriage and kinship are intrinsically linked. Thus, this thesis argues that while HBV may appear to be enculturated, its aetiology may be material in nature. Efforts to reduce HBV in the Middle East should encompass reform of personal status laws which posit the patrilinear, patricentric family as the ideal model, and that campaigns to reduce forced and child marriage should be considered as part of the process to reduce HBV. iii iv To wash disgrace “Oh mother,” a rattle, tears and darkness Blood gushed out, and the stabbed body trembled. “Oh mother!” Heard only by the executioner Tomorrow the dawn will come and roses will wake up Youth and enchanted hopes will ask for her The meadows and the flowers will answer: She left to wash the disgrace. The brutal executioner returns And meets people “Disgrace!” He wipes his knife “We’ve torn it apart.” And returned virtuous with a white reputation. Nazik al-Malaika (1923-2007) ii 1. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... vii Figures ........................................................................................................................................................... ix Tables ............................................................................................................................................................. x Terminology .................................................................................................................................................. xii Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................... xiv Dedication.................................................................................................................................................... xvi 1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 Defining ‘honour’-based violence ....................................................................... 2 History and extent of HBV in the KRI .................................................................. 7 Thesis outline and research questions ......................................................................................................... 23 2. Theoretical and methodological approach ............................................. 27 Exploring theories ........................................................................................................................................ 29 Research methodologies ................................................................................... 49 Theoretical phase: Model building .............................................................................................................. 49 Empirical phase: Analytic testing................................................................................................................. 53 3. Ecosociology .......................................................................................... 57 Introducing ecosociology .................................................................................. 60 iii The organisation of labour and resources ......................................................... 69 Marriage within kinship networks ............................................................................................................... 84 4. Power and the family ........................................................................... 101 Domestic politics of the family ........................................................................ 104 Adolescence/early adulthood as a period of vulnerability ......................................................................... 112 The importance of virginity.............................................................................. 114 The position of non-virgin women ............................................................................................................. 131 5. A microsociology of marriage forms ..................................................... 134 Cousin marriage ............................................................................................... 138 Preferential nature of cousin marriage ...................................................................................................... 139 Inheritance patterns .................................................................................................................................. 141 Marriage and fraternal relationships ........................................................................................................ 148 Direct exchange marriage ................................................................................ 158 Status matching in direct exchange marriage ........................................................................................... 161 Exogamy and brideprice .................................................................................. 174 Origins of brideprice .................................................................................................................................. 179 Brideprice in relation to female labour ...................................................................................................... 184 Brideprice as recompense to affines .......................................................................................................... 189 Elopements and abductions ............................................................................ 205 Elopement in Kurdish culture ..................................................................................................................... 213 iv Relationship between abduction and rape ................................................................................................ 216 Synthesis .......................................................................................................... 221 6. Marriage into the modern era ............................................................. 225 Histories of trauma and conflict ................................................................................................................ 226 The decline of marriage arrangement ............................................................ 235 Detraditionalisation ................................................................................................................................... 242 ‘Honour’ in religio-legal discourse ...........................................................................................................