I an Ethnographic Investigation of Swara Among the Pashtun People of Jalalabad, Afghanistan
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i An Ethnographic Investigation of Swara among the Pashtun People of Jalalabad, Afghanistan: Exploring Swara as a Conflict Settlement Mechanism from the Perspective of Men By Masood Khan A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Anthropology University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2016 by Masood Khan ii Abstract This thesis presents an ethnographic analysis of the practice of swara marriage among the Pashtun people of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, based on nine weeks of fieldwork in 2015. Swara is a form of compensation marriage practiced by Pashtun people in Pakistan and Afghanistan through which disputes between men are resolved through the giving away in marriage of girls, often minors, by guilty parties to victim parties. By employing practice theory and the theory of sacrifice, swara marriages are analyzed through the conceptualizations of honor, revenge, and ghairat (“bravery”). Focusing on six swara cases, the first half of the thesis explores the concepts of honor, revenge, and ghairat during the time of feuds. The second half of the thesis directly focuses on swara marriages and analyzes them through the concepts of symbolic capital and sacrifice. iii Acknowledgements Though only my name appears on the cover of this thesis, it is the product of efforts of many people. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincerest and deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Ellen Judd. Her guidance and mentorship have been invaluable not only throughout this thesis project, but also over the past three years of my graduate program. Her interest in my thesis project, along with her dedication, has been remarkable as this thesis came to completion. She provided valuable insights and feedback on the drafts of the chapters. I am grateful to her for allowing me to work as her research assistant throughout my graduate program and for generous support for me through GETS and GPE funding. I could never thank her enough for everything she did for me. Thank you, Dr. Judd, for being an amazing advisor, mentor, scholar, and human being! I would also like to thank my thesis committee members, Dr. Anna Fournier and Dr. Maureen Flaherty, for their patience and insightful comments. It was a pleasure to have them on my committee. My special thanks to all the men who participated in this research project. I owe sincere gratitude to Muqeem Shah for his help in the recruitment process and for making my stay in Jalalabad a memory to cherish. I would also like to thank Qari Saib and Hakeen Saib for their support during my stay in Jalalabad. In the Department of Anthropology, I would like to thank Dr. Kathleen Buddle-Crowe and Dr. Kent Fowler for their generous support for my research project through the Anthropology Thesis Write-up Award and Anthropology Graduate Research Award. I would also like to thank Colleen Loewen and Narmatha Nadarajah for helping me navigate the reams of bureaucracies. I would also to thank my friends, Aman, Mubasim, Shah, Shaharyar, and Zohaib for their wonderful support and encouragement. They have been kind enough to put up with me on both the good days and the bad, and for that, they receive my sincere appreciation. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their love and support. Without their continuous support and love, I would not have been able to pursue my education. To my parents, brother, and sisters, I owe it all to you and I love! iv Dedication To all the women who suffer silently and endure patiently v Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ iii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………..iv Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... v Chapter 1- Introduction: Statement of the Research Questions and Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Research Objective and Research Questions .............................................................................. 2 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................... 5 Organization of Thesis .............................................................................................................. 15 Chapter 2- Background and Literature Review ...................................................................... 16 Kinship and Marriage ................................................................................................................ 17 Jirga .......................................................................................................................................... 25 Conflict Resolution and Gender ................................................................................................ 28 Swara ......................................................................................................................................... 30 Impact of War on Women‘s Rights in Afghanistan .................................................................. 36 Chapter 3- Research Methodology ............................................................................................ 39 Informants and Sampling .......................................................................................................... 39 Interviews .................................................................................................................................. 43 Ethical Consideration ................................................................................................................ 49 Brief Overview of the Studied Cases ........................................................................................ 50 Case 1 ........................................................................................................................................ 50 Case 2 ........................................................................................................................................ 51 Case 3 ........................................................................................................................................ 52 Case 4 ........................................................................................................................................ 52 Case 5 ........................................................................................................................................ 53 Case 6 ........................................................................................................................................ 54 Chapter 4- Pashtunwali and Namos (Honor) ........................................................................... 56 The Concept of Pashtunwali ..................................................................................................... 56 Key Guiding Principles of Pashtunwali .................................................................................... 60 Honor ......................................................................................................................................... 60 vi Manifestation of Honor in Feuds and in their Settlement Process ............................................ 65 The Concepts of Korenai and Qaum ......................................................................................... 67 Honor as a ―Positive‖ Negotiation Tool in Feuds ..................................................................... 69 Fighting as a Disgrace, Dispute Settlement as an Honorable Act ............................................. 76 Chapter 5- The Concepts of Badal (revenge) and Ghairat (“bravery”) and Their Implications for Feuds ................................................................................................................ 85 Revenge ..................................................................................................................................... 85 Ghairat ...................................................................................................................................... 87 Ghairat as Physical Bravery and as a Public Act...................................................................... 88 Implications of the Public Performance Aspect of Ghairat for Inter-lineage and Intra-lineage Feuds ......................................................................................................................................... 94 Ghairat in Relation to Women .................................................................................................. 97 Revenge as Deterrent to the Longivity of Feuds, and its Role in Fear of External Interference ................................................................................................................................................... 99 Delaying Seeking Revenge ..................................................................................................... 105 Chapter 6- Swara......................................................................................................................