Reincarnation, marriage, and memory: Negotiating sectarian identity among the Druze of Syria Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Bennett, Marjorie Anne, 1963- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 26/09/2021 10:45:55 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/283987 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 REINCARNATION, MARRIAGE, AND MEMORY: NEGOTIATING SECTARIAN IDENTITY AMONG THE DRUZE OF SYRIA by Marjorie Anne Bennett Copyright © Marjorie Anne Bennett 1999 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 9 9 UMI Number: 9946871 Copyright 1999 by Bennett, Marjorie Anne All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9946871 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 2 THE DNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA « GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared bv Mar-jm-ifa Anne Bennett entitled Reincarnation. Marriage, and Memory: Negotiating Sectarian Identity Among the Druze of Syria and recommend that It be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation ^ulrement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy — ' Ellen B. Basso 21. im'' Date ( H. Hill' YJ Anne B. Betteridge \ — Datp^// Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ^^ 9-If /f ^ ^ Dissertation Director Ellen B. Basso Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED; 4 ACKNOWLEDOSENTS This research was supported by a Fulbright Student Grant for the 1994-1995 academic year. It was also made possible through the largesse of the Institut Frangais d'Etudes Arabes de Damas (IFEAD) in Damascus where I held a research associate position from July 1995-June 1996. Director Jacques Langhade and the excellent staff at IFEAD made my continued stay in Syria possible on both a practical and academic level. Pre-dissertation work in Syria during the summer of 1993 was made possible by a FLAS Summer Fellowship (Foreign Language and Area Studies, US Dept of Education), and a University of Arizona Graduate College Summer Research Fund grant. The scores of Syrians who made my research possible were infinitely generous and gracious, and I am forever indebted. Thanks especially go to Maha F, Maher B, and Mansur whose friendships I will always treasure. Special mention and thanks must be made to Akram and his family, and to Dr. Sherifa Zuhur for introducing me to them. I credit Akram and Sherifa with getting me started on the ground in Syria. Their generosity and assistance were invaluable. On this side of the world, I would like to express my gratitude to the three impressive and inspiring women who made up my dissertation committee: Ellen Basso, Anne Betteridge, and Jane Hill. I would also like to thank additional faculty at the University of Arizona who were mentors in various capacities over the years: Ana Alonso, Adel Gamal, Leila Hudson, Daniel Nugent, Susan Philips, and Richard Thompson. Deep appreciation goes to my family who were very patient and enthusiastic about this project through its long gestation. I have been extremely fortvinate to have had supportive and interested peers without whom write-up would have been a very lackluster experience. Thanks to Beth B-E, Betsy H, Betsy and Chris, Courtney and Kurt, Daniel, Deborah, Diane, Helen, Jannie and Steve, Leila and Riad, Lizardo and Marcos, Susanna in Los Feliz, and Tracy/Elvis. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGXJRES 7 LIST OF TABLES 8 ABSTRACT 9 CHAPTER ONE: DOING ETHNOGRAPHY IN SYRIA 11 Introductions 13 "We Are A Tangled and Knotted Society" 26 CHAPTER TWO: HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL POSITIONS 29 Background 29 Politics of Naming 32 Tagiyya: Dissimulation 34 Reincarnation 36 Exclusivity 37 Population 40 Islamic-ness 42 The religious and political landscape 49 CHAPTER THREE: ETHNICITY, ETHNOGRAPHY, AND HISTORY 52 Segmentary Lineage 57 The "Harem" 59 Islam 62 Ethnicity, Periphery, and History 63 Ethnic Politics: The Ottomans 64 Druze in Israel 67 CHAPTER FOUR: REINCARNATION - DIVIDED SELVES AND REINTEGRATIONS 74 Abu Qasim was deeply skeptical 74 Afternoon Visits 77 The Story of Shafiq/Marwan 80 Defining Reincarnation: A Note on Translation 93 Amal's Story 96 Some Humor 108 Doctrinal Underpinnings of Reincarnation 109 Summary: Reincarnation as Everyday Lived Experience .120 CHAPTER FIVE: MARRIAGE, OUTMARRIAGE, AND THE IMAGINED COMMUNITY 123 Chapter Overview 123 Concerning Marriage: Ideology, Community, and Endogamy 128 Contracts and Courts 130 Outmarriage was heatedly discussed 141 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - continued Ranges of Local Theory: Doctrine and Anti-Doctrine ..143 Doctrine 145 Local Doctrine 153 Anti-Doctrine 155 Marriage and Group Solidarity 158 Age of Engagement and Marriage 167 Marriage 169 Divorce 173 Some Contemporary Stories 175 Amira 175 Rana 179 The Gender Equity Debate 186 The Issue of Civil Marriage: Lebanon, Turkey, Tunisia 190 Summary 197 CHAPTER SIX: "^NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS THE PAST" 2 00 Sensory Geography 203 "A Son of Seventy Years": Health and Incorporation ..205 A Proud Past: Intransigence and Peasant Heroes 207 Mapping Identity: International Borders, Arab Nationalism, and Territorial Nationalism 211 CHAPTER SEVEN; CONCLUSIONS 219 REFERENCES 223 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Areas of Druze Concentration in the Middle East. 15 Figure 1.2: "Face of a Young Girl, Suwayda" 25 Figure 6.1: Syria Within Its Natural Boundaries 217 8 LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Comparison of Pillars of Islam with Druze Interpretation of Pillars of Islam 47 Table 4.1: Data on Percentage of Violent Deaths in Cases of Reincarnation 83 Table 5.1: Some differences between Druze and Shari'a Family Law 166 9 ABSTRACT This dissertation is based on twenty-one months of ethnographic fieldwork in Damascus and Suwyada, Syria. Research focused on the Druze religious sect. The central focus is on a religious minority's strategies for preserving their sense of separateness and uniqueness while at the same time claiming pan-Arab and patriotic Syrian affiliations. Three broad topics are used to discuss this: reincarnation, marriage, and memory. Because the primary focus is on a religious minority, one of the major concerns has been to elucidate notions of relational identity from a Druze point of view. This dissertation is an argxament against any kind of facilely labeled Druze identity, and is an extended discussion of various facets of Druze experience, on what it means to be a member of a religious minority in the contemporary Middle Eastern state of Syria in the mid-1990s. Identity might be best understood as affiliations and affinities, multiply interacting levels of meaning, and a question of frequently adjusting focus and perspective. Reincarnation is not usually associated with Islam, and the Druze belief in reincarnation is one thing that sets this sect apart from the Sunni majority in Syria, even stigmatizes them. This dissertation also explores the nature of the everyday lived experience of Druze 10 reincarnation, and how it is a point of cohesion for the community as a whole, but at the cost of some emotional splintering of individuals selves and families. Reincarnation has concrete social effects on both families and communities. It brings together members of unrelated families who otherwise would never have cause to know one another. Reincarnation also functions doctrinally to support the sect's prohibition against outmarriage.