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ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMI UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE KARO KARI (HONOR KILLING) IN PAKISTAN: A HERMENEUTIC STUDY OF VARIOUS DISCOURSES A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy By AMIRH. JAFRI Norman, Oklahoma 2003 UMI Number: 3082947 UMI' UMI Microform 3082947 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. Ail rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 © Copyright by AMIR H. JAFRI 2003 All Rights Reserved, KARO ^ / î / (HONOR KILLING) IN PAKISTAN: A HERMENEUTIC STUDY OF VARIOUS DISCOURSES A Dissertation APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION BY Acknowledgements As is true of most such endeavors, this dissertation carries my name but is really a collaborative effort. Deeply woven into this document are the contributions of the members of my committee. Without their constant prodding and intellectual insights, I could not possibly have brought this document this far. Professors Sandy Ragan and Larry Wieder accompanied me on this journey and provided me with confidence and direction. Their suggestions helped me deal lucidly with the complexities of the subject matter. Professors David Gross and Clemencia Rodriguez often went beyond the call of their duties as committee members and patiently worked with my peculiar ways of making sense of my data. But it really was my advisor. Professor Eric Kramer who, for three years, week after week, sometimes day in and day out, absorbed my frustrations with benign smiles and, occasionally, by tearing his hair out, and who always supplied considered and enlightening responses to my intellectual conundrums. With his guidance, I embarked on a journey to view academic research contextualized within the grand human drama; with his help, I started to become aware of the ubiquitous trap in academia of regional ontologies as limiting impositions. Earlier, at University of Texas—Pan American, I was fortunate to stumble on Professors George McLemore and Barbara Mayo who have ever since been stimulating mentors and comforting fiiends to me. From them I learned to face academic rigors with élan and good cheer. With intellectual insight, unflagging faith, and friendly advice they kept me going when I might otherwise have given up. iv There are numerous old and new fiiends and colleagues here in the United States and in Pakistan who enriched my understanding of the complexity of my subject matter. In the accomplishment of this project, however, I am indebted to Ann Hamilton in a way that makes it almost inappropriate to merely thank her. Over the years, with her alarming facility with computer-related tasks, her lexical rigor, and challenging intellectual probes, she was a constant boon and spur to this project. Without my marathon writing parties at the expense of her hospitality, this project could not have been completed. Alexandra Simou, bibliophile and friend, lent her valuable time and considerable skills with useful suggestions to make this document more readable. I thank her. My siblings, now spread all over the globe, but never far from each others’ concerns, have always been the emotional anchor of my life. It was the love and humor of Anjum, Guddo, Tillo, Abbas, Azra, Nishat, Nigar, Munna, Fatima, Naazo, and a host of other reasonably apprehensive yet optimistic cousins, uncles, and aunts who kept my adrenalin directed towards this project. This dissertation is dedicated to my father, Ali Shahzad, who taught me to respect learning, and whose smile today would have been a sight to behold; this dissertation is dedicated to my loving aunt,Munni Phuppo, at whose teenage rocking knees, as a toddler, I was first enchanted by the alphabet. Most of all this work is dedicated to Malika, my maa, and Nantaara, mybaiti, my two glittering neighbors on the string of time. Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to Preeti, whois the music on that string of time. Table o f Contents Chapter I—Introduction.......................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Study.................................................................................................. 3 Rationale......................................................................................................................7 Political Scene........................................................................................................... 11 Karo Kari as a Message......................................................................................... 14 Relevance of this Study in the Contemporary Zeitgeist..................................... 15 Statement of the Problem......................................................................................... 17 Organization...............................................................................................................17 Chapter II—Concepts of Honor......................................................................................... 21 Karo Kari (Honor killing): A Brief History.........................................................21 Honor....................................................................................................................... 23 Honor and virtue............................................................................................28 Honor Killing: The Genesis................................................................................... 31 Male Domination in Antiquity...............................................................................34 Honor, Women, and the Roman Imperium...........................................................36 Chapter III—Theory and Method...................................................................................... 40 Methodology............................................................................................................40 Hermeneutics ...........................................................................................................42 Dimensional Accrual/Dissociation........................................................................45 Gebser.......................................................................................................................48 Foucault and Power................................................................................................. 54 Discursive formations................................................................................... 56 Data Collection........................................................................................................58 Informed consent...........................................................................................58 Interviews........................................................................................................59 Published texts............................................................................................... 62 Chapter IV—Discourse of Pollution...................................................................................67 Preachers in Pakistan.............................................................................................. 69 Honor: Veil and the Fetish of Purity......................................................................71 Veil and Pollution....................................................................................................73 Karo Kari as Expiation........................................................................................... 76 Veil and Shamelessness.......................................................................................... 77 Ghairat (Honor) as a Tribal Notion....................................................................... 82 Standards of Women’s Conduct and the Quran....................................................84 Fitna and the Concomitant Chaos.......................................................................... 88 Ghairat aur Taana (Honor and Social Ridicule)..................................................91 VI Chapter V—Discourses of Power........................................................................................99 Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures............................................................100 Sarnia’s Killing and the Individualism-Collectivism