‘DAUGHTERS ARE DIAMONDS:
Honour, Shame & Seclusion-
A South African Perspective’
Shafinaaz Hassim
Copyright© 2007 Shafinaaz Hassim
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.
ISBN 978 1920084 67 7
This edition published by WordFire Press SA
Declaration
I hereby declare that the information contained in this report is of my own work. Relevant references are made available for quoted material. Small quotes may be extracted for the purpose of discussion, critique or as a contribution to future research and literature, provided full reference is made with regards to the author and the university for which this report has been compiled.
Ms Shafinaaz Hassim
Signed this 21st day of March 2003 in Johannesburg, SouthAfrica.
PREFACE
When I first presented the research questions that inspired this work to a panel of the research committee at the University, I distinctly remember that one of the questions posed to me was regarding the relevance of such a work to the general readership. My reply at the time carried a passionate momentum to produce both the manuscript for my Master of Arts as well as to culminate in this book. I believe that in the multi-cultural threads that constitute South Africa's social fabric, there exist numerous themes that are yet to be uncovered and documented. Individual and community biographies need to be unraveled for their immense sociological value and their most delicate fibres need to be carefully observed in order to truly understand the diverse and complex fabric that enfolds us as South Africans. In this way, we will be able to adequately present this colourful social amalgamation, a masterpiece, to the international gallery, the world at large.
Daughters are Diamonds is not a feminist work, nor is it a pro- or anti-cultural text. It hopes to ascribe to no such labels except to present itself as a framework for many more such observations in the diverse fabric of social life to be revealed. It is a comment on the many contradictions that operate in everyday social life as we know it. And it is a treatise on the challenges we face to lay bare the threads of misinterpretation of well-meant scriptures for the
sake of 'comfortable' traditionalist conceptualizations of life.
Considering the multi-faceted and dynamic social landscape of South African society, the hypothesis of traditionally patriarchal modes of thinking vs. progressive, inclusive streams of thought is one that could be extrapolated to various groups of people.
It has been three years since the manuscript for Daughters are Diamonds was completed, and in that time my fingers have traced numerous patterns through its worded grains of sand. Articles have been written on its themes, and debates sparked on its most controversial points. I believe that the time has come for the winds of change to move these sands onward, to seek out vast shores, and for the tidal thoughts of readers thus engaged to bring forth newer contemplations.
Shafinaaz Hassim January 2007
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
Throughout the course of this study, I often had to search my soul for the strength to do justice to the portrayal of the lives and dreams of the women who formed the core of this research. The wealth of their biographies illuminated the purpose of this research beyond expectation, and my first appreciation is owed to them. In addition, my soul searching has been illuminated by a number of people to whom I am deeply grateful.
My thanks are due to 'Indianness' from whence most of my colourful childhood derives, and to the oft misrepresented Muslim 'Ummah' of whom I am an inextricable member. Thank you to my maternal grandmother, for teaching me strength of spirit, and without whom, my journey would never be complete.
To Dad for raising me upon your shoulders and encouraging me to reach the stars. To Mum for teaching me that delicate balance of patience and diplomacy in standing up for what I believe in; and to Dilshaad and Sarfaraaz for your unflinching support, love and encouragement, especially when I do not seem to make any sense.
To my friends and loved ones for reminding me that a world exists beyond my work-station and for often rescuing me from beneath my mountain of books.
To Belinda Bozzoli for being an inspiring supervisor and for
camouflaging my more cryptic ramblings, and enabling their acceptance into the realm of academia.
To Rumi, for eternal inspiration.
Most of all, I owe boundless gratitude to the Almighty Allah for Lighting my path of Life, Love and Discovery.
As I write this, the world is witness to an illegitimate war raging on Iraqi soil. Anti-war sentiment takes on a life of it's own around the world, as protestors insist that the blood of the Iraqi people should not be used as a market commodity in exchange for oil. Whatever the concerns that seem to have justified the attack on Iraq, though, it is the minority groups that suffer the consequences. My heart bleeds for the children of Iraq, the human shields who have compelled themselves to face the brunt of the onslaught, and the helpless world looking on: we may as well be mute for the superpower takes no heed to the urgent pleas for peace. This study raises questions about the failures of democracy and finds spaces within its structure, where limits are imposed upon individual (and minority) freedoms. My request to the reader is to spare a thought especially for the children in Iraq, for whom the present condition of death and destruction is going to be a difficult reality; and for those who survive, the legacy of war will be an even heavier burden to bear.
Shafinaaz Hassim March 2003
THE JOURNEY
'The journey of my life
begins from home,
ends at the graveyard.
My life is spent
like a corpse,
carried on the shoulders
of my father and brother,
husband and son.
Bathed in religion,
attired in customs,
and buried in a grave
of ignorance.'
Atiya Dawood, Sindhi Poet, Pakistan. Cited in Goodwin (1995).
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER TWO:
METHODOLOGY & DATA COLLECTION
Research Design:
Subject sampling:
Testing the Instrument:
Undertaking the Interviews:
Auxiliary Data Collection:
CHAPTER THREE:
THE GEMS OF DISCOURSE
HONOUR, SHAME AND SECLUSION - AN OVERVIEW Honour Killings: The ultimate loss of reflexivity in
an honour-bound society
The Loss of Reflexivity
On Liberty and Consent
Containing the Disorder of Women
Tracing the Origins of Seclusion: the Concept of
Purdah
Socialisation through Culture, Ideology and Power
Levels of Consciousness: Self vs. Society
The Ideology of Honour and Autonomy :
Understanding the social constructs of modesty and
shame
CHAPTER FOUR:
DISCOVERING THE DIAMONDS
SIX SOUTH AFRICAN CASES: AN INTRODUCTION
The Six Profiles
(*Pseudonyms Used)
Mira*, 27, Going Places
Fiona*, 35, Autonomy Limited by her Mother-in-
Law
Sima*, 44, The Modern Mother-in-Law
Fiza*, 42, From Businesswoman to Subordinate
Daughter-in-Law and Wife
Salma*, 46, The Cheated-On Wife
Zara*, 59, Unmarried
CHAPTER FIVE:
MINES OF INFORMATION
GENDERING SOCIAL CONTROL FOR THE
SAKE OF HONOUR
Analysing the Findings:
The Elements of Cultural Diffusion
Family Honour: The concept of 'Izzat'
On Growing up Female
Women's Education and its Implications for
Family Honour
Happily Ever After, and then what?
Prescribing Regulation: The Role of the Mother-in-Law
Superstition: A Prototype for Social Control
Cultural Stereotypes and Honour
‘Sabr’ or Patience: tools of social control
Degree of religiosity
Decisions? Decisions!
Resolution
CHAPTER SIX:
CONCLUDING CONSIDERATIONS
Scholars Revisit The Qur'anic Scripture
The Learned Affinity to 'Self-Conscious' Emotions
and its Implications for Autonomy and Self-Reflexivity
CHAPTER SEVEN:
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
TRIBUTE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX
Wassiyat: (From a Mother to her Daughter on her Wedding Day)
ABSTRACT
This research explores the ways in which "reflexivity of the self" is inhibited in cultures where "honour" is valued, using a small sample of South African Indian Muslim women. The framework for the study asserts that the individual capacity for self reflexivity is a basic and natural right, as well as the precondition for modern social life. The internalisation of values of honour leads many women to expect that deviance from acceptable norms will bring social sanction and stigma. This form of "conditioning" has debilitating outcomes for closing the gap between opportunities and actual achievements. The aim of this research then, is to explore the perpetuation of gender stereotypes and notions of honour in South African Indian Muslim society, and the degree to which they impact on the mindsets of people from traditionalist cultures. The statement that "women are diamonds" is often used by Indian Muslim traditionalists to justify the abject seclusion of women. In this view, that which is valuable should be hidden in safekeeping. The metaphor of the diamond is used to illustrate the objectification of daughters borne of honour-bound societies, and the limits put to the administration of their lives, in keeping with the code of honour. This study is a comment on the notion that, in keeping with this honour code, there is a fine line between maintaining the dignity of a people and infringing on the rights of the individual. It also asks whether women are able to carve out a space for themselves within which a fully reflexive life may be lived in spite of the restrictions placed on them.
CHAPTER
ONE
Introduction
It is the aim of this research to explore the ways in which reflexivity of the self is inhibited in cultures where "honour" is valued, using a sample of South African Muslim women, of Indian ancestry. The study is set against a background of honour killings in Pakistan; this is not to imply a direct comparison between the extreme case study of honour killings and the experiences of South African Indian Muslim women. It is rather to illuminate the patriarchal mindset that is able to infringe on the rights and liberties of women, in a number of ways, based on the assumption that Muslims of Indian origin whether in South Africa or Pakistan share a common ideological heritage. In the extreme case of Pakistan, women who deviate are murdered or physically disfigured. In the South African case, the women can expect that deviance from acceptable norms will bring social sanction and stigma - with debilitating outcomes for closing the gap between opportunities and actual achievements. With the use of the extreme case, we are more easily able to discern the motivations, rationalisations and even resistance to the attack on individual liberties, and also to illuminate the multicultural social fabric of contemporary South Africa, and the residual effects that various cultures have on both the network of people and on their constructions of individual and national biography.
The individual capacity for self reflexivity is a basic and natural right, as
well as the precondition for modern social life. Post-Enlightenment thinking permits the realisation of this capacity and so do some pre-modern conceptions of the development of the soul. Today, a resurgence of hermeneutic understandings of the world around us in the effort to re-assert the primordial tradition is evidence of the need for a reawakening of the reflexive potential. However, there are a range of ideologies within traditional cultures which serve to subjugate the reflexive self, and hence the actualisation potential of the self.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
How are the opportunities, challenges and obstacles facing South African Indian Muslim women within the family, perceived and experienced by the individual?
To what extent, if at all, does traditionalist culture create/influence a gap between opportunity and achievement for South African Indian Muslim women?
These questions are asked in the context of the notion of "honour", present in most/many Muslim societies. The concept of 'honour' refers to a particular way in which patriarchal structures are conceptualised in some settings. 'Family honour', for example, is one constituent of this. The upholding of family honour is seen as a means to maintain the political order which rests on the broader system of patriarchy. One is made to question the kind of practices considered legitimate in dealing with violations of cultural and familial codes of honour. Current case studies show that, in extreme situations the actual, physical removal of those who go against the grain of desired behaviours, through 'honour killings', is socially legitimated by deeply held cultural beliefs, as is the case in contemporary Pakistan. In an "honour" killing the honour entailed in the status quo requires protection from any form of subversion. Its' defendants seek to eradicate any (perceived) threats to its existence. Hence, when we say that women are killed for the sake of honour we also need to understand what underpins the idea that there is a duty to uphold patriarchal structures. In addition, the
killings act as the mechanism of terror which is meant to inspire fear in potential transgressors. It is the very nature of this fear which denies the individual capacity for self reflexivity.
While extreme examples such as those in Pakistan draw attention to the kind of cultural memory and prevalent thought processes in situations concerning 'honour', the South African cases that I refer to are far less tangible and extreme. Nevertheless these ideas of duty and fear may be prevalent even in less 'extreme' situations, where murder does not occur, but ideas of honour are still fiercely protected. They seem to occur at a psychological level, in the form of stigma and social sanction; the individual may be singled out for daring to deviate from the status quo; so is their immediate family upon whom they may rely, and from whence comes a qualitative form of support. If at any point, the immediate family condones the act(s), this is bound to affect the internal equilibrium of the family unit. The setting of limits and the exertion of pressures may come into play; the sanctioning of particular behaviours can act as an extremely harsh and effective form of social control.
This research suggests that social behaviour among the Indian Muslim's in South Africa locates itself in the preservation of patriarchal custom and tradition, so deeply embedded in everyday life that its undertaking is almost always mistaken for religious obligation. South African Indian Muslim society draws on a social amalgam of ancestral Indian cultural belief and morally defined religious norms. The basis of the Islamic polity and way of life is antithetical to the classical conception of the separation of Church and State in western political ideology. Christendom renders "unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and to God the things which are God's" (Lewis, 1988, p2). Islam as a religion presents itself as a complete way of life. This compels Muslims to practice all features of life seen to correspond within it. Cultural belief, traditionalist values and religion are transposed and inform thoughts and actions. Hence, entrenched cultural acts gleam social endorsement from being viewed as a duty or obligation to divine command. In actual fact Islam denounces the exploitation and control of people of either sex.
Furthermore, something as isolated as a single incident of murder occurring elsewhere, also has the ability to generate the kind of social memory that is capable of instilling fear in the population (even what happens in distant Pakistan, may have an effect on South African Indian Muslim women). Would-be strayers from expected norms and behaviours are deterred. The pain of these restrictions is often felt particularly when they occur in societies that on a broader level guarantee individual liberties and equality. A democracy such as the South African one provides constitutional guarantees to equality and progression in all spheres of social life. But there remain deeply entrenched cultural niches in society that are impenetrable by the fledgling democratic legal system - which itself is yet to be tested in terms of durability over time. It is precisely these sub-surface niches which I hope to penetrate, in an effort to understand the detail of the social fabric and to uncover the dynamism of oppressive structures and the kinds of residue that filter down the social strata. The clash between notions of democracy in the political sphere and notions of democratic and autocratic forms of control at the level of family and culture form a relevant arena of questioning. The concept of arranged marriage, for example is far less popular, as compared to the idea of a love marriage which suggests freedom of choice, and individual satisfaction as opposed to a familial or social contract. Academics in the fields of legal jurisprudence and human rights continue to debate the apparent contradictions between notions of gender equality and respect for culture and tradition, especially since the formulation of the new constitution in South Africa. Here the loss of self reflexivity is about the loss of newfound freedoms - it rests in oppressive structures, within the scope of democratic promise. The research seeks to highlight what exists within the frame of a liberal political order.
The aim of this study then, is to explore the perpetuation of gender and family stereotypes in South African Indian Muslim society, and to assess the degree to which this affects people from traditionalist backgrounds. It asks whether and how women are able to carve out a space for themselves within which a fully reflexive life may be lived.
CHAPTER
TWO
METHODOLOGY & DATA
COLLECTION
"Representation of the world, like the world itself is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with absolute truth"
(Simone de Beauvoir, 1952, 'The Second Sex', p133)
RESEARCH DESIGN:
This research has been conducted on South African Indian Muslims, with a small sample of women producing its core. In an effort to answer the main questions raised at the beginning of this research, i.e. how the opportunities, challenges and obstacles facing South African Indian Muslim women within the family, are perceived and experienced by the individual; and to what extent, if at all, traditionalist culture is able to create/influence a gap between opportunity and achievement for South African Indian Muslim women, this research was conducted in a qualitative manner, aiming to arrive at meaningful understandings and interpretations of how some South African Indian Muslim women created and maintain their social worlds (Neuman, 2000).
Qualitative research has a number of advantages. According to Morse (1994), qualitative research presupposes an understanding of research in general. Neuman (2000) contends that qualitative research allows the
formation of concepts that are grounded in the data. For example, issues about power struggles and class conflict may be interrogated both within and beyond the variables of age and gender. In addition qualitative research comprises a specific understanding of the relation between issue and method. Morse (1994) also suggested that qualitative research allows the participants to expand more appropriately on certain topics. "In qualitative research, ideas and evidence are mutually interdependent. This applies particularly to case study analysis" (Neuman, 2000, p420). Ultimately, the aim is for subjects to be actively engaged into constructions of their life experiences in the effort towards developing a frame of reference which can be subsequently used to measure issues of rights against the traditions which paradoxically deny them in the context of a newly transitional democratic South Africa. This is essential to the formation of theory and for the purposes of contributing to the paucity of the available literature.
Qualitative research will then become a continuous process of constructing the subject's various versions of reality within the scope of this enquiry, i.e. exploring the question of whether social sanctioning and stigma await women in South African Indian Muslim society should they attempt to challenge traditional structures.
Empirical collection of data consists of loosely structured conversational interviews with a sample of six women from the Indian Muslim community in Johannesburg; five of them middle class and one from an upper class family. Each of these women, regardless of their ages or levels of education, proved to be a philosopher in her own right. Mira* (27) is a progressive, career-oriented woman who faces the task of reconciling her parents wishes of marrying someone of their choice with her own more liberal conception of life; one which has, until now, been fully supported by her parents. Fiona* (35), Fiza* (42), Sima* (44) and Salma* (46) are all married with children. Zara* (59) has never been married, but has faced a number of trials, has been at the helm of rearing both her siblings and their children.
Wengraf (2001) recommends the use of a single interview question in order to initiate the full narrative. The only acceptable interruptions, as was
deemed necessary, occur in the form of reassurances and prompts for more stories. In this research atypical interview session explored the nature of the interviewee's relationship with different family members, in terms of perceived impacts of each on the other's (potential) role in society."… (T)he interpersonal context revealed in women's personal narratives suggests how women's lives are shaped through and evolve within relationships with others. Feminists have long noted the special reliance of women upon the resources of networks of family and kin, and the important role women play in nurturing and maintaining such networks. Indeed, this reliance may well be a function of women's relative powerlessness" (Personal Narratives Group, 1989, p20). How the individual perceives and conceptualises everyday life is essential in attempting to quantify the impact of social expectations. Questions were also focused on everyday life, career aspirations, job situations and the generally perceived or expressed views from within the family as well as from the immediate vicinity of the socio-cultural community. Wengraf (2001) recognises the difficulty in directly accessing many of the assumptions, purposes, feelings and knowledge that constitutes personal and social life. On the one hand, the less controversial the issues, "the less an interviewee will be aware of them and able to talk about them. Conversely, to ask for a person's explicit knowledge and approach is to access only material that they themselves experience as consciously controversial" and they then decide to articulate this information. In this way, respondents have conscious control of how they choose to present perceived knowledge and norms. Narrative interviews have their advantage of being less subject to this form of conscious control: "precisely by what it assumes and therefore does not focus upon, narrative conveys tacit and unconscious assumptions and norms of the individual or of a cultural group" (Wengraf, 2001, p115).
SUBJECT SAMPLING:
Black (1976) stated that in non-probability sampling the researcher is interested only in a sufficient number of elements to satisfy limited research objectives. A judgmental sample is one that has been handpicked
by the investigator to fully ensure that specific elements are included (May, 1997). Purposive samples are frequently called judgmental samples because the researcher exercises his or her judgment to include elements that are presumed to be typical of a given population about which information is sought. According to Black (1976), purposive samples do not involve any random selection process. Consequently, they are somewhat less costly and are more readily accessible to the researcher. Convenience is an additional incentive to employ purposive samples. According to Black (1976), purposive sampling guarantees that certain elements will be included that are relevant to the research design. In addition, with the use of theoretical sampling, according to Neuman (2000), subjects are selected according to their (expected) level of new insights (or consciousness, in the case of the interviewees in this study) for developing theory, in relation to the state of theory elaboration so far. Theoretical sampling is a purposive and systematic selection and integration of persons and/or groups of persons, and temporal and local settings (Neuman, 2000).
The variables of age and class also require careful consideration in terms of sample choices. This study sets out to unpack notions of stigma, social sanction and fear of retribution as well as the perceived duty of obedience to patriarchal structures which may indeed be seen as religious obligation. In order to identify and extract the general experience of this objective, attention needs to be paid to the kinds of interview sessions which will best facilitate this process. At the outset I would like to add that future research that hopes to build on a study of this nature should consider that the research mechanism needs to take into account additional details such as the experience of different genders in terms of expectation and accountability as well as views of liberties and allowances within the realm of social intercourse. This will require one-on-one interview sessions with men and women separately. While this study has acknowledged this need, due to the restrictions of time and the nature of this enquiry, the primary focus is on the realm of women. The generational gap has been accounted for, taking into consideration its potential for differing opinion based on the oft-made
assumption that older women would be more conventional and traditionalist as compared to possibly more liberal and progressive-minded younger women in contemporary South Africa. Further, the women interviewed can be categorized into either the middle or upper class brackets. While my attempts at obtaining an interview with a woman from a structurally poorer/lower class family were unsuccessful, the analysis of each of the core interviews provides a variety of backgrounds from which the relationship of class to female autonomy can be assessed. For example, Sima (44, Modern Mother-in-law) and Zara (59, Unmarried) both speak of their respective childhoods in lower class settings, while their current status places them in the upper-middle class bracket. We are able to ascertain whether or not marriage and/or husband's career success affects these class changes. Also, these class shifts along their lives allow for a comparison to be made on the differing ways in which notions of honour and degrees of freedom are both interpreted and operationalised. Mira (27), Fiona (35), Fiza (42) and Salma (46) all maintain an equal class status throughout their respective lives.
TESTING THE INSTRUMENT:
I initially carried out a small number of informal interviews. These took the form of casual conversations and discussions with friends and family members, most of which were women. Here the questions centred on their conceptions of their lives; past, present and future. Invariably, the structure of such conversational interviews tends to include elements of the past by relying on the recount of experience. The focus on everyday life and the individual's account of shared relationships at home and/or at work, as well as in the broader community bring the interview to the present. Interviewees were asked about particular relations such as those with each of their parents, male and female siblings and ventured to add other comparisons that they deemed to fit into the scope of the conversation. I found that talk about aspirations and goals gives insight into the way interviewees view their roles in making decisions regarding their own lives and, of course, the level of
Daughters are Diamonds
these decisions. Career aspiration and satisfaction is often coloured by perceived expectation from the family and the community. If the predominant expectation is on women to prioritise family life above that of a career, then this may inhibit the actualisation of career aspirations. Also, the impact of people's opinions on the individual's choices points to the kind of impact that perceived expectation has on the person's behaviour and allowances. Of special interest, were the results obtained from asking the question of: What does family honour mean to you? Leaving this question for the end was deliberate, so as not to plant the seed of the notion of 'family honour' in the interviewee's mind. This is something I hoped to extract, if at all, as the underlying concept of more reserved answers. The actual accounts of interview sessions proved far more rewarding in the biographical nature of the data extracted; the raw authenticity and unquestionable philosophical content made for a satisfying analysis of socio-cultural factors that affect the decisions and shape the life paths of the women. Biographical narrative often opened up avenues for discussion around the various kinds of social features as perceived and experienced by the women themselves, and removed the need for leading questions which the original design of the interview schedule had assumed necessary.
UNDERTAKING THE INTERVIEWS:
The ever growing interest in women and previously ignored groups has found expression in autobiography, biography and the corresponding research on life writing, thus opening the curtain a little wider on that stage where men and women script new destinies and enact their changing roles by accepting, rejecting, and often transforming traditional gender expectations" (Bell & Yalom, 1990, p11).
Lillian Robinson suggests that "the way we understand the text of a biography is directly related to the way we understand a life. It also intersects with our apprehension of society itself and social movements, and hence with the way we imagine the possibilities for change in our common life story" (Robinson, 1990, p ix). Initiating the biographical narrative interview
requires that the request be made in a way that allows the interviewee open-ended choice on how to proceed with the presentation of the relevant aspects of her life. Wengraf (2001) outlines a number of SQUIN's or Single Questions aimed at Inducing Narrative. The following sequence proved to be particularly useful in undertaking my interviews:
"I want you to tell me your life story, all the events and the experiences
that were important to you, up to now.
Start wherever you like.
Please take the time you need.
I will listen first, I will not interrupt,
I will just take some notes for after you've finished telling me about your
experiences"
(Wengraf, 2001, p121).
Further explorative issues were covered and they focused on the construction of everyday life perceptions as interviewee's located specific landmarks in life, such as childhood, schooling, marriage and career. Each woman is able to situate her life within a network of issues that may or may not impact on her decisions - whether or not these are made by the woman herself forms part of the analytical dimension of these social features and she in turn is able to find her way through the maze of experiences and relates these from her individual paradigmatic stance. The following issues, in theory, were raised in this study through the use of biographical narrative:
How do women perceive their lives?
What are their relationships and/or roles within the family?
How do they view their community, and where does the individual (and
the family) fit into this view?
How important is a career?
What is the perceived gap, if at all, between aspirations and achievement?
What kind of goals does the individual set?
How does the family view her success/aspirations?
To what extent does outside opinion affect her decisions regarding
significant life events such as education, a career and marriage?
(By 'outside' I mean immediate family, extended family, friends, community: especially to ascertain the perceived expectations of the social units within which the individual sees themselves, and the impact this has on their choices)
To what extent and in what ways does she think woman should be able to participate in society?
What does family honour mean to the interviewee?
From each of the interviews it can be ascertained that the notion of honour or 'izzat' is an entrenched notion that not only affects the woman who are considered the objects of the honour, but also confers the status of custodian upon the male members of her family. These family members are then required to make the kind of decisions regarding her life, through which there is little space for any 'subversion' whereby her life and the family honour may be tainted within the limits set by the social unit. This is presented in the chapter of analysis, regarding decision-making, which interrogates how age of marriage, class status of family and each woman's present role within her family affects the nature and range of decision-making allowed to her.
AUXILIARY DATA COLLECTION:
Aside from the six core interviews of this study, a number of conversations were undertaken especially with much older women from the Indian Muslim community. This was done for two reasons. Firstly, as a relatively younger member of this community, I have been exposed to a degree of the socialisation material or heard of superstitions such as the 'maanta', and hoped to both verify and situate the oral material. Also, as I proceeded along the path of empirical data collection, I felt that there existed a considerable hole in the contextual material that needed to be filled. Concepts such as 'khandaan' (family, inclusive of generations) and 'kutum-qabila' (family-clan) were also clarified and obtained from these purposeful interviews. While historical information provided a broad understanding of
the context, additional data from these interviews provided the material for a better situational analysis.
The secondary material of data collection is found in various documentation, in the form of religious and cultural texts which inform social expectation. The primary religious text referred to is the Qur'an, while the cultural texts refer to a range of material which has been published in the Indian and Pakistani subcontinent (Indo-Pak region). This latter form of literature is readily made available to South Africans in madressas (Islamic religious schools) as well as in community bookshops. Religious and cultural texts often serve as socialisation material toward forming a guide for expected and accepted behaviours. While religious texts tend to justify the upholding of morality, cultural texts tend to be responsible for the contradictions and misgivings operating in everyday modern social life as we know it. This is so, because the interpretation of authentic religious text from a cultural standpoint tends to lend a patriarchal bias which is contradictory and hence problematic. The line of difference between the two is blurred and often people tend to confuse the obligation of religion with the sentiment of tradition. Culture, or rather the social law that it informs, is reinforced by a variety of media in the form of print, songs and film. These kinds of material, with their explicit cultural rhetoric are then agents of the socialisation process of the individual. I provide the assessment of a 'paper' called 'The Advice of a Mother to her Daughter on her Wedding Day' or 'Wassiyat', which, as the title suggests, points to a range of expected behaviours outlined to the bride, as well as illuminating the carry-down effect of social control from mother to daughter. While I have been unable to establish exactly where this paper originates from, it is distributed among the women guests at weddings here in South Africa, validating the new set of expectations which are incumbent upon the bride from that day forward.
Various books and publications can be found wherein similar forms of acceptable behaviours are outlined, and distributed, taught and sold to people. It is said that as a traditional gift on her wedding day, in addition to receiving a copy of the Holy Qur'an, many brides receive a copy of the
'BahishtiZewar' or Heavenly Ornaments (Thanvi, 1978), which outlines a number of prescriptions for conducting her life. This is reminiscent of material compiled in the Indo-Pak subcontinent and imported into South Africa, and other countries that constitute the Indian-Muslim Diaspora. A more contemporary version of this kind of text is one that I refer to in the analyses, i.e. A Gift For Muslim Women, a translation of the Urdu manuscript 'Tohfa-e-Khwateen' (Madani, 1999). Among other similar texts, this is available in a number of South African 'community' bookshops. Such material is often viewed as expressive of authoritative opinion, and often is assimilated into everyday life without being questioned. Religious and community leaders often form the source of this 'informed' opinion and speeches are disseminated over community radio stations as well as during religious congregations. The opinion of authority is often adhered to in the strictest sense, and forms an important area of analysis as an agent of public opinion as well as a socialisation agent. Similarly, the opinion of family elders is treated with the same regard. The oral tradition of superstition plays an important role in the socialisation of norms. Superstition seems to endorse and refuse a number of behaviours by way of often non-rational narrative that is rarely contested. The analysis of this kind of material proves to be rather fascinating in the implications it has for social control. For example, I look at the institution of the 'maanta', a pact made by women in need of divine intervention with regards to being granted a fervent wish. This is a rather controversial practice (and hence relegated to the realm of 'irrational superstition') in terms of Islamic belief, and compels a woman to give to all sorts of charities, and further compels her to ensure that this tradition continues down the generations through the wives of sons born in future generations. In other words, the superstition begun by the mother-in-lawbecomes a burden for generations of daughters-in-law to continue.
Ethical Concerns and Limitations: Of the possible limitations and biases that I could identify at the outset, I see the inability to remain value free as the most obvious. Being a progressive-minded South African Indian Muslim woman, setting out with the goal of some semblance of objectivity,
the concern raised is about the extent to which my own personality, views and values may impact on and influence the shaping of the study and its interpretation. "Scholars… generally concede… that a biographer's choice of subject matter and his or her attitude toward the material chosen reveals as much about the biographer as s/he seeks to reveal about the subject" (Kuhn, in Bell and Yalom (eds) 1990, p13). Having attained the confidence of the interviewees by guaranteeing the confidentiality of my research and having guaranteed anonymity, I had to think carefully about whether or not some of the more sensitive material should be included in this paper. Knowing that these conversations were to be included in a research study, subjects understandably would feel inhibited in the amount of material they might choose to disclose. The particular concerns they might have had about speaking up against certain acts, could include feelings of betrayal to the perceived codes of 'honour'. Making mention of the use of pseudonyms to accompany direct quotes put to rest any substantial threat to the natural flow of the responses.
Andrea Rugh reminds us that "exaggeration is not foreign to these narratives", and that the stories are "presented as the women see themselves, woven through with their corrections, additions and omissions of time past and cast in the mould of their developed themes…" (Atiya, 1993, p ix). So then, what we seek is not 'the truth', as "this is but one of the many truths that reside in the drama of human events. Each woman is aware of how critical it is to present oneself to the world effectively. Not only she herself gains from this kind of glorified presentation, but so do all the others parents, husbands, children, relatives that make up the extended self and suffer the consequences or reap the rewards of one another's accomplishments" (Atiya, 1993, p ix). In a social setting comprised of customs which make a woman the custodian of a communal honour, no doubt the pressure to glorify this presentation is deeply ingrained.
In addition, due to ethical concerns, professional case material from social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists was difficult to access, but the opinions generated from such interviews mayhave no doubt proved to be
helpful. Within the scope of the research' design, focus has been awarded to female interviewees. As two sides of the coin of social order, male domination and female subordination both impact on individuals regardless of gender. It would be interesting to formulate an interview for men, in an effort to ascertain their perceptions on traditionalist social control as well as notions of gender segregation. Indeed, research of this nature would compliment the study that this paper undertakes, within the limits of time and feasibility. There is a general paucity of literature on the diversity of life in post-apartheid South African society, and specifically on emerging Indian Muslim cultural conceptualisations of life in the new era. While this may have proven a limit to the frame of reference for this study, it also points to the need for research of this nature, with regard to the various traditionalist settings in South Africa.
CHAPTER
THREE
The Gems Of Discourse
Honour, Shame And Seclusion
- An Overview
HONOUR KILLINGS: THE ULTIMATE LOSS OF REFLEXIVITY IN AN HONOUR-BOUND SOCIETY.
"The government of Pakistan vigorously condemns the practice of so-called honour killings. Such acts do not find a place in our religion or law. Killing in the name of honour is murder and will be treated as such."
General Pervez Musharraf, April 2000
Jn April 2002, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) found that in the year 2000, a woman was raped every two hours, and that hundreds were victims of "honour" killings, domestic violence, acid throwing, fire burnings and murder. According to the report, so-called "honour killings are carried out by men who assume that their wives, daughters or sisters have in some way contravened norms relating to the behaviour of women which reflect on and damage a man's 'honour'. Often the grounds for such assumptions can be very flimsy and amount to nothing more than a suspicion about a woman's fidelity. Men are also known to have felt shamed if 'their' women seek divorce or become the victims of rape." The report further states that very poor women, women from religious minorities and women bonded labourers are particularly vulnerable to violence in the community and home. (www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/asa330062002).
The case of a woman named Shukria is one of the vivid images that the report portrays: "On October 22, 2001, Sharif in the village of Goharpur, in the Sheikhupura district, Punjab province, tied his wife Shukria's wrists and ankles with rope, poured kerosene over her and with the help of his mother and sister set her on fire. The couple had been married for ten years. As they remained childless, Sharif wanted to marry another woman but Shukria did not agree to this. Neighbours tried to rescue Shukria but she died shortly afterwards in hospital." (Amnesty International News, www.web. amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/asa330062002).
More horrendous then these so-called 'stove-burning' incidents are the increasing reports of acid throwing. Here, victims face not death but lifelong disfiguration. Acid is easily available and is probably the cheapest and most violent form of abuse. The report recognises that not only does the government not restrict the sale of acid, being aware of its usage, but the perpetrators of violence against women who specifically employ its use are rarely punished, if at all (www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/ asa330062002).
Women opposed to forced marriages are also increasingly the victims of murders perpetrated by their own brothers, having been saddled as guardians of family honour. After the crimes have been committed, they are pardoned by their fathers and remain unpunished by the law. Amnesty reports state that women who marry men of their own choice are often seen to damage their family's "honour". As a result they are frequently detained by their parents, forcibly married to someone else, threatened, humiliated, assaulted or killed (http://amnesty.ca/library/1999/7asa3318.htm; www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/asa330062002).
These harsh and extreme cases raise important questions for us about the cultural and traditionalist features that may underlie the failures of democracy in various settings. Indeed, we are made to question how societies are able to pay homage to communal honour at the expense of human dignity. This applies to both physical methods as well as psychological ways of stunting the autonomy of the individual.
THE LOSS OF REFLEXIVITY
The payment of honour in daily life is accorded through the offering of precedence (so often expressed through an analogy with the head), and through the demonstrations of respect which are commonly associated with the head whether it is bowed, touched, uncovered or covered… Decapitation recognized that there was something worth chopping off. Even where polite society has outlawed physical violence it retains the ritual slap on the face as a challenge to settle an affair of honour, and it was commonly admitted that offences to honour could only be redeemed through blood" (Pitt-Rivers, 1966, p25).
What is meant by the 'loss of reflexivity'? For the purpose of this research we can identify three main mechanisms through which it operates. These are terror, stigma and the internalisation of values.
1). Terror.
A wealth of literature exists on the notion of state and insurgent terror (al-Khalil, 1989; Arendt, 1958; Brooker, 2000; Friedrich & Brzezinski, 1965; Gregor, 1982; Makiya, 1993; Walter, 1972; Wardlaw, 1989). In the former case states inspire fear in the target population in order to induce submission. The latter concept often refers to the potential for revolutionary terror and is seen as a direct threat to state power. Lefort claims that "the strength of the discourse of terror lies precisely in its ability to abolish any articulation that might lend itself to contradiction and to simulate a conclusion which leaves the audience with no choice" (Lefort, 1988, p63). Lefort suggests that terror plays a significant role in the consolidation of power, especially where a 'perceived' obstacle occurs along that path of reconciling the image of the body and the image of the machine (Lefort, 1988).
A comparison of predominant state power and other modes of dominant ideology or culture, becomes a valuable template for unpacking the means undertaken towards consolidating and sustaining the locus of
power. By this, I mean to identify the occupation of power by whatever dominant mode of thought, be it political or apolitical. So-called honour killings become the deterrent for behaviour that is unacceptable to the current status quo, and furthermore, such acts are justified in the service they provide of protecting the honour of draconian patriarchal systems entrenched within the family and society. The use of terror is relevant to this study in that it denies self-reflexive capacity. The violation of the human and moral rights of the individual becomes second nature in the efforts toward maintaining the dominant culture. While a contradiction exists between the notion of universal human rights and the arguments of cultural relativists, there is no uncertainty that acts of instilling terror run deeply against the grain of human liberties in an absolute sense. Walter (1975, p5-6) suggests that terror "may mean, on the one hand, the psychic state - extreme fear - and, on the other hand, the thing that terrifies - the violent event that produces the psychic state". With this in mind, he acknowledges the importance of unpacking the "process of terror, the act and the fear together in reaction to each other". The systematic proliferation of terror creates instability, anxiety and fear in its victim target population, and the only condition under which such a situation can be avoided is with the removals of injustice from the political sphere, and the insidious acts of horror from the psyche of the people. The underlying message of the campaign of terror is that rebellion invites its perpetration upon the individual, and abiding by the unspoken laws allows a space within which the individual may carve out some semblance of a 'life'. The institutionalisation of fear allows for the continuation, then, of a system of psychological manipulation, and subsequently disallows the self-reflexive capacity of the citizenship. It is rather significant to keep in mind that within the collectivity there can be found individuals who are unable to resist indulging in those acts which may bring 'intrusion' from the mechanism of terror. Perhaps the disorder that women supposedly bring is not entirely containable. Critics of classical liberal democracy argue that democracy is the preserve of men.
The path to a genuinely democratic polity, "if women are to be citizens as women, autonomous, equal, yet sexually different beings from men, (then) democratic theory and practice has to undergo a radical transformation" (Pateman, 1989, p14).
2). Stigma.
Notions of stigmatisation or deviance-labelling (Schur, 1984) have similar implications for denying autonomy to the victims. For Schur, "being female" already carries a degree of stigma because of the devaluation of women in the socio-political arena. "Such categorical devaluation is reflected in and reinforced by numerous applications to women of substantively specific deviance labels... we might even say that women serve(d) as 'all-purpose' deviants within our society... These presumed offences emerge when women are perceived as having violated specific gender system norms - by behaving or even presenting themselves in ways deemed inappropriate for females" (Schur, 1984, p7). Schur suggests that, women's social subordination makes them more vulnerable to stigmatisation, and 'spoiled identity' (Goffman, 1963) in turn reinforces that they be socially subordinated and subsequently makes the achievement of goals far more difficult.
3). Internalisation of Values.
At the basis of these practices which endorse particular kinds of stigma, are the entrenched notions of power and authority within the family. Power is the "possibility of imposing one's will upon the behaviour of other persons" without actually having to exercise this power (Bendix, 1960, in Cherlin, 1996, p289). The internalisation of deeply held cultural beliefs often allows for the domination of some over others. This relationship of authority over subordinates obviously reduces individual liberty and equality. However, having acknowledged and accepted the authority of their husbands, wives in many traditional societies went further; they themselves legitimated the social system of patriarchy.
Subsequently, they endorsed their own limited authority in almost every sphere of life. For Weber, the patriarch thus rules through "traditional authority", constituted of "widely held norms and values that both men and women accept" (Cherlin, 1996, p289). It should be acknowledged, though, that the occurrence of such relations does not remain in the pre-industrial past. Many people continue to hold onto the culturally based belief of male domination "as part of the natural order of family life" (Cherlin, 1996, p290). Indeed, research shows that, as seen from the viewpoint of many traditionalist settings, these relations of inequality "are relations not of domination and subordination but of protection and dependency" (Abu-Lughod, 1988, p85).
Power may be objectively latent, yet subjectively real for those directly experiencing it. "For instance, if you have power over me, I may refrain from doing something I know you don't like - which means that you will obtain the results you want without having to flex a muscle or withhold a penny. If a wife knows her husband adamantly opposes her working outside the home and if she fears his anger, she may not even raise the issue of taking a job. An observer might not notice the wife's latent desire to work outside the home and the husband's power over her" (Cherlin, 1996, p290). While the contemporary family lifestyle projects a degree of domestic authority on the wife, most husbands can be still seen to retain a rather substantial power and authority based on their income and on the social perceptions of appropriate behaviours of men and women (Cherlin, 1996).
ON LIBERTY AND CONSENT
The notion of consent is a precondition for the liberal democratic state (Pateman, 1989). Consent implies the complete acceptance of the individual into the political order and hence provides the guarantee of citizenship. The inherent ambiguity in consent theory is that there exists a debate around the actual allowances of particular groups or individuals in the ability to consent. Let us begin by saying that, at the basis of consent theory is the recognition of the 'individual'. Also, the idea that the individual is born 'naturally' free and equal forms the basis of both early social contract and consent theory. In Pateman's view, this raises a fundamental question about the nature of power relations and about "how and why a free and equal individual can ever legitimately be governed by anyone else" (Pateman, 1989, p72). In reply, the only acceptable justification that liberal democratic theorists are able to cite is that such power relationships require the voluntary commitment of individuals in order to preserve notions of liberty and equality (Pateman, 1989) and hence gain legitimacy in the political arena. Hence the dominant mode or ideology is legitimated. In this sense, consent theory is not easily separated from the notions of "habitual acquiescence, assent, silent dissent, submission or even enforced submission" (Pateman, 1989, p72) unless there exists the option to withdraw that commitment.
For Hobbes, all relationships of authority are based on consent, even that of parent and child. The child's consent to parental rule "can be assumed" due to the "overwhelming power" of the parent. "With this in mind, it makes no difference whether submission is voluntary or obtained through threats, even the threat of death. Because Hobbes argues that fear and liberty are compatible, 'consent' has the same meaning whether it arises from submission in fear of a conqueror's sword or in fear of exposure by a parent, or whether it is a consequence of the (hypothetical) social contract" (Pateman, 1989, p73).
What can be seen as explicitly problematic in consent theory, then, is that while consent and contract theories are said to have developed as an attack on patriarchal ideology, this is limited. For example, an arena of consent theory which tends to get ignored is that with regard to everyday life. The practical importance of consent in everyday life concerns women particularly, and the failure to account for this aspect allows issues regarding women to be easily sidelined. "The most intimate relations of women with men are held to be governed by consent; women consent to marriage, and sexual intercourse without a women's consent constitutes the criminal
offence of rape. To begin to examine the unwritten history of women and consent brings the suppressed problems of consent theory to the surface. Women exemplify the individuals whom consent theorists have declared to be incapable of consenting" (Pateman, 1989, p72).
For Locke, there is a 'Foundation in Nature' of a woman's subjection to her husband. In this case, Pateman observes that "she cannot also be seen as a 'naturally' free and equal individual" (p74). This invalidates her consent, or rather; natural subordination implies incapacity to consent. Critics argue that marriage law requires the consent of both man and woman. This may show women to be capable of consent in everyday life. Once again, Pateman extracts the fundamental question of: "Why should a free and equal female individual enter a contract that always places her in subjection and subordination to a male individual?" (p74). The problem lies in the content of the marriage contract, which fails to take into practical account the notion of female liberty and equality. "Women are not 'individuals' who own the property they have in their persons and capacities, so the question of their 'consent' to the authority of men never actually arises. Rather, their apparent 'consent' to the authority of their husbands is only a formal recognition of their 'natural' subordination. Having been under the authority of their father, they do not, like sons, enter a new status on maturity, but are 'given away' by their father to another man to continue in their 'natural' state of dependence and subjection" (Pateman, 1989, p74).
The marriage contract can be open to further contradiction in the extent that it legally endorses the women's 'consent' to her husband's conjugal rights. For example, rape law has until recently, had difficulty taking into account the possibility that rape might occur within a marriage. Most problematic is the reluctance of social practice to accept the principles outlined in contemporary legal statutes. Rape is an emphatic study of the paradox of women and consent in everyday life. That social belief denies that women are free and equal, points to the contradictions between constitutional guarantees and the practice of everyday social life. The debate as to whether the act of rape may have been committed in a state of careless
interpretation of a woman's consent or as a deliberate attack tends to debase the enormity of the violation of an individual. For Pateman, essentially the identification of enforced submission points to a failure in liberal democratic theory and practice to adequately distinguish between the voluntary commitment of equals and the domination and subordination of subjects. This applies to the (non-) consent of women as well as to the nature of the class structure of the modern state (Pateman, 1989).
CONTAINING THE DISORDER OF WOMEN
Were our state a pure democracy, there would still be excluded from our deliberations women who, to prevent deprivation of morals and ambiguity of issues, should not mix promiscuously in gatherings of men" -Thomas Jefferson (cited in Callaway and Creevey, 1994, p29).
According to Pateman (1989), standard interpretations of classical texts prevent political theory from acknowledging the exclusion of women from the public realm. Political orders are constructed in the image of everything that is antithetical to the female form. If we argue that the exclusion of women from the public sphere is not complete, then we have to at least agree that what little incorporation there might be, is essentially different from the inclusion of men. Pateman observes particularly that "the contract theorists constructed sexual difference as a political difference, the difference between men's natural freedom and women's natural subjection" (Pateman, 1989, p5). Rousseau's emphatic declaration that political order relies on the exclusion of women from the body politic makes his version of self-governance an exclusively male domain. He takes as his justification the premise that women are "a permanently subversive force within the political order" (Pateman, 1989, p15). He argues that "the influence of women, even good women, always corrupts men, because women are 'naturally' incapable of attaining the status of free and equal individuals, or citizens, and incapable of developing the capacities required to give consent" (Pateman, 1989, p76). An immediate question is put to the notion of participatory democracy, since consent becomes the sole prerogative of one sex (Pateman, 1989, p13).
Download this book for your ebook reader.
(Pages 1-32 show above.)