Is the voice of a woman shameful? A linguistic anthropological study of the multinormativity of Jordan's society

Description

This book explores how different normative systems contribute to the complexity of Jordan's multinormative society and what challenges this poses, particularly for the voice of women. While religious phenomena (mainly Islamic) and gender issues play an important role in this study, it belongs neither to the category Islamic / Religious Studies nor Gender Studies. It draws on concepts from a wide range of backgrounds and authors, including Mediated Discourse Analysis, Bakhtin, Garfinkel, and Blommaert. The analysis is based on data generated through two rounds of qualitative inter-views. The first round was about the usage of three highly common and frequently used metapragmatic verbal indicators of illicit behavior, viz. ᶜayb (shame), ḥarām (taboo), mamnūᶜ (forbidden). The second round used historical images depicting different dress codes over time. The book provides an ethnographic perspective that renders valuable insights into the nature of social norms and allows the reader to take a close look into the power dynamics shaping the everyday life of women in Jordan. Transcription 1 1 Introduction 3 1.1 What it is not about 3 1.2 What it is about 4 1.3 The ethnographic nature of the research 5 1.4 The rich points shaping the dissertation’s focus 7 1.4.1 Type II incidents 7 1.4.2 Gender-specific restrictions 8 1.4.3 Change of society in recent decades 8 1.5 Overview 10 2 Norms and multinormativity 11 2.1 Dangerous rules and perilous habits 11 2.2 Multinormativity 14 2.2.1 A plethora of normative systems 14 2.2.2 Polyglossia 16 2.2.3 Heteroglossia 16 2.2.4 Polynomic situations 17 2.3 The nature of norms 18 2.3.1 A precursory overview 18 2.3.2 Bicchieri’s approach to norms 19 2.3.3 Parsons’ approach to norms 21 2.3.4 Garfinkel’s approach to norms 22 2.4 Conclusion 26 3 Methodological chapter 29 3.1 Conceptual toolbox 29 3.1.1 Goffman’s dramatism and theory of stigma 29 3.1.2 The narrative nature of human thought 32 3.1.3 Chronotopes 35 3.1.4 Scales 37 3.1.5 Mediated Discourse Analysis (MDA) 40 3.1.6 Indexical orders 44 3.1.7 Definition of voice 46 3.2 Research questions 48 3.3 Designing the research 49 3.3.1 Strategy one: Ethnographic interviews using grand tour questions 50 3.3.2 Strategy two: Semi-structured interviews using a list of questions 51 3.3.3 Strategy three: Semi-structured interviews using historic pictures 55 3.3.4 Disclaimer 57 3.4 Interviews 58 3.4.1 Overview 58 3.4.2 Conducting the interviews 59 3.4.3 Challenges in the process of acquiring data 60 3.4.4 Degree of privacy during the interviews 61 3.5 Informants 65 3.5.1 Finding informants 65 3.5.2 Demographic overview over the informants 65 3.6 Processing and analyzing the data 68 3.6.1 Transcribing the interviews 68 3.6.2 Anonymizing data 69 3.6.3 Analyzing data 70 4 A chronotopic history of Jordan 71 4.1 Chronotopes of religion 71 4.2 Ottoman chronotope 74 4.3 Local chronotopes 78 4.4 The state chronotope of (Trans)Jordan 84 4.5 Nationalism and the national chronotope 94 5 On 3ayb, ܄7aram, and mamnu3 101 5.1 Question 1: Is there a difference between 3ayb, ܄7aram, and mamnu3? 102 5.2 ٓ7aram: What does God say? 102 5.2.1 Examples of ܄7aram. 104 5.2.2 Focus on sexual conduct and related illicit behavior 104 5.2.3 The concept of ३awra 106 5.3 3ayb: What do the people say? 110 5.4 \ĂŵŶƻ३: What do the powers-that-be say? 113 5.5 Question 2: Do the different terms show a gender difference? 114 5.5.1 Gender difference in mamnu3 114 5.5.2 Gender difference in ܄7aram 115 5.5.3 Gender difference in 3ayb 116 5.5.4 It’s nature, stupid: Gender roles and inequality 119 5.6 How 3ayb restricts and limits women but not men 122 5.6.1 Not mentioning her name 122 5.6.2 Leaving the house is 3ayb 123 5.6.3 Prolonging the outside stay is 3ayb 125 5.6.4 Certain places are 3ayb 125 5.6.5 Coming home late is 3ayb 128 5.6.6 To be alone and without supervision is 3ayb 129 5.6.7 Specific actions or behavior are 3ayb 130 5.6.8 Romantic relationships outside marriage are 3ayb 130 5.6.9 Divorce is 3ayb 132 5.6.10 Raising her voice to defend herself in public is 3ayb 134 5.6.11 Actively searching for a partner is 3ayb 135 5.7 Question 3: Do you find this difference fair or just? 136 5.8 Question 4: About resisting women 138 5.8.1 Are there women who revolt? 138 5.8.2 How do they or could they revolt? 141 6 Images of the past 145 6.1 Description of clothing style in the pictures 145 6.1.1 Men’s clothes in the pictures 145 6.1.2 Women’s clothes in the pictures 146 6.2 Memories and responses 147 7 Jordan’s multinormativity: The integral picture 155 7.1 Insights regarding Jordan’s normative codes 155 7.1.1 Comparison of field sturctures 156 7.1.2 7aram 157 7.1.3 Mamnu3 160 7.1.4 3ayb 162 7.2 Insights regarding Jordan’s multinormativity 167 7.2.1 The absence of the state chronotope outside Amman 167 7.2.2 The dominance of the 3ayb chronotope 170 7.3 Historical disentangling of chronotopic synergies 178 7.3.1 Three phases or moods 178 7.3.2 Change in local chronotopes and emergence of new sites of engagement 182 7.3.3 The emergence of new kind of educational sites of engagement 183 7.3.4 Women join new nexuses of practice: Visiting malls and Western cafés 185 7.3.5 The role of Islamists and Muslim Brotherhood 186 7.3.6 Summary: A perfect storm 189 7.4 About women – their feelings, their actions, and their voice 193 7.4.1 How do women perceive their own situation? 193 7.4.2 Voice as a matter of capacity and resources 195 7.4.3 Voice as a matter of opportunity 197 7.4.4 The influence of a person’s standing 199 7.4.5 Voice as a matter of freedom 202 8 Conclusion 205 8.1 Review and summary 205 8.2 Findings and contributions 207 8.2.1 Correlations between words and specific normative codes 207 8.2.2 Aftereffect of the Ottoman Era 208 8.2.3 The centrality of the social chronotope and 3ayb 208 8.2.4 The centrality of gender-related issues in 3ayb and ܄7aram 209 8.2.5 3ayb as an aesthetic norm and its consequences 210 8.2.6 The voice of a woman – shameful but not 3awra 211 8.2.7 Reasons behind Islamization and its possible effects 212 8.3 Closing remarks 2