Fragmentary Encounters in a Moral World: Household Power Relations and Gender Politics

Abstract

Despite numerous studies of the interrelations among households, gender politics, and power contestations, more attention needs to be given to how specific cultural beliefs and practices influence these social spheres. This article aims to shed light on how moral values in rural Turkey shape household processes and mask relations of domination and subordination. The concept of moral values(2) is used here to refer to commonly held beliefs concerning the way things should be, and I will argue that these moral values, or master narratives, are ways of silencing other voices. This model of prohibition is thus a form of domination. I take a deconstructive approach to households and gender politics by exposing categories of the natural as social constructs, recontextualizing people's links to each other in a way that shows their fragmentary character, and revealing the importance of moral values in both concealing relations of power and imposing an order across an expanse of social encounters. Feminist analysis has made an important contribution in the understanding of women's positions as subsistence producers, privatized laborers, and double-day workers in the household. Many researchers emphasize the household as a central site of women's subordination (e.g., Ghorayshi 1993:202; Barrett and McIntosh 1991; Harris 1984:137; Barrett 1980:201) and a site of conflict between its members (Zinn 1991:121; Wilson 1991; Duffy 1988; Abu-Lughod 1988:81; Beneria and Sen 1986:150-51). Stressing the importance of the household in reproducing gender relations of production and gender hierarchies has shown how women are enmeshed in social dynamics that sometimes further their oppression (see also Marcus 1992a). Recent studies on gender politics within households highlight the importance of cultural belief systems prevailing in developing societies (Ghorayshi In press; Marcus 1992a, 1992b; Guyer 1991; Loizos and Papataxiarchis 1991; Abu-Lughod 1988). This orientation depicts households as products of cultural beliefs that legitimate or perpetuate gender divisions, mobility, and inequality. Some researchers document how these beliefs promote female seclusion, segregation, or avoidance and shape women's positions within and outside households (Warren and Bourque 1991:282-83; Abu-Lughod 1988; Mies 1985:13). In Bedouin society, assertiveness and demeanor - and their links to gender - correspond to hierarchical positions within households and to women's unequal status Abu-Lughod 1988:109-10). Similarly, others emphasize how the values of marriage influence gender segregation, domestic inequality, and general standards of behavior for social life (Loizos and Papataxiarchis 1991:5). Research on cultural beliefs and gender politics in rural Turkish households documents similar findings. Some studies focus on the value of children, especially as it reflects fertility behavior, sex differences, and social structures (Kagitcibasi 1982:166-67). Other studies emphasize the role that marriage values and practices play in influencing women's positions in the household (Kuyas 1982:187-88) and in transforming household composition and dynamics (Ilcan 1994a, 1994b; Delaney 1991; Sirman 1988; Kandiyoti 1987). However, few studies examine the interconnections of culture, power, and gender politics in rural Turkish households, and little work has been done on how morality gives meaning to these fields of relations (Ilcan In press a; Marcus 1992a, 1992b). As an integral part of this investigation, the following section highlights the relevance of a deconstructive method for recontextualizing people's links to each other and showing their fragmentary nature within household processes and power relations. DECONSTRUCTING THE HOUSEHOLD The household is a social grouping that is difficult to define.(3) Some researchers attempt to solve the problems of household definitions, boundaries, and composition by devising criteria to distinguish it from other social units (Sirman 1988; Guyer and Peters 1987; Smith, Wallerstein, and Evers 1984; Stauth 1984). …