Everyday Violence, Quotidian Grief: Patriarchal Bargains in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge

Women Living Under Muslim Laws Dossier 32-33: Sexualities, Culture and Society in Muslim Contexts, ed. Anissa Hélie (London: Women Living Under Muslim Laws), 123-135.

14 Pages Posted: 5 Mar 2015 Last revised: 15 Dec 2015

See all articles by Rebecca Ruth Gould

Rebecca Ruth Gould

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London; Harvard University - Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies

Date Written: February 23, 2015

Abstract

Bridal kidnapping has increased throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. This proliferation is linked in part to increased economic hardship and the resurgence of conservative identity politics. This essay focuses on bridal kidnapping in the Pankisi Gorge, a region of Georgia inhabited by a Chechen-speaking Muslim community, the Kists. I explore issues of consent and agency in a social milieu that manages sexual desire through marriage contract. Drawing on Deniz Kandiyoti's concept of the 'patriarchal bargain,' I trace how Kist women assert agency from within restrictive patriarchal contexts. At the same time, and in keeping with Kandiyoti, I examine how women participate in the consolidation of patriarchal values. Ultimately, I show that women give consensual assent to everyday violence against women in contexts where their culture and values are perceived as under threat from external forces.

Keywords: patriarchy, gender, sexuality, bridal kidnapping, patriarchal bargains, Georgia, Pankisi, Chechens

Suggested Citation

Gould, Rebecca Ruth, Everyday Violence, Quotidian Grief: Patriarchal Bargains in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge (February 23, 2015). Women Living Under Muslim Laws Dossier 32-33: Sexualities, Culture and Society in Muslim Contexts, ed. Anissa Hélie (London: Women Living Under Muslim Laws), 123-135., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2568784

Rebecca Ruth Gould (Contact Author)

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London

SOAS University of London 10 Thornhaugh Street, Ru
London, WC1H 0XG
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/rebecca-gould

Harvard University - Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies ( email )

1730 Cambridge Street, 3rd Floor
Cambridge, 02138
United States

HOME PAGE: http://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/about-us/people/rebecca-gould

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
78
Abstract Views
861
Rank
636,707
PlumX Metrics