Degendering the Honor/Care Conflation

Palestinian Israeli University Women's Appropria-tions of Independence

Bibliographic Data

ID3242014
AuthorsL Erdreich (0000-0002-5005-1784, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume34
Issue1
Pages132-164
Publication date2006-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthos (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-2131 • E-ISSN: 1548-1352
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/eth.2006.34.1.132
OpenAlexW2014556659
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited38

On the basis of ethnographic research of Palestinian Israeli women at Hebrew University, I explore how cultural models of independence are used to reshape Arab conceptions of male and female selves and their communal positions. I claim that Arab models of family honor conflate honor and care differently in social expectations for men and women. Men insure family honor through care for women's bodies and women do the same through being modest and reproductive. Although the concept of independence has been critiqued as being male and Western, these women use the Western model to degender the Arab conflation of care and honor. They bring together Western cultural models of independence and Arab models of connectivity to reshape their potential as female selves to include both independent and relational features. [self, cultural models, Palestinian women, university, family honor

Conflation · Epistemology · Honor · Independence (probability theory) · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Middle East Politics and Society · Philosophy