Diasporic Narratives of Marriage and Separation

Farahani, Fataneh

doi:10.4324/9780203795613-4

Cited by 3 publications

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“…Naber (2006), in her study on Arab Americans, refers to this as the battle between the 'Arab virgin' and the 'American(ized) whore'. Other studies have shown that Muslim immigrants find themselves confronting traditionally held views, changing their outlook on some issues, becoming more individualistic (Ahmadi, 2003a(Ahmadi, , 2003bFarahani, 2007;Shahidian, 1999) with a weakened sense of one's cultural heritage (Berry, 2011). However, as others have found (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diasporic virginities: Social representations of virginity and identity formation amongst British Arab Muslim women

Amer

Howarth

Sen

2015

Culture & Psychology

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This study compares how practising and non-practising British Arab Muslim women position themselves in relation to representations of virginity. Overall, in this qualitative study, we found that representations of culture and religion influenced social practices and social beliefs in different ways:non-practising Muslim women felt bound by culture to remain virgins, while practising Muslim women saw it as a religious obligation but were still governed by culture regarding the consequences of engaging in premarital sex. Interestingly, some practising Muslim participants used Mut'a (a form of temporary 'marriage') to justify premarital sex. This however, did not diminish the importance of virginity in their understanding and identification as Arab women. In fact, this study found that virginity, for the British Arabs interviewed, embodied a sense of 'Arabness' in British society. Positioning themselves as virgins went beyond simply honour; it was a significant cultural symbol that secured their sense of cultural identity. In fact this cultural identity was often so powerful that it overrode their Islamic identities, prescribing particular cultural norms even if religion was seen as more 'forgiving'. As we discuss in the conclusion, this has important implications for the study of social representations and identities, particularly in relation to the complex relationship between religious and cultural identities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diasporic virginities: Social representations of virginity and identity formation amongst British Arab Muslim women

Amer

Howarth

Sen

2015

Culture & Psychology

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“…This research is a cognitive linguistic analysis of the concepts of GHEIRAT 'moral vigilance', HAYA 'self-restraint', EFFAT 'chastity', and HEJAB 'veiling', which are assumed to be major means of regulating the sexuality of Iranians. The reason for choosing these particular concepts is that in scholarly works dealing with sexuality in Iranian culture, gheirat, haya, effat, and hejab are often regarded as highly significant for understanding the mechanism with which sexuality is controlled and the way it is represented in the behavior of individuals (Eshaghi, 2006;Farahani, 2006;Goldin, 2015;Haeri, 2014;Milani, 1992Milani, , 2011Mir-Hosseini, 2007;Najmabadi, 2000;Shirpak et al, 2008;Tizro, 2013). Tizro (2013) holds that gheirat, haya, and effat comprise the core of control mechanism in Iranian culture.…”

Section: Scope Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To the best of my knowledge neither of the Persian concepts analyzed in this research has been researched in linguistics though they have numerously been referred to in gender studies and in sociological and anthropological literature on sexuality in Iranian culture (Akbari & Tetreault, 2014;Farahani, 2002Farahani, , 2006Hélie & Hoodfar, 2012;Khosravi, 2009;Milani, 1992Milani, , 2011Mir-Hosseini, 2000Naghibi, 1999;Najmabadi, 2000;Rahmani et al, 2015;Ridgeon, 2005;Shahidian, 2002;Tizro, 2013). The first problem in the way of knowing these concepts is the problem of translatability.…”

Section: Definitions Of the Key Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In many scholarly works (Eshaghi, 2006;Farahani, 2006;Golkar, 2007;Khosravi, 2008;Milani, 2011;Najmabadi, 1991;Tizro, 2013), the anthropological perspective on sexuality has not been able to make a clear distinction between haya and effat, and often descriptions of sexuality in Iranian culture involve enumerating the manifestations that jointly realize both of these moral values. Even research that aims to promote haya and effat from an Islamic perspective explains the relationship between the two moral values in general, metaphoric terms.…”

Section: Definitions Of the Key Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other words, the body is the site and target of their operation. Moral emotions and self-regulating forces are concepts which are realized in the body and their exhibition through the body is deemed important in that it can be taken as a major criterion for determining the social value and status of individuals (Farahani, 2006).…”

Section: Chapter 1: Introduction 11 Statement Of the Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cultural model of sexuality in Persian: A cognitive linguistic investigation of key concepts in Iranian culture

Bakhtiar¹

2018

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This research is a cognitive linguistic investigation of the concepts of GHEIRAT 'moral vigilance', HAYA 'self-restraint', EFFAT 'chastity', and HEJAB 'veiling', which comprise the core of control mechanism in Iranian culture. The study aimed to find out whether these moral values are interrelated and examine how cognitive linguistics can contribute to discovering the ways in which they are connected to each other and fulfill their functions in the course of controlling the sexuality of men and women. The study finds that the Persian concepts are interrelated and form a conceptual cluster that operates to regulate the sexuality of Iranians. The interrelationship between the concepts and their systematic functioning was demonstrated through lexical collocates, shared conceptual metaphors, conceptual metonymies, categorization, and embodiment.The analysis reveals that gheirat, haya, effat, and hejab are part of a larger cultural model that operates to keep a legitimate, safe distance between men and women. According to the analysis, the cultural model of sexuality in Persian is founded on and guided by the Islamic principle of mahramiyat 'legitimate intimacy', which pulls together gheirat 'moral vigilance', haya 'self-restraint', effat 'chastity', âberu 'face/public image', nâmus 'female family members', harim 'holy space/border', and hejab 'veiling' in order to keep the sexes segregated.Within the identified model, mahramiyat 'legitimate intimacy' defines the specific category of people toward whom one should maintain a certain physical and social distance.Gheirat surveils the situations in which social interactions take place. It monitors the conducts of individuals, triggering reactions in people to tackle cases of taboo violation through admonishing, criticizing, fighting with, and, in extreme cases, through murdering the perpetrators. Haya 'self-restraint' operates to prevent the self from causing and feeling (further) shame through holding back the self, setting up a barrier between the self and what is considered as taboo, offensive, shameful, and unpleasant. Effat 'chastity' exclusively functions to discipline the body and set limits to bodily desires. It specifically deals with concealing illegitimate sexual desire so as to prevent the person from transgressing norms of conduct. Nâmus 'female family members' represents the heightened significance of women as holders of the family's honor and of their manner of conduct in society. Female family members are also strongly protected by men against social threats, such as sexually charged looks, sexual comments, and rape. Harim 'holy space/border' marks the boundary between cultural values and taboo behavior, assigning a high degree of sanctity to cultural values, and

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Trends in Research: A Literature Review

Nordin

Otterbeck²

2023

IMISCOE Research Series

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In this chapter, we present a literature review ordered as a history of the development of theories on migration and religion, addressing the main works on migration to Europe, adding the influential perspectives developed in relation to migration to North America. As a literature review, it is written in a denser style than the rest of the book; therefore, we end each section with a short summary.

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Diasporic Narratives of Marriage and Separation

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Diasporic virginities: Social representations of virginity and identity formation amongst British Arab Muslim women

Diasporic virginities: Social representations of virginity and identity formation amongst British Arab Muslim women

Cultural model of sexuality in Persian: A cognitive linguistic investigation of key concepts in Iranian culture

Trends in Research: A Literature Review

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