| Honor and the Political Economy of Marriage: Violence against Women in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Subjects: Marriage -- Economic aspects -- Iraq -- Kurdist?an; Kinship -- Iraq -- Kurdist?an; Honor killings -- Iraq -- Kurdist?an; Family violence -- Iraq -- Kurdist?an; Women Kurdish -- Violence against -- Iraq -- Kurdist?an; Women Kurdish -- Iraq -- Kurdist?an; 'Honor' is used as a justification for violence perpetrated against women and girls considered to have violated social taboos related to sexual behavior. Several 'honor'-based murders of Kurdish women, such as Fadime Sahindal, Banaz Mahmod and Du'a Khalil Aswad, and campaigns against 'honor'-based violence by Kurdish feminists have drawn international attention to this phenomenon within Kurdish communities. Honor and the Political Economy of Marriage provides a description of 'honor'-based violence that focuses upon the structure of the family rather than the perpetrator's culture. The author, Joanne Payton, argues that within societies primarily organized by familial and marital connections, women's 'honor' is a form of symbolic capital within a 'political economy' in which marriage organizes intergroup connections. Drawing on statistical analysis of original data contextualized with historical and anthropological readings, Payton explores forms of marriage and their relationship to 'honor', sketching changing norms around the familial control of women from agrarian/pastoral roots to the contemporary era. Joanne Payton has worked with the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organization since 2005. She also works with the media company Fuuse in London, United Kingdom, appearing in the Emmy-award winning film Banaz: A Love Story , which explores an 'honor' killing. |