article
Social structure and the veil: comportment and the composition of interaction in Afghanistan
Anthropos • 77 (3/4) • Published In 1982 • Pages: 397-320
By: Anderson, Jon W..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Among the Ghilzai Pashtun of Afghanistan, women are veiled or secluded from those men in the society with whom there is a potential for marriage. According to Anderson avoidance is mutual between men and women; he says that …'men 'veil' too -- and cognate behaviors occur in other relationships where differentiation is deemphasized as the focus of interaction' (p. 397). Two forms of symbolism associated with the veil are HAJAH or extreme politeness and a 'rough' mode of interaction between individuals in which relationships are framed in terms of differences between participants. The author's interpretation of the ways in which the veil is used and the placement of the veil in the context of meaings seem to suggest that its significance is not so much to keep men and women apart but to bring them together by regulating the terms in which they are socially present. Changes in the practice are consistent with alterations of social contexts rather than with changes in ideas about the identities of men and women (p. 397).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Gender status
- Social relationships and groups
- Etiquette
- Household
- Sexuality
- General sex restrictions
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Pashtun
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2001
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Ghilzai Pashtun, Afghanistan
- NotesAdditional notes
- Jon W. Anderson
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 419-420)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 07021775
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Pushtuns