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Transcription
/,ťr y
4V 5.00 (ctorb). d YIII, vols. .,)... , . ;1, ,and percep pr):1 .j., . - '994. $lá.95 *i}sí:isc'ii .; . . řťair: is an object of intense elaboration and preoc. cupation in many societies; seemingly the most superficial part of the.hunian, body, its meanings are nevertheless deeply rooted in culture. Hairstňs. in addition to the practices of obtaining onb, .onu"y messages about people's beliefs and commitments. How quickly we make.. inferences and. judgments about a person's morality, sexual orientation, political.persuasion, and religious sentiments whin we .95 (papcr). n the press, lrcss, 1994.' 95 (paper). of modern , r94. $32.00 - .' :lusburCh, Yess, 1994. an issuě.about women and the exercise of'individual rights. The questi;n' :,;;; v,omen,s Introduction 994. S19.50 'rcss,1994. : reÍerenceJo include the meanings not jusi of women,s, hair but alsá of men's harr, I:r:,?Í ,''',' ol body.hair-as-well' as,head hair, a1! yLatment of_-.hair-ovgl.the.life cycle: This explora..:,..||,t!71,!",::u:,..!::rly'lh,e sex,ual,religtous, and pálrttcal'meaningsof"hairare.intertwined '"t'' 'n t u'rnsn society and how the focas on woments covering"has coniealed as well as, rein- ,' .' ,., forced tra.ditionar gender definitions- [hair, gender, veiring,.Turkey, IslamJ 994. $17.50 )rcss,1994. StanfordUniversity ...; .00 (papcr). 994.527.95 (cloth). cago Press, CAROL DELANEY .: . 3ortás..Nor. ; ' see a particular hairstyle.l Sometimes the meanings oť hair are transcul- tural but more often they are culturally specific and even then depend on the range of varňtions that are permitted and expressed in that culture. Abstract or general theories about hair are therefore not sufficient to interpret particular hairstyles or practices relating to hair; one must know quite a lot. about the culture in order to do Hair in the Turkish so. Univcrsity Issues about University To the Western eye, the covering of women,s heads in Turkey and other Muslim countries is surelv one of th_e most noticeable and provocative practic;s re- p. (paper). n ecology. 94. 521.95 teights IL: : National p€ť). Ú /,, UNTANGLING THE MEANINGS OF HAIR IT{ TURKISH SOCIETY 'Iondemely lr t|roň). /,ťr y Contexr lated to hair. Although this practice is often re_ ferred to as "veiling," which implies covering the face as well as the hďr, what is usually meňt is the covering of women's hair with scarves of vari_ ous kinds.r Westernerrhave ambivalent resDonses to this practice-{onsidering it both exotic and erotic or, in a more negative vein, as evidence for the backwardness of Islam and the oppression of women. Indigenous reformers, who wished to be considered modern and for.whom ..modern" mcant "Westem," often accepted these evaluations and t59 spent a lot of,energy trying.to get women to un_ coler. That was surely the rationale and the goal of Mustafa Kemal Atatiirk' the founder fu,. President of the Republic of Turkey. "ná The'issue of head covering goes back to the beginning of the Republic and is intimatelv intertwined with irs history. Atatiirk felt that in order for the defunct Ottoman Empire to be transformed into a modern, Western type nation_state, .people had not only to think differently, but also to dress differently. The head was a prime target. He banned the male headgear called the ..fez" and in- stituted the use of the brimmed hat. He en_ couraged women to uncover; he felt it was both a means to, as well as a symbol of, becoming modern and Western. He went around the eountiy giving lectures on the topic, accompanied by his ňcov. ered wife and female assistants: Headscarves werc banned for civil service employees including nurses and teachers as well as for studcnts in aný public scbools and universities. Today, however, among certain Turks there is a controversy raging both in Turkey and in Europe with regard to women's right to wear a hea'd_ sg31f-16 school or university or when performing civil service jobs, that is, the very píaces from which it had traditionally been banned. For many, the headscarf is a symbol of allegiance to Islam. ín Turkey tbat allegiance conflicts with nationalist ideals and thus the wearing of the headscarf can be interpretcd as a threat to the secular national gov_ ernment. In Europe, in contrast, the headscarfian serve as a marker oť both national and religious identity, at least among Sunni Turk.r The headscarf debate has been cast in terms of civil rigbts, especialty about the freedom of reli_ gion- The issue has divided women (and men) in .it ÁNTHRoPoLoGICÁL ťeminists a complete villager. themšelves both inside and outside of The significance of hair was further impressed key. In'my. view, debate is miscast; upon me during my first fcw days in tbe village. -howeve:; lhe the emphasis on the political and religious dimen- Before it was decided that I could live in a house sions of thc headscarf has ieft the meanings of the by myself, I was a guest of a family preparing for Turkey and-Europe; it..has also divided .aňong :41 EŤ.{j Tur- . +*; bdy, sex' and gender:in place..The.contňporary the wedding of their.daughter;. -debátei.as wtrom. I'sball cail I was hot thé only luest: rélatives who lived .]:such..elementary questions"1s.]) tr'. bad returned for the..wcdding "il". "iiňg. it,women'sheadsthaťa.rgicovered!.1) .'festivities.Sinceihe.whole'village.is.included " in i I!y"i' Yny is,covering.a'.symbbl'of.,Musliň"and/or.Túrkishr"'-':.wedding.-aneventiwhich.spans'sc"erál'days-it is identity?.and.4) why'arewoňenls heads.the site of .. a'majoi undertaking.. Ilbecame an extra.pair of political and religious.conflict?,It,cannot be re-' hands instead,of an extra burden; thus.my intro_ duced to an either/or type.of issue--either,women duction.to village life was much more as a particihave the right to ] wear headscaryes or they . pant than as an observer: At Ayge's requesť I be. don.'t-because the meanings of bair in Turkish so-, came.her sa\diE_her helper and confidante: and ... well as Westcrnl.analyse&gf it, ignores ' whr coy^e1p-].J).. ":::' ;l.'l1ffi"i#: J .Aysé. ...o1iona]rr ;:: jlJ:trjťi::.:': J"": T# *:?lil: Ť.T..fr:; de- a parť of tbis process..' . '.' . : - .' '. pend on gender, age, class, political'commn..1lt: one of -i nrr, tasks was to help her pluck out and religious, sentiments. All of these faciors can *-- ,,:;:::'r:, i*.' j "n charged symbol.,with different.meanings that not1ll HJ'::.:"'Tjill;*i..lllíT:,l.:':":::ffi1 :::;;^;.: _:_ _;:^:'^_'^:,:::'^:_-::' n.jj, :FilťJtTii:iil"ffá *i::.:::'.il::Ji: :{ i:i'ri bccome entangled in any given.context. r do tend to approach the headscarf debate headon be' cause I believe that the covering of *o*.o,, cannot be understood in isolation from a whole range of meanings and practices related to hair ln -Turkish society. In order to understand ttre meaning of women,s hair and its covering, it i, n..",,I,y to analyze women,s hair ín relation to hrť, '.n', head hair in relation to body hair, and the ditre.eli practices related to-hair over the life en.innographic perspective becomes "y"t". indispensauil. kó b"d;-i;i; removed throughout their adu|t are expected to comply more :t"_T.:1":i*-women practice of removing bďy hair ll.]"l'L-Ylllltbe Turkish society, many men of P: :.]::91::::l'" elite do not complv and ::::t:i: ^w_esternizod unaware-of the history or the ,,---- -,^._'--_, --.- ::::,:"y^":-"^1.b" a hamam (public lii,tj"i^;|^::t:,to would acquaint them with it' bathbouse) Drawing upon my fieldwork in Turkey,' I attem;; Saturday morning of the.wedding weekend be. to untangle some of the sexual, politiát, and.reíi. *i:b a ritually prescribcd bath that took place , gious meánings of hair in Turkish society as I also 9.1, in the laundry house among Aygc's female friends. weave in and out of theoretical discussions of tie No one:lkP.t bath alone-I would help her and topic. with that background, I shall return at the she would help me. Ayge advised me to take my end to the debate about headscarves. bath first so the other women would not see me kegi gibi-like a goat. It was a refercnce to pubic Ethnographic Evídence hair, but the association was rcdolent of animality and the wanton sexuality that goats symbolize. My own hair became a subject of immediate con- Was the removal of pubic hair an attempt to recem as I sought permission to live in a partícular move those associations? village in central Ariatoliqin order to conduct my It is expected thatmen control the sexuality of anthropological rescarch. I was. told that it would "their" women (wives, sisters, daughters) as well as bs difficult for villagers to aciept me if I did not that of their animals; One of the sites of control is coveÍ my hair. I didn't want my prescnce to be a hair. It is a male prerogative to initiate sex, and continual irritant so I adopted the headscarf. I aiso they decide when animals will be bred and oversee wore thc baggy, comfortable troúsers called qa/var the process. Men also shear thc hair of goats and and the rubbers used for footwear, which are easy the wool of sheep and give it to women who then to slip off and on as one enters and exits a house. transform it into social uses. Wool is used to stuff When I put on their clothes, I also put on a new mattesscs and quilts, and goat hair is spun and social body and became, in their words, tam ki)ylii, knitted into socks and sweaters. The word for knit- ." pi UNTANGLING THE MEANING9 oF HÁIR npressed : village. a house lring for hall call 'ho lived wedding.. dcd in a ys-it is pair of ry intro' partici- st I be- nte and ) process ry much luck out stomary om that lhe time ected to ir adult úy more Éyhair men of ply and , or the hhouse) :end berk place friends. her and ake my sec me o pubic rimality nbolize. I to reality of well as 'ntrol is :x, and oversee rts and ro thcn to stuff un and lr knit- . ting (Órmek) is also used for the braiding of women's hair. - AySe washed my head hair and I hers. We used soap rather than shampoo even though I offered the ]atter'ó Her hair was long and luxuriant for it had not been cut since puberty. Long hair is both the glory'and symbol of womanhood and yer the saying, sacr uzutt; akh kisa (long hair, short intelligence or;wisdom),-.implies that-women .lack something El€D' hav€;: Símultaneously; what women are thought to have,.a loose and rampant sexuality, must now be tamed and'brought under further control. This is symbolized by braiding the hair for the wedding.s After the bath and hair washing we went to the house of a relative where her female friends had gathered for dancing and the ritual.oť hair braiding. Braids were considered an essential part of the bride's costume and the braiding party an essential part of the wedding ceremonies. These braids are not simply two plaits but consist of twenty to thirty narrow braids, each of which is woven with silver tinsel. It is necessary for the. braids to reach her feet, but since a girl's hair is rarely that long, black yarn is woven in to make up for the difference. At the end of one of the braids a blue bead is artached. This implies that the braids are an object of desire and the blue bead is there to ward off the evíl eye of those who would covet them. The hair braiding was accompanied with stories, jokes and remembrances-each woman weaving her story and memories into a braid. The pro. cess was clearly an ordeal for Ayge and she cried intermittently. The hair combing was rough and no doubt it sometimes hurt. More painful perhaps was the awareness that their multi-stranded playful re- lationships would be woven into an orderly pattern through marriage. Their relationships would be irreparably changed as she too was being irreparably changed into a bride, wife, daughter-in-law, and would soon be a mother, and eventually a motherin-law, herself. Saturday evening is the traditional time for festivity and celebration; although women and men celebrate separately. Kna gecesi, henna night, as it is called, ends with the application oť.henna to the bride's hands and feet; a small amount is taken to the groom's house and smcared in a complementary way on his palms. But the nigbt begins witb the bride, replete with braids, wedding dress, and veil, being introduced to all the guests and dancing a number of rounds with her friends. The erotic tól and gendered meanings of hair were dramatized at one wedding. In the dim light one could yet feel something stirring the huge crowd of women: a "man" was presentj It was even more surprising to me since "he" looked exactly like a fcllow student at tbe University of Chicago! It turned out to be a woman dressed like a man; she had attached a mustache and had pulled ber hair back so that it secmcd short.. The contrast \rdth the other women was striking. : Sunday morning the bride, again in her wed- ding drcss and heavily veiled, was taken.to the groom's house where shc would sit ..in statc" all day to be viewed by his relatives and friends. However, the right to lift the veil was his alone and 'would be done in the privacy of their room. Tbeoretically, her braids would be kept for forty days after the wedding, at wbich time they would be cut; in practice they would be cut sooner indicating that "forty" should be take symbolically not literally.T Forty days symbolizes a transitional period that is both auspicious and dangerous and is employed on a number of occasions: for example, the forty days gestation before the soul opens, the forty days after birth when life is betd in the balance, and forty days after death when the fate of the soul is being decided, at which time a commemorative service called a Mevlud is held. Forty 'days after a wedding the bride is expected to be initiated into ber new role and duties (cf. Hirschon l 978). My own intense initiation into some practices related to hair sensitized me and made me curious. Over the next twenty months I was able to observe and ask questions about the treatment and meaning of bair in a variety of contexts. V/hy all this attention to hair and what did it mean? I have since learned I am not the only one to notice. One Muslim scholar has noted that "[t]here is an undeniable fetishism of hair in Islam, the significance of which is both sexual and religious" (Bouhdiba 1985: 35). In Islam the relation between sexualitv and religion is vcry stáng; hair is but on. of this relation. Ant h ropo lo gica I T heo ri z i ,y.bol ng The connection between sex, religion, and hair has wide distribution cross-culturally and has been noted in the anthropological literature since the nineteenth century. But dcspite the widespread connection, is there any legitimacy in assuming t62 ANTHROPOLOCTCAL QUARTERLY that the motivation ánd meaníng of various hair practices are everywhere the same? This is the question that occupied Edmund Leach in his pivotal article, "Magical Hair" (1958), pivotal because it draws on earlier attempts to theorize this material especially psychoanalytic theories, and sets the direction of argument on this topic for years to come.'Although the relation has usually not been |úlly articulated, interpretations have fo. cused on three distinct but interrelated issues: l) the; relátion 661B,9gIi: public expression and priváte motivation, 2) the use of sexuality for religious/ritual ends, and 3) the phallíc character of hair. Leach's paper deals with all three, though it is expressly concerned with the relation between public, social ritual and private, personal meaning, and hís paper directly engages the psychoanalytic argu. ment expressed by Charles Berg in his l95l book, The unconscious significance of hair. Berg's argument is that hair cutting and other practíces related to hair represent an intrapsychic struggle between "instinct drives (genital and pre-genital) and the castrating efforts of the repressive forces. The whole conflict has been dísplaced upwards to the socially visible hair of the head and face" (Berg 1951: 94, 149). In other words, there is a cause and effect'relation proceeding from the personal, in- trapsychic motivation to its public expression. Leach argues against this view and against ttre corollary psychoanalytic move to conflate psychoneurotic behavior with public ritual, a conflation that is often cast as a distinction between.the civilized and primitives. That is, the private rituals of neurotic but civilized people are seen as equivalent to, and say the same,things as, the public rituals of primitives. In addition, as we shall see, Leach is es- pecially critical of the concept of repression with regard to explanations of hair dressing behavior. Although Leach acknowledges the convergence between ethnographic material and psychoanalytic theory, he disputes the relevance of the latter and takes a Durkheimian position that "public ritual symbols are given potency by society and not by individuals" (Leach 1958: 159). In other words, Leacb would dispute the, personal and prior motivation. Even if one admits.that there may have been a connection once upon a time,- that does not mean that. each enactment of the practice is intrapsychically motivated; rather it is socially expected behavior and generally marks thc transition from one social state to anotheÍ. Obeyesekere (1981) attempts to bridge tbe two positions and argues for a reevaluation by an; thropologists of the unconscious motivation of public symbols. He, like Leach, is concerned primariry with hair practices that havc specifically religious significance, and also, like Leach, he discusses the meanings of hair of Hindu ascetics and Buddhist monks-those who either let their hair go so tbat it becomes matted (supposedly indicating their letting go of sexuality), or who cut or shave their hair (to indicate cutting off of sexual life for rcligious ends).-He wants to show..not only that these, represent different kinds of asceticism and therefore different psycbological motivations, but also, quite rightly, tbat it is not just anyone who takes up an ascetic mode of life. Nevertheless, his argument ploceeds from the acceptance of psycboanalytic concepts sucb as "unconscious," "id, ego, super- ego," "repression," "castration anxiety" and the notion of the sublimation of sexuality for religious ends. Obeyesekere's argument seems to cut off the discussion prematurely, Ieaving unanswered, even unaddressed, the question about the relation between the relígious and tbe secular uses and mean. ings of bair.8 That is, how are meanings of hair engaged and construed by ordinary people in their ordinary life contexts, whether these be secular contexts, ritual contexts, or specifically religious contexts. The relation between the sacred and secular. needs to be studied empirically to see if they are separate and mutually exclusive domains or intimateiy entwined. In Turkey, at least, I suggest that tbc meanings of hair are simultaneously religious and sexual, and that these.meanings have political implications. Tbat hair has sexual significance seems not to be in dispute; what is open to dispute is the characterization of sexuality as phallic' Leach íully agrces with Berg that "when head hair becomes the focus of ritual attention this is very commonly because the head is being used as a symbol for the phallus and head hair as a symbol for semen" (Leach 1958: 157). Are they implying rhat tbe head is always a symbol for the phallus, even for women, or that only men's heads are ttre object of ritual attention? Hallpike (l9ó9) and Hershman (1974) ob.' jected to this focus and so, seemingly, did Obeyesekere when he cbose to concentrate on the ways six femalc Hindu ascetics treated their hair. But despite centering his study on women, Obeyesekere interpreted the sexual.significance of their hair in phallic terms. For example, the matted UNTANGLING THE MEÁNINGS oF HAIR locks that emerge from ,n by an- of pub' ]ÍimariIy 1 , religious [sses the Buddhist io that it ir letting hair (to religious .hese re-' .herefore so, quite rs up an rgument ranalytic ,, super- and the religious off the rd, even tion be- í mean. hair en- in their secular eligious td secu- if they s or insuggest ;/y reliave Po- i not !o characagrees e focus )ecause phallus (Leach I is alnen, or atten- 4) ob y, did on the r hair. /omen, nce oť natted - a woman's head are thought to represent the sublated penis of the god (Obeyesekere l98l: 33); in this way tre says she is able to retain, not let go of, the phallus. The shaven heads of Buddhist monks, on the other hand, symbolize castration, the renunciation of sexuality for religious ends: ::: All three.theorists.aPPeať to.accePt the psy. cboanalytic theory tbat sexuality is itself phallic by definition-9 For Leach the bone of contention is not so muchr,whethec sexuality is"pballic; but whether tbe. phallic origin of the symbolism is repressed (1958: 155). Sexual symbols, he argues, may be taboo, but that does not mean that they are unconscious: "the reason for the taboo is well known; these phallic symbols arc 'sacred' because of their .sexual significance" and.that "when we meet with thie use of phallic symbolism in religious rituals and in drama, the meaning is usually consciously understood by the performers and consciously conveyed to the audience" (p. 155).ro i But how does such a framework help us to understand the covering. and binding of women's hair? And what would it make of a Turkish married woman wbose hair cutting signified just the opposite of sexual renunciation-signified her initi- ation into sexual life? I cannot go so far as Hallpike wbo asserted ttrat "there is no frequent association of head hair and male genitals" but I do go a long way in following his suggestion that the "symbolism is 'about' the world, rather than 'about'the subconscious . . . for it makes it possible to evaluate different explanations oť a particular piece of symbolism in terms of how well they fit the facts" (1968: 263). Tbe "world" of Turks includes a strong connection'between sex and hair symbolism, but the meaning is specific to each gender. To understand the gendered meaning oí bair' we need to understand something about the qeanings of gender. Meanings of Gender In Turkish society, as in many others including our own, the meanings ofrmale and female are felt to derive from their role in procreation. Yet understandings of this process vary cross-culturally as well as historically; the meanings are not naturally given but are culturally informed,u and within Turkish culture caÍ vary somewhat between edu. cated city people and villagers. Nevertheless, there are significant commonalities. I have discussed the 163 Turkisb mat€rial at length elsewherer'; here I can give only an intimation. Tbe man begets, the woman gives birth. The male is tbought to provide the generative, creative spark of life that bestows spccifrc identity to persons and, if it is renewed in each gencration of males, is theoretically eternal. The production of semen, therefore, signifies more than a sexual or physiological process; it is endowed with creativity and agency and is symbolically associated with divine activity.re I do not:mean that God procreates, rather that buman men in procreating emulate God's creative ability. Semen carries the soul and the essential identity of a child which is why children are thought to belong to the man in a way they do not belong to the woman. The ancient notion that semen originates in the brainr. was alive and well in rural Turkey. The pridc that is attrib. uted to the male organ of generation is also conferred on men's heads or, more accurately, the two are seen as intimately conneoted. Thc definition of maleness is not confined to bodiliness; it overflows its physical meaning and becomes generalized. For example, seminal production is also associated with intellectual production--expressed quite explicitly in the notion of ..seminď idea''_a generative, creative idea. Men can produce brain children as well as physical ones; they can inseminate minds as we|l as bďies, estab. lish intellectual lineages as wcll as biological ones.r6 In contrast, womcn are imagined primarily as bodies and as providing the matcrial that nourisbes and sustains life. Thus, they become defined by and even more restricted to their physical roles. Maie genitals are associated with the creative di- vine element and become a source of p.ridc, whereas female genitals are tbougbt to lack that el- ement and are, tberefore, felt to be a source of sbame (cf. Delaney 1987; Hoffman-Ladd 1987). Unlike the penis, whicb receives a great deal of attention especially throughout childhood, female genitals are strictly taboo and are rarely mentioned. A woman's honor consists in keeping them under wraps so to speak, keeping them for tbe use of only one man. Tbese specific meanings, I suggest, are displaced to the female head, wbere they become integrally related to the symbolism of hair. Girls and boys, in rural Turkey at least, are relatively neuter as children; as infants, both are fully swaddled with their heads covered and as toddlers they are dressed in the same kind of pants and tops. And both are given the freedom to run in ANI'HROPOLOGICAL and out of people's houscs. Nevertheless, gender differences become focused on hair. Around the age of two a baby boy's hair is cut short and will be regularly trimmed. Aťter that even playing with the headscarf can call upon his head a string of shaming comments..For. example, an older sister teased her baby-brother who had put on the head- during the circumcision ccremonies, and it is thc object of much attention (Orga 1950; pierce 1964; Roper 1974) Thereafter the sight of the genitals is taboo and they are covered by clothes.rr The geni- tals are the pre-eminent site of gender but since they must be hidden, their meanings are displaced to the head where they can be publicly displayed. While the.head can symbolize tbe genirals, it is not just a symbol of.the'.phallus. Asdífferent meanings scarf, l'\e1v youlve become a girl." Their mother got.angry anďshouteď at him,.:iYou are male' you ' are.male;:take,,that off.".Although both boys and girls.,are, indulged and spoiled, girls seem to be more spoiled and less tame. Their hair, too, is free and often tangled. Hallpike's notion that unruly hair oan symbolize a state of being outside society is useful here; while girls are not exactly outside of society, they will not enter it to the'same extenr tbat- boys will, thus Hallpike's view that hair cut- ting, indicates entrance into society requires a gendered analysis.. In Turkey his notion applies only to boys. Boys are'expected to show by their demeanor their recognition, and thus internalization, of their more exalted status. They are being groomed to enter into the public society of men, whereas girls will soon be confined to the private world of the home. More convincing perhaps is Fírth's suggestion that ratber than indicating a re. lation'between inside/outside society, hair cutting may symbolize a transition from one type of social control to another (Firth 1973). Boys begin to learn that they must control themselves, whereas girls will be controlled externally. Upon entering school boys bave their heads almost shaved as they do,when they enter the army or; for that matter, prison; and so it does seem to signify entrance into a disciplined regime. Girls or may not have their hair cut at this time: it is believed that girls cannot become quite so disciplined.rs Nevertheless, even though children do have their bair cut occasionally they do not reaily become social beings until puberty and not fully adult until marriage. Since women must always be under the mantle of some man; it could be argued that they never really achiev.e full adult status.rt For boys there is a traŇtional stage before puberty. Sometime before the age of twelve, and generally after- the age of five, boys are circummay. cised. They become socially gendercd.beings by the of a covering-the "veil of the,penis" (Boddy 1988:5), while girls become socially removal gendered when they are."veiled" by thc.headscarf. Girls cover the site of their shame; boys reveal the locus of their pride. The boy's penis is displayed are attributed to the genitďs of.each gende1 so too are the heads of men and women differently treated. I Puberty is the time when gender meanings become- inscribed in bodily practices, and in Turkey practicés*relating to hair are-prominent. The ab. stract notion of puberty as merely sexual maturity gives no indication of the specific cultural meanings, nor of the differences in meaning for girls and boys, nor finally of any implications beyond the physiological. For a boy, puberty is demonstrated by. the ability to ejaculate and is interpreted as a sign that he can produce living "seed." puberty is also exhibited by the emergence of both pubic and facial hair, an event that further associates the genitals with the head. Pubic hair should be neither seen nor mentioned and in Turkey, as noted, it is often removed. Nevertheless, the mustache sprouting above a boy's mouth is the emblem he can display to proudly proclaim his virility. Women remove their pubic hair and cover their bead hair. The fact tbat.the removal of pubic hair is rationalized in terms of cleanlincss sujgests that it caries meanings of dirt and dank sexuality that might entrap men with its cloying tendrils. Women's sexuality is not allowed to run rampant, or to be displayed; instead it is covered and our under strict control. Women's hair, it would seern, comes to symbolize the physical entangiements by which men'are ensnared, and thus must be keot out of sight. Women's sexuality is meant for men's pleasure; and while men are meant to cnjoy sex, they should not become enmeshed in it. They are supposed to keep their emotional distance and their minds free (cf. Sabbah 1984: ll7). The hcadscarf and other coverings are meant to ťacilitate that repose- The sight of women's head hair, cspecially of unrelated women, is felt to trigger uncontrollable sexual desire in men, perhaps because of the connection between head hair and female genitals. As several men told me, "A woman's hair is the ruination of families." They meant not only tbat a wo- :^ .-u;iu, _ --.-l_: UNTANGLING THE MEÁNINGS oF HAIR it is the 'ce 1964; enitals is 'he genirut since lisplaced isplayed. it is not man with uncovered hair would arouse a married man and cause him to commit adultery at least in his mind, but also that even within the house too much loose hair creates disturbance. -- 'Hair may also evoke tbe image of Sirat, the bridge over which souls of the déad must walk' It is said to be tbe thickness of only one strand of hair; it slices tbe wicked like a razor and they fall into hell; but for the righteous it widens out into a path leading. to heaven; The more pious men avowed tbllfor every.strandre of hair that a woman shows, she.iš.said toiburn one dav in''hell" This is' reitcr- neanings. rr, so too fferentlp: áteďin.Muslim scholarly texts, which may be why images of Muslim. hell are full of women (Smith and.'Haddah 1975). Women's hair is a highly charged symbol of the power of female sexuality; rings be- Turkey The aL na!urity I mean;irls and ond the nstrated :ed as a .berty is rbic and rtes the neither ed, it is sproutcan dis, I cover rf pubic iugSests :xuality ;endrils. rmPanr, rnd put í seem, ents by :ePt out ' mcn's oy sex, rey are. rd their adscarf te that ially oť 'ollable re conals. As ruina- .awo- . ments attempts to control the latter may be symbolized by tbeir attempts to control the former. . Women's hair and heads are covered in a number-of ways (see Figures 1, 2, and 3), and there are a number of terms used to.refer to these coverings. In other words, there is nót one canoni. cal form of head covering nor one cover term. The most common term was garsaf (literally, bed lin- ens), which could function almost as a generic term, but also refers to a large outer scarf that covers the upper body. Yemeni refers to the small, square, pastel-colored, and printed gauze scarves that women trim with beads and tatting. These can be tied in back or draped under the chin and tucked into the sides so that the face is surrounded. These were worn at all times regardless of what other coverings might be added. In our village these were worn even in the house, though they might be more loosely tíed; allegedly tbese scarves were even worn to bed! In other villages I have heard that some tvomen may remove the scarves at home among family. When a woman goes out to the street or visiting, she will add a larger, printed cotton scarť called a yasmak over the yemeni. Often the patterns of these scarves are specific to particular regions (for the pattern in our region, see Figure 2), and although tbere are a number of ways to drape them, they should cover not only the hair but also the shoulders and breasts. Viilagers also used tbe term-dil/Ďent ťoÍ a plain white scarf with or without trimmíng' and. basÓrtil for West- 165 "silk" square that is tied like a kerchief under the chin. Normally this would be ern-type printed used for trips to the city. An atkr is a large woolen square that.is used in the winter. Neither in village, town, or city did I hear the word "tiirban," nor is it in my 1979 edition of the Redhouse Turkish Dic- ..TÍirban'' tíonary. refers to the headcovering fa. vored by the urban Islamic groups, but its recent use underscores-the-fact that the so-called Islamic headcovering is not a traditional. type of covering but is; instead, a relatively recent phenomeno!: - :,..Small girls in:.tbe' village..played at covering themselves but tbe;headscarf became obligatory at puberty. Puberty for a girl is signaled by menstruation-an indication that she is sexually open, that she is fertile. Her fertility, like tbat of the soil, must be enclosed in order that a man may know that the seed sowed there belongs to him. Wben a woman puts on tbe beadscarf, she is referred to as kapalt--canered, closed. A woman who gocs about bareheaded is referred to as aqk; she is open and tbis implies that she is available and open to tbe advances of men. The headscarf is a sign that everyone can read and it says, "I am a proper woman, I am under the protective mantle of my fatber." He is guarantor of her sexuality until he transfers it to her husband upon marriage. By means of the headcovering she indicates that her fertile field is not free for the planting; it has boundaries and belongs to some man. These boundaries, like those of a field, cannot be transgressed without dire consequences. Regardless of the actual physiological onset of puberty, for girls its social recognition (cf. Van Gennep 1909) is at.tbe end o[primary school when they are about twelve years old; at this time they must covcÍ. Schools are state supported and secu. lar, and during the time I was in Turkey neither female teachers nor students were pcrmitted to wear headscarves.ro The wearing of headscarves is not just a violation of the dress code but could be considered almost as treason. Sucb behavior could easily be interpreted as expressing a commitment to Islam that is over and above tbe allegiance ex- pected toward the secular state that Atatiirk worked so hard to establish. Figure l. A Bridc with Braids. Figure 2. Woman Wcaring Scarf. Figure 3. Girls Having a Tea PartY. (See outer scarves in tree.) UNTÁNGLING THE MEÁNINGS oF HAIR ffifri+ li'$*|:ť.x r'"--: ;_: -i:r.; iř]:]:.:.:;.* Currently, school attendance is obligatory only until the end of primary school or fifth grade. While the emphasis on the education of girls may Ýáry,between.regions and between' Sunni and Alevi villages; nevertheless; thejmajoritý of' villagc girls did not (and probably still do not) attend school beyond the- primary ]evel. Thereíore; the law ban] plng heaQs.9áňes.in school was acceptable to most villagersjaňd-.the.čonfliót between religious custom and' sentiňent, on the: one. hand' anď nationalist .ideologyi aňd': allegiance,: on the. other;: was accom. modátéd,3 ;Sorhei of.:.the. meánings.-ofisexuality and haíi covering emerge. in the' case of girls who might like to continue school-beyond fifth grade. Since a father's permission is:necessaryr for a girl to continue in,school,ra'girl who,wished to do so,would first have to.convince her father to support her in this'struggle; in going to school she would have to : flaunt custom. .-, The few fathers I knew who did give permission for their daughters.to attend middle school were called "communists.'l This had nothing to do with their political sentiments nor with what was being taught.in séhool but had everything to do : with "covering." Because these girls would be mingling freely with boys without the curtain of protection between them, it was as if their bodily boundaries were being compromised; metaphorically, it was as if they were common land. Formerly, uncovered female heads were associated with the loose immorality of the West; during the time I was in Turkey, people invoked the association either to the West or to the Communist world,. depending on context. In either case, however, it was interpreted as a capitulation to the material world rather than submission to the religious order of Islam. At the same time. it must be noted that women of the urban elite classes. have long been oriented towards the West and many have been educated in the West. Women from tbese -classes do go uncovered and have done so for some time. AtatiiÍk considered Westernization a necessary aspect of modernization, and a major sign of modernity was, for him,.uncovered women. In today's climate of antagonism to the V/€st, some of these women havě begun to adopt the tiirban. to that issue, there is yet one kind . Before r€turning of hair to be addressed. . Although we have briefly touched upon the meaning ' of thg mustaché, we have not yet broached the toPic oí the beard; Since children, women, and eunuchs are beardless, the beard can 167 be utilized as a significant symbol of masculinity (Firth 1973: 285), but such an observation doeš not take us very far. While the beard can distinguish between age groups, and between men and women, it can also distinguish between different groups of men.21 So we need to ask what sort of masculinity does it symbolize? In traditional Islam the beard is l'a mark-of authority and piety".(Gaffney 1982: 56). Traditionally in Turkey, it is only'older meu; especially those who.have, made the hajj (pilgrimaie). to:,.Mecca,'.who: are:.permitted to let their ,beards grow':..A.man..who bas made the hajj has completed the five; conditions of faith, and having fulfilled his'pious duties.can legitimately wear a beard. In Mecca,. as men and women enter the. sacred --precinct, they are required to abstain from sexual activity for, the period of the hajj. But since women's sexuality is at the command of men, the injunction is really directed to men. The symbolic association between sexuality, religion, and hair is furtber strengtbened by the fact that during the hajj men let their hair and beards grow like the asc€tics so much discussed in the anthropological literature about hair. Hair grooming would imply that tbeir minds were still focused on worldly things when they should be focused on Gď. After the hajj rituals and the sacrifice that commemorates Abraham's ordeal have been completed, the hajj proper comes to an end and pilgrims re-enter - the mundane world- Men cut tbeir hair and shave theř facial bair, women cut off a lock of hair" In this context hair cutting does not symbolize a cutting off of sexuality or a commirment to celibacy, in fact, just the reverse. It does mean, bowever, a renewal of commitment to a socially prescribed control and use of it. The theoretical implications of this hair behavior make it clear that while hair cutting may be used cross-culturally to symbolize some relation to sexuality, the actual meaning of tbat relation cannot be deduceď from universal "facts," but must be empirically investigated in specific cultural contexts. Upon return home from Mecca, the male pilgrims may again let their beards grow. Since they have fulfilled life's purposes, they are free to let their beard grow as they turn tbeir minds to more At the same !ime, they must neither devote too much attention to the care of the bcard nor ignore it to the extenr thar it becomes disheveled.2r A properly kept beard implies lofty religious matters. not just authority conferred by age as well as by *r, . religion, but also connotes the wisdom i; ;irr*. balance.in the Lse of lhat authorl|lio,.řr,"," ;'.ff:'J: nationa.lists. Mustaches o"*r,o_,, 1r,. "r. but tbey i,'..ň'i'i.uelieuea *. ;;;;;;.""ed..In 'a:.y,.;;,,T "Á:..rs, any .","' tb.|-must prerogative.to:;; be thin sons; tbe.ólder men in the ýirr"g" it was their ..rightist,, ,."'" tolerated in , Ioá;;:í;eithe "-i."'ů"o.r'.y upper tip noi,exteno beyond are not permitted í."ůl''"niř'.j'..'ffŤ"*'m'lx*Ílll''rii#.1,'jry]"'however' such:behayior-as:.a'dřrect]th'."ii'.r,ai'':.;u,r,oii.y. . ó;;; Noi.]súiprišingly,no_youth.1' t|9.|snificance of hair on"","ňJ]*ligious'.and political, in Turkey is at. 9ry 'irr."s*.1a9.á' beard:.And yet it is not'so . it oecomes en.' simple.. .,"inJ].o-jiÁcrent ways in ;;':iln.óther.Muslim;countri!ýlror'eiample;.:the different contcxts' for l*;;-*;ir...rra1n.,.gr.",ty, n""".tn.ioo*n:.is..' *i,n i"r, ií",... áh..", i,"", ' l'T.i;T::!T*:l#:uf#*;;ixťÍg1;* miliflp: il::t,"::i:t.J,,o'i!'?..o";^:".ňi'ňd men'. autt,o.it1tt,ai;;-"{;;fi;':jJÍlff:.:1'1".* this phenomenon was not so p..".r""i]" key during the late l970s.and bearded youth was.morE.oftén u,'.u-.J iá. u" member of a leftist, Marxist i".;.i'l;ň;.#.;"; i"..i.l'; ;; " it is clear that a young.man e."p wearing i"-, seen as a threat. to authority. "ru"..a wr,irJ.r." ň.-oil 'ever; ..1i."ř,ff1 women,s ť ""J'.."i"}lil.i.":i i:r-"Jq:l':"i::*"!1.#'T::ai":'Tť,.ffi* from i, is for urban women, urban ,"o*.o"1"i. ll" hardly unifi.ed over this and. issue. Thc meaning or tne teaas"",r'l, oiř",.". depend.. "r," i"€' T-"h.ň.. tt" .ont.*i ;;".;;ř", Turkey a-nddiffereniior.theAlevi minority as opposed to the Sunni .":o.ity. Class differences may be in. volved but .i"*, i, not the decisive ino""to.. :lTÍsi"ůl.;,'oíi3'u-.*i".i;lil;;;ň; rr," 1'..*i,.;;.ffi;#:'"'";]:"T.,1'l."'ilí#T#, ference' il"{ii^;.#'.Ttfi*:#"élť*.:ffl.Íj; refigious ,"i'i-"nu and commitments. Whether "i;il;#;]ň;: urbanrvomen express tt,"i,..u,oi,io.Lu".lng ,"t,i"i_in.l.ň submission not just to God o". .r'".."..*"]. ňi: .!: male gaze, devotion to Is.", _ _ authority. :T":j'i.; Iam, or more politically *"r,, The dress code that prohibited . " jf^t-::"al, religious, u"a "r;].J;*..,,J.i0" pori,i."i*."ninr, univer'". ^-^r,.,.-. female sit)r students from'wearini no, r'*á'*J";'H;- separate. . .. l "." fied in 198.0 to. prohibit " il"r. lrom- wearing beards; botb ""ň...i.' .i*"u were ini.ip.-"'ň The Headscarf Debate. threats to the authority or ". tle seiura.''i"í.. uniÝersity context whether .r'" t"..j''"' j".!1] '"".o" n. t. preted as tytuot oil"r,i., discussion-should A woman's "dopiion cates a return to traditional u"tu.. or rigbtist r"no.n"lll- .The,foregoing make it clear that 'the " it was nevertheless headscarf d.b"t. is r". interpreted as a symbo| ó,.n,"'' .o...ffiil"..o .n"n who sabotage tbe order it hashitherto ber of the state. ln ,ti, r'". u.* * n";*bŤ.l":il.;"'..'"."ffiJ::'i:|j:: stance tbe secular,."i",".,',, ironically to l'ave llt í.': # "i."t'* ffi']: J inilnff él.l:. jT.' rltjn*'liťI }Í: iitiona|e ii!:.i '!'i.#i;:'j':"i':1 behind the differentiar;;;; íi.n" he returrts .o ."Íi u"tuo Tu,k."'l. :::-|Ťd-.|i. shaves offhis "u".y and female uooi.., oi.,.""ii'ů,.and beaá *."".1* n. *";,,*.o.".";7J: of social consequences of io ,n."oi"gr.'J*',1 ;:"ffii. ..aju.ing A *. ||11 became a ti'q€zo',n",.".í"' number of tt,"t p.oi_iiit,-loJ,n1i*"i'ffi.|*.:i:||:.:TJ".: symboíic uiage or po[tical iaentitjl (starr l99l: xviii-xix). certain styres of n,urr""t{l ::h*lt' cspecially to the uniu.is'i,r;:. argue that they have a right.to o" were. c|assifiea as ..teftist',-cspecially .tlose ." ii.'"o.o,.. ttr.s .i:: were bushy: tu.n"J down on tt,. ,ia. or :f this rigňt is a restriction""á]ň". i..á"* tfj "na '".ř"#l -.::= il; "rii" "r ť'::l*"'ll'Ť.r* ť;!.lT";:',;:T"*"J'.iL:,ť,'L;,ťi,.!xi:ii!illT"i:iilTff curved up'recalled the styles ói.*--"""T were, at least in the l960s,"ri''" .-ur".n",i"loř ir'. iT4fff":"".*'ťl{ř:,r*j:.r.rnu port tbeir right to wear Islamic scaryes' will thev ,!i .,,.1 , ----..- UNTANGIJNG THE MEANINGS oF IIÁIR re occasionally lcers, but tbey 'must be thin extend beyond not permitted i*-r j j-* n Turkey is at t becomes cn-:. T!? t contexts foi:' '---l thcir own,is_. '=,1 different from;, ,'meaningi-of_, telated; j1 1s., r uniform in. , and u1!3n. rrural woslen s ] r69 tolerate my mini-skirt?"r8 The ironies of the debate ing advertises their entire have been obscured by this rhetoric,-f;; t.ň," *t,o aň*g i".ňn Muslims body as an erotic object. demand thc right to wear the that seems to be behind scarf are using what th. ňi;;;overing: are essentially Western liberal arguments to protest against the west' Tbeir portrait or tn. w..l higlrKcy conccpts rclating to the Islamic idcotogy of fcmalc lights stereotypic images of women contained in thc yords ,awra, t*,., i*. 'úog "i. ftna; and moral, and scantily clad beings. ". N"itr'..-t-i"y ijr..Il1liiiťT,'#.H#"*:lt'.',.1TŤ*í their' western sympathizers'l-"u" *notr ui- i"r"ur",.j* objcct that ,nurt ston/version of western women- "tttJl r" *"",J to avoid cmis being used? uu.r"*."ni,"na shame; Eycn the why'is there-so'little. awareness.tha! a woman is 'awra "oiccror these*images and shoutd not bc heard (Hoffman-t-add --t987: have been painted primariry uy l:1.. *.i uoií;"ůilIim countries and in,the west? ., ,:,:, ^ .. ... and ;-r-;e;t;_ -: wby has tt,"'" ú".o no counter.protes. mouth is symbolically r."- #ij'.] no, .?T1I: i'o"sed orn women' many'of whom are well aware .:i"i5t issue. Tbě.. ii:t: :rent depend_. te or. Turkey ,s opposed to ma/ be indícator. The women who about theř s. Wtrether covering as for *or.n to sffi "*togou. thar ::_"^-:t*"d."1sin1, openty is almost equivatint to exposing r"'it-.' l..i'nřJ themselves."" Not and exploited by the advertising "." tt'at ii is thc equation t"t*..i]irJ.ř.''"i" head, ;#;;; in T,'] to increase the dcmand for all ki-nds ;;;"dň; ::'j Ťse 'the mouth, and the g*itJ, ,"i,,r*".a, that support We'stern economies. "f what th-;;" ú;; P "q:."li:" has specific g.na-..J*ioning. As lim women. do not secm. to reatize is ..secd,,, túi .-h. ;'fu so' too 1e|,call 'thinss.into being with their of women they reject is.also;"-*;;;.ř*.; have1h. po'", to cal| things into being. :'o:.Lth:J women reject and struggle against. the'wold. It is their nut,ro. w..tl ň;"gatl;; to initiate :.':h ero women to counter these images of womanbood these stereotypic and : ing images by covering..themselves damag- "ttd;;;"; a'.*'' *áutí-i*l .,ll:.:":en is--that their tt,",t.,-.iiffi ""..pt something equivalent to...Islamic ply that at some level they otion to IsI the West, ngs are not well as sex) and ň a.Á". the situincluding what is Islam. This does not mean ...,:n, do not speak, but tne culiu.ar ''..ver;atio1.(as overrooked in the debate is its 1o1a1 9anr'n;;*a;. ň; wisdom are not iiT:i:lf il.i.T:,i:il::1,:"fr,",,T":,lS;:l; ..LJt a woman learn in all submissive. "o*-"ná, j:H:.*i:i".'..xé;},iTlT''",j?:ff :: j#T:l"{!:#J!::THť1Ť;iijť*? ",o"i*:T,J1:tor who have *",iJ.;;ň?..T:;","'il:š.'J:.* i.i;'iJi1I ..fundamentďis.,']-io ties prove to ue tru", clear that ated than ,'.". tťjrbans to the univeT ttr"i..",.oiti]i.';; ffi::; i"i.':J'J#:".n:.il;.,:nilL|1;1'*Ť: of women who are not he debate cal issues ", '.'* .- *;ffi:f i#f:;.."*'ll;:"j:l.$:"*ffir$Ť:''.Tť on, there ;ic or ra- ously, this passage occurs immediatety Á"r a oe- aTffi::řiffli,H:::Ji:Irl;il':T:Jl1: "...pe"king out b:. ,|:I struggle against a cul. H:il'"JÍJ.[T":,l1...1""";:::i.:ruťn:rr joi;i tbcy thriaten the social order "". 'ffil'y, legitimated by those traditions' Even among ,ň. u.u"n..Ii,e, tbis pressur. .*i,*.l'i can be subtle and is more.reflexive i"Jg."""a Conclusion and peer group, and sometimes "f il "i";"is oyert. lages the sentiment and weigbt ď munity @mes to u"". on women,s Notions. of gender are decp|y 'b;;;;;;.. entang|ed with mean. r,."as. ď. women demanding the right.o ings of trair in Turkish,"}íy. *."'.r'.-i."á.á]ř íiJ""-"o."rriog a.nd tbeir westerD supporters rarely consider how for their right to wear the headscarf and their th.cir actions maý atr;;t the thousánds sympathizers seem not to realizc ;il;J that .Yj^:.n who arc not privy to this debarc whcther women wear the scarf or n*, ň"in., rd values and of the law scarf to y argue abroga- dom of ,"" rights. united -rhe, arsumcnt roi. covering, and ..rsrami.c iltrJ.#:.,l.i,Xl,.Jii;ffi1.;::t#:rdenned dress'' known in the'Arab world a-s tserya- ii,t ".,i^ii: and sexual objects (Sherif 1987i and d*iiild*s provide that kind of shelter. a. "o,r," howeve1 one could just as easily arlue '"'...i.", th;i **;. removes women from being perceived ás erotic I sup I they I Í ! ir'. ňňj"j"n between covering or not cov. ..ing not ;;řffi":. women but in the proccss ob. scures the much larger issue-how to transform the meanings ořlr,. r".^r" body and sexuality. Fi. nally, I ,"g!.,, .í"i urban Muslim women are do. ANTIIRo!g!p!iICÁL ing exactly what they acr sisters of á"r"g:'..iff!.":..:"T. of their Western rng to speak for those who Acknowledgmenr An l,o 4gTERLY :o, NOTES ahh,-,,:^.-. . have a voice unorce whether or not lf-{,u*ff{ť:*l':,l;:l'llffifi,'ffi anr never had a ,"1:l_o.1.:". cover their hair- #r*.é....'.... i"i!*,"Jff:': ,ffiffi'mffiruru*ffffi r*{rfiff*ť*t.l:m n*nlt**Ť*r:n'...-'."''-*i ffirl$:'flffiffité.iffiffitffi jffi ilij'ťjo*i#['" ffi;*,T.ff 'i"é*:i''ťÍ;r,}.i:{i{.*dil*{iŤiffi iÍi'i$" he *.;il..řTi ;:#"*ir'i*trďr;"lb ";;' ; il ';li* ffi i':.;in ". i:-'.':.á;li {+.ísá:; a.'lJi.,.|J': ; " r : wor|d' '.,":ffiffiTť.t..* nr**ťff,5ffi ffi* n**'*;rybÍ;:****ii;;l*.ll**ť:''ff};#**;115*:"'*:Tť.t',,il.* o Scc ",* o"á*.íííi]Íťtril;.ťé:ťfltťi,ťjTď r.l -c. ::- I 1t t.Í .-. j -| 9{9iť. i .,'. '.;''Ér' -.'' I ---. UNTANGLINC THE MEANINGS OF HAIR had a relates to the story in which Zeus ,.givcs birth,, to Athene from his head. Little known is the fact that hc first a*""."a n* pregnant mother, Metis, wisest of all thc gods. tnd Sikhs. Hc o explain why control" and It the lubcon_ yhen it comcs ItiÍt8 rites, hc :olism of bair :oiy has bcen rddition, thcy :malc scxual- pccia.lly Lucc nbols arc saaÍticulaíthc. ) procťcation s what alties rocrcation is cular social, cd ovcr thc thc world. rcory which during thc both male r ofa ncw t. magcs and plants thc tal father'eed, but a wairing" ragility of rhs in rhc r song by rving my nay havc thc idca ter, Furthc w3y f. Tuana Martin I to no- y 1986, Turkcy c Wcst mplicit /cstgrn to thc istotlc lagcrs 'le, in him. I also trFor cxamplc, a beard can bc used to disringuish bcrwccn prlests and othcÍ men and even bctwccn diffeient kinds of pnests, but the meaning cannot bc known a priori. ..ln E r,"rn Christianity beards have traditional|y uecn ircto r", priests, but this has not been "|o.ooň." thc view of thc W"r,.rn whcrc thcrc has been considerablc divcrgcncc "iu,"rr, of opinion_ wel| as custom (Firth 1973: 285). ", Firth gJo on .i,". t.In a Christian context it is perhaps no coincidencc that schools cstablished to study the sacred i"rt, th". s"miiai *oro of God (/ogos spermarikos) yere called seminarics- >logical analydtscusses cvc_ r.Aftcr reading a draft of ihis paper, wrote to mc about thc following practice: a Turkish .,í,,.,. frrcnd with the iustom of taking young git|s as besleme Íot househelp (which means that the giil will thcn bcgin to live iri the ncw housebold), one of ihc first things uiuatty done to the young girl is to have hcr changc . r and also ro.cur hcr hair.really short-.Tberels ř..]n"*", nygi"nic explanation often given.to thc baírcutting (thc " . iirí;oÍnes into a middle or upper-class famity from:a rurjo, *o*-, ing.class cnvironmcnť'.'and ít is assumed she -ay c",,y áil (|ice)' but I think the hair cutting must i""" idcntity imPlications for thc girl in qucstíon. "i'o ItA divorced woman would usually return to hcr father,s house but a widow would stay in the bomc of her deal husbana and.come under thc protcction and control of ni, f"'t-fro the wcaring of bcards by Easrern Orthodox Cf,rirtl]i pri..a may have the connotation that thcy are morc rn"nty Ul, .r" also of lower stalus sincc they are also permitted ,o fr""" *i"o. . Yet, it is not quíte so simp|c, bccausc cven: ir western-pricss go beardless and arc unmarried and even if it is acccptá that they are of higher and more sacred status, an.uncomfortablc contradiction looms- It would sccm to imply that f,igi"., *or" sacrcd statuš is closer to fcmininity .t'"n io una that s€cms to fly in the face of all thc cultural'","u-tini.y . - "'ia"n*. ''Sec tbe trcatisc by AI.Makki (d' 99ó) 1978: |ol. ' ,3The Turkish TÍmes' Dccembcr l4' l9E9. The argumcnt ' from "individual rights" seems misplaced sincc it docs nJ, r""rn to work both ways. Nor docs it take into accaunt thc f"o-,t", womcn in a number of Islamic countries havc been kittci tor yearín8 not the veil. For examplc, two young womcn waiting at a bus sration in Algeria were killcd attcgcatfUccausc,i", , unvciled. See The New York Times, Marěh 3\ |9g4. ""." bÍothers. Althou8h several women in the ". villagc teft ttrcir ius. bands for pcriods of time, tbc couples wcrc evňtually ..*r."a. There wcre no divorced women in thc village ana no Ai"o."" while I was rhere. (Cf. Starr l9g5 for very h ditrerent T.uT"d srruarlon rn the area around Bodrum.) Urban, highly educatcd womcn told.me how difficult it was to livc alone ďtci a divorcc bccausc.they wcre presumed to be scxually p,o*i."uoo..-úhil" i: Turkey have many righs io."n, . i"n *", l:rn"n ao|c lo deterÍnine domicile and had "qu.i to givc permission for his daughter or wife to work, at least until thc l9g9 Constitution. Legal rights, in any case, do not guarantee social equity; this is as truc in the United States as in Turkey. r.Neverthcless, some Turkish men, particularly in urban arcas, continue to draw attention to th; genitals by wearing tight pants and/or by touching thc gcnitJ"r." ., it.y,,., down. the. srrcet. I do not know whcthcr this bchavior i" unconscious sincc it goes unnoticed by "trn*, most Turks, or whcthcr it is done specifically to provokc foreign womcn. I; ;". ;;-"r_ Pcct.of my own cxpcricncc and a nttmber of foreigi ňcn have commcnted about this to me' It *"' no., t,o*.ň pcrience in the villagc. 'y "". . .r.Firth (1973 267-268) singlc strand to, suggesr rhat thc power of evcn a of female hair to movc men is a thcmc not uniquc Turkcy or lslam bur also conrainca in *,e Iit"raru." oii,c \ťcst. toSince that timc and because of thc protests of somc womcn and their malc supportcrs about thcir right to wcar thc ncaoscaÍt' a number of confficting |aws havc becn passed. Ap parcntly thc 8ovcrnment pcrmítted hcadcovering in.uni"".sirio by spccial bill in l98E; but thcn prcsidenr f"rJn unnul.j'J. bill rhrough rhe Anayasa Makcmcsi (Consritutional Co"itl" 1989. Meanwhile, Turkey's Highcr Educatio" C";;"i|, L;;" as YOK lifted thc hcadscarf ban in Deccmbcr I9g9 and rhe then néw Prcsidcnt Turgut Ózal approved. No*, uni"|.,irL arc caught bcrwcen thc Consritutional Couri and thc Higner Education Council and each ur own dccision on rrre matra. šjjT;:'.;"jffi.},.}J1T"Í"; 17, t990. t7t ..It also seems ironic, if not rragic, that as the socioDolitical boundaries and walls dividing pcoplcs of tnc *orla arLming down, the sexual barriers betwcen men and womcn as wcll as tbosc crcadng divisions among women arc going up- For forty-thrcc ycars, bctween t9:9 ana 1979, thc ,nri.7 *'* cially ourlawcd in lran. For a similar amount "nof time, though bcginning and cnding a few ycars latcr, a wall divided East anO Wcst. And just as pcace in the Middle r"'. .o think about, uncovered Palcstinian womcn '"",*-Ňňr" in ď," wot s"nt and Gaza have bcen harasscd by paint-slinging, n"rn"-""lting male youths who políce the strects. Thcsc youthJ arc catIin3 for womcn to adopt thc head covcring and evcn facc vcil in o-rdcr kccp our mora|s and traditions intact'' (Iáe ruo i* Iirnes, August 22, l99l). Not only are thcs; young Murlim men asscrting their dominancc over womcn, thcy arc also help, ing to kccp rhc divisions betwccn Muslims and Jews in"iJ",". ..to 'oHoffman-Ladd also defincs thc words: byra as weak lrna as tcmptation, chaos, discord, and zrna as adonmenq bcauty, The zina ,.that may bc shown i" p"ifia i, the facc and hands, whercas the hiddcn zÍna is thc body'' (l987: 29). She makcs a very intcťcsting 'o."iir,. and aÍgument that what is considercd Íslaňic "on"incing drcss ot hijab is actually contemporary and not at all traditional Islamic drcss. She also goes on to discuss rhe way in which the women wcaring hijab arc in Íact perccivcd as a thÍcatcning th","fo.. somcwhat aggrcssive prcscncc in modcrn "na Egyptian ,o"i"t". u pcrcepdon ar odds with thc rarionalc to. *."rini ltt Is aaoFing tbc master's symbols ever a way to frccdom? spot, pudenda; r'The surrcalist painter Magrittc sccmcd to givc cxpresidcas in his painting..Lc Viol.,, It f, f"."L :ion.to llesc hcad witb ffowing hair, ycr tbc facc is a nuac" tcmatc torso-brcasts for eycs. gcnital arca for mouth. e *orn"nt - hcad is crotic, but she is mutc: a woman should bc s€€n hcard. and nor tš Abu-Lughod' L,a' rgg6' y^eiled senlimerus. Berkcrey: University california prcss. Al.Makki' Abu Talib. l978."Thc u*i.-ři" iiiiii" ||torld 68(2):of |0O-I|O. Arat' Ycsím. l990. Islamic r*a"'"."ňi..."ííiJl'Í..i.'.;",k",' .ůiisttn i;; wo,uE'(l): l7.23. ffi':'til''J:.'r;r:;r::::xir:. j;iť*:.:*k.Cambrídgeúe.-H.í.,íuniversityPress. & Unwin.for contcmporary ce|l biology. |n Femininsm and Gcorgc Altcn Thc Biology and Gcndďstudy Grcup. l989' The ,;*,o,,.London: .1i1'eu" *.i.]lfr?".iiljj:3íJ::1 ;ň;;;'.ffi;Tt'""ffi:if#::1 1.,+*,'1n11,.J.rt.:i;:fi:.:"o.'"'..";' ".""n"1 i:.;;l;;il.1ii1"*;y orn*,"11ioo "nii,'t,^n"". a_",i,onEthnorogist B:'"'l'1l].ltr"?:1x3i';":,:;'Ť;::1;;;;:,ii,;',l-"Ť*1i:l';"*.x#:,Ť:l;ffious|y.published ín French, l975.J Delaney, Carol- 1986. Th I987. Sceds zi.i:l: +s+sr:. i"Tř,"'iioť'Ji[H.l ffi1o'.''n'or"r'-á"i"i"l,,'nshame and the unity of the washington DC: ", Ámerican aň'"p.řj."riffj:,i.ro M"di,",,o,"o,,ed. David Gilmorc. |99|. The seed and the soil: Gendě,^;;;;; -:-. in'Turkish'village sociery,' Dinnetstein' o*o,Ái.-lón..rt," Bcrkeley: Univcrsity of California nermaid ,,d ,h, hcss. ^i,,olo? ;;::;:;,;:;,,;:;:;:*:.::::;";:;:;:ff:":;,::i:;;,nh:;,:,.,,,".:;,:,,,:l*.*,.on. ]]]'*-"-"*;"ť..ii'$;*il Fírth, Raymond. |973..Svmbik: ]"lř.'i$l,éi'ú"".,::l-" Public and private.Ithaca NY: Cornell Universiry ,o," iil;;;;."ú":j,.á.''fn. Press. "r,i"'i*j,i,ř',éJ,..".n", Hallpikc, c.R. l9ó9' Socia| hair. Man 4: 256-264. in upper Egypt. Ph'D. disscÍtation, ;'!' il:;511';"T};'],,,];ťtr-,,:::i;,;:";;j:;;jsr2le.London:Metbuen. rri.'"no,'. n"""". l;;;. York: John wit* :$. ii'j; ffi;i.1"1[ ##.-..n;,,,;ť,u. -.. --',ningfemale: The nature of women in society,cd. Shirley ďson,. Ardcncr' Ncw Hoffman-Ladd' ' valerie' tggz. p-oremics on the modcsry ..--*., and ..': segregation scgre8atton of or women in contcmporary conr 23ó0, Elypt. Internationa! Journa! of ,;:"^,"y;:ť::;;:,tudies,I9: which is not one. |thaca NY: Cornell Univcrsity Press. r-.Li',Ěa,n""i.' i;:':,:', ;;:' .rh!',u: Anthropo|ogica| Society Eó: Mandcl, Ruth. ,,,n. l47.64' iH:T."'"'J."H""'ffi"*"ťr.*.":,i,**::lrurul .i.lil ]Í ..,:. 'u.*,í"1,.hair..lourna|'of.the.Roya| :.'3,.;i'"''';i,',*il.JT'T:,ř]il"*i Marcus, Julic- t9E4. Islam, women \'.-'* ?:I: and pollurion in Turkcv j!,!"{:::i;11í1,1.;;;;;;;.i,;:,";,;;,,"!I:Í;.,,::,:::"Í,1:,r:.*.: i;",1íi" ii"1,l1,:'rÍ:::::::i:il::::; i;;:: ;|':'*alinÍ o|son, Emclic. l9E5. Mustim ídentity and , 58(4): 16l.17l. oníans' R.B. I95l. The orieins,f orga, Irfan. |950. Portraitif a ma|c.femate rolcs. of oxford I5(3):20+218. ;ťn,yi;ii',*:?;"lil}ť'J,ifi;,.ť".[il,""l.., secularism in co-ntcmporary Turkcy: The headscarf -nlcmporaÍy Turkey: heads dispute. Anthropoloýcal E::|"?^ thought. " Quarterly Cam'bridge: Cambridgc University Press. /anity. Ň"* i"?*' Macmíllan. ii]lil jff;J'Íí; oT,,! Í.I,,r*!.".,tt",".-Ň!.'řJ,n,řiott, Rinetrart and Winston. i"il."l.í^i^^...lial.';";:,;::I,{;!"!i:T;,x.ŤJ"::i,šT*.';;;,:' "^"^,;:T:::"::T::,Wi:;;,:;ii;;:;,;::;;,rir.. rr," r.ůářffi;:T;" from thc Quran and Hadith.Journat of i í: í* i M m |4o d *::{:,ť::, i{;,i rl;r;: : i of: Turkcy' In People,s t". 3. _ '.:?:: ::,ii couru Feris. 'omcal o. o..o.. and G.R. Woodman. "ia ilii".,á Dordrccht: 'Tu.rktsi u s ti r! 7 7 ( 3. a ) l 5 | - tó I.,;;tr7:,:;:ii:,:Iiii,i,;#;,:,::;.,,::;;:,:,i:il"Í;,ll?:3 ..,".-llÍ: Toprak. Binnaz. r9Et. rsram and ir,;;;';;;;';:,;rr,ey. The Turkish ?.riles, Dccember,t4, .po.titicai 19g9, and January 17, 1990. LeideA:E.J. NY: State Uiversíty vr of Ncw r!e' York rer Prcss. Bri', ř'il"::il'":i tlť;!Ii;},,i2,l;,,i!i,:,,,:i,;:::tr, University of Chicago Prcss. - .ý|. Ill a,uu.u: ryomen in ,,,fT*.lL:. Oman. Ba|timore MD: Johns ňopkins Univcrsíty hcss. )