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Honour and Reputation as Gender Politics in Ali Abdel-Nabi Al Zaidi's Rubbish (1995) and Amir Al-Azraki's The Widow (2014)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2025
Abstract
The two related notions of honour and reputation are closely associated with the social status of individuals (male or female), particularly in a society governed by traditional, patriarchal moral values. However, writing about honour and reputation in Iraq (and in the Middle East in general) means talking about women's chastity and their sexual morality specifically. Eclipsing honour and societal reputation to women's bodies are deep-rooted patriarchal norms that stigmatize women's involvement in sexual relations (mainly outside marriage codes) and exclude men from this adultery framework. The current paper investigates the concepts of honour, chastity and reputation in relation to gender norms in Iraq through two contemporary Iraqi plays. First, the article introduces the two concepts through the social, traditional and religious context in the Middle East, focusing on Iraq. The discussion in the second section moves to tackle Ali Al Zaidi's play Rubbish (1995), while the third section deals with Amir Al-Azraki's The Widow (2014). In these two sections the study looks critically at how the two plays dramatize the concepts of honour and chastity through their characters. Being written respectively during and after wars, the two plays are seen as reactions to such issues. Hence they represent the new complex visions of two male perspectives challenging dramatically and shaking the settlement of such notions of morals and their impact on women as well as on society.
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- Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Federation for Theatre Research
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NOTES
1 Mohammad ibn Ahmed Al Hurowi Al Azhari, Tahtheeb Al Lugha (Bairut: Dar Ihiaa Al Turath AlArbi, 2001), Vol. XI, p. 134, Ibn Mandhour, Lisan Al Arab (Cairo: Dar Al Ma'rif Al Arabia, 1981), pp. 2241–4.
2 Johnson, Samuel, A Dictionary of the English language (London: Longmans, 2018), p. 56Google Scholar.
3 Oxford English Dictionary, at www.oed.com/dictionary/honour_n?tab=meaning_and_use#1533395 (accessed 1 July 2024).
4 Ibn Mandhour, Lisan Al Arab, pp. 2241–4.
5 Wafa’ Stephan Tarnowski, ‘Book Summary Honour and Shame by Sana al-Khayyat’, Al-Raida col. KI, No. pp. 65–6.
6 Al Azhari, Tahtheeb Al Lugha, p. 205.
7 Quoted in Ylivuori, Soile, Rethinking Female Chastity and Gentlewoman's Honour in Eighteenth-Century England (Helsinki: University of Helsinki, 2016), p. 8Google Scholar.
8 Johnson, A Dictionary.
9 Quoted in Peirce, Leslie, ‘Honor, Reputation, and Reciprocity’, European Journal of Turkish Studies, 18 (2014), pp. 1–13Google Scholar, here p. 1.
10 Ali, Nadje Al, Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present (London: Zed Books, 2007), p. 143CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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12 Gowing, Laura, Domestic Dangers: Women, Words, and Sex in Early Modern London (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 94Google Scholar.
13 Rachel Bailey Jones and Shawgi Tell, ‘Sexuality in the Arab World: Complexity and Contradiction’, Counterpoints, 355 (2010), Examining Social Theory: Crossing Borders/Reflecting Back, pp. 131–143, here p. 135.
14 Dabhoiwala, Faramerz, ‘The Construction of Honour, Reputation and Status in Late Seventeenth- and Early Eighteenth-Century England’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 6 (1996), pp. 201–213CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here p. 202.
15 Quoted in Crook, Zeba, ‘Honor, Shame, and Social Status Revisited’, Journal of Biblical Literature, 128, 3 (Fall 2009), pp. 591–611CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here p. 593.
16 Ibid., p. 593.
17 Malina, Bruce J., The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology (Atlanta: John Knox, 1981)Google Scholar; Fisher, N. R. E., Hybris: A Study in the Values of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greece (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1992)Google Scholar; Cairns, Douglas L., Aidōs: The Psychology and Ethics of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Literature (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), p. 21Google Scholar.
18 Ylivuori, Rethinking Female Chastity, p. 2.
19 Keeler, Sarah, ‘Peacebuilding: The Performance and Politics of Trauma in Northern Iraq’, in Monk, Daniel Bertrand and Mundy, Jacob, eds., The Post-conflict Environment: Investigation and Critique (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2014), pp. 68–102Google Scholar, here pp. 82–3.
20 Sometimes women bear the difficulties of marital life and sacrifice joy to protect themselves and their children from loss and the bad view of society. ‘Bad view of society’ means that if the woman could not live with her husband with such difficult circumstances and asked for divorce she would be judged by society as being a bad woman, in addition to the fact that her children would lose the support provided by their father. Divorced women are generally looked down upon in Arabic society for being impatient, demanding or even impolite.
21 United Nations International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 59th Session, Geneva, Switzerland, 21 September–9 October 2015, submitted by the International Women's Human Rights (IWHR) Clinic at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, MADRE and the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI).
22 S. Mojab, ‘“Post–War Reconstruction”, Imperialism and Kurdish Women's NGOs', in N. Al Ali and N. Pratt, eds., Women and War in the Middle East: Transnational Perspectives (London, New York: Zed Books, 2009), pp. 98–128, here.
23 Quoted in Amina Jamal, ‘Piety, Transgression, and the Feminist Debate on Muslim Women: Resituating the Victim Subject of Honour-Related Violence from a Transnational Lens’, Signs, 41, 1 (Autumn 2015), pp. 55–79, here p. 66.
24 Keeler, ‘Peacebuilding’, p. 86.
25 Christina Kouta, Santiago Boira, Anita Nudelman and Aisha K. Gill, ‘Understanding and Preventing Femicide Using a Cultural and Ecological Approach’, in Shalva Weil, Consuelo Corradi and Marceline Naudi, eds., Femicide across Europe: Theory, Research and Prevention (Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2017), pp. 53–70, here p. 57.
26 Majeed Mohammed Midhin and Saud Qahtan Hussein, ‘Iraqi Theatre: A Niche in an Ecologically Political Sane Milie’, Critical Stages/Scènes critiques: The IATC journal/Revue de l'AICT, 25 (June 2022), p. 1.
27 Alyaa Naser, written interview with Ali Al Zaidi, 2 September 2014.
28 Ali Abdulnebbi Al Zaidi's Rubbish, trans. Alyaa A. Naser (Martin E. Segal Theatre Centre Publication, Arab Stages, 2, 2 (Spring 2016), pp. 1–23, here pp. 1–2.
29 Ibid., p. 5.
30 Ibid., p. 6.
31 Ibid., p. 8.
32 Ibid.
33 Ibid., p. 23.
34 Ibid., p. 8.
35 Ibid., p. 9.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid., p. 10.
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid.
41 Ibid.
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid., p. 11.
44 Ibid.
45 Ibid., p. 14.
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid., p. 15.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 Ibid.
52 Ibid., p. 19.
53 Ibid.
54 Ibid., p. 20.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid., p. 23.
57 Amir Al-Azraki and James Al-Shamma, Contemporary Plays from Iraq (London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2017), p. 169.
58 Ibid., p. 169.
59 Raffo's play revolves around the lives of nine Iraqi women, showing their dilemma during and after the Ba'ath regime, taking its title from a statement that is attributed to Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad. He is one of the central figures for Shia Muslims.
60 Al-Azraki and Shamma, Contemporary Plays from Iraq, p. 176.
61 Ibid., p. 176.
62 Ibid., p. 177.
63 Ibid., p. 185.
64 Ibid., p. 195.
65 Ibid., p. 196.
66 Nikah al-mutaa is a temporary marriage, which can be seen in Twelver Shia Islam. It is a private contract with a short period and a specific dowry.
67 Al-Azraki and Shamma, Contemporary Plays from Iraq, p. 200.
68 A haji is a Muslim who performs a pilgrimage to Mecca, especially those who are enabled materially. They are supposed to be good-natured people and trustworthy.
69 Al-Azraki and Shamma, Contemporary Plays from Iraq, p. 198.
70 An online review of the performance of the play published on 4 February 2013.
71 Ibid.