Death by Marriage: Power, Pride, and Morality in Northeast Brazil

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Abstract

Conjugal violence is frequently addressed at a meta-level, through examining structures of power and inequality between the sexes. Such relations are often shown to be embedded within local discourses that emphasize essential differences between husbands and wives such as 'honour' and 'shame'. Through an ethnographic analysis of conjugal relations in Santa Lucia, a rural Catholic community in Northeast Brazil, I seek to reveal villagers' preoccupation, not with difference, but with the perceived similarity of the sexes in terms of power and morality. For Santa Lucians, even an act as abhorrent as murder must be understood in terms of similarity and equality, rather than difference and hierarchy. For though the sources of men's and women's power may be different, both its effects on persons (pride, suffering, protection) and that which regulates it (love) are essentially the same. Thus more relevant than the articulation of gendered identity is the production of a non-gendered discourse about social conduct and moral personhood grounded in Christian belief.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)135-153
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2011

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