Ouline of "In Honor of Fadime" by Heidi Fung

Fadime Sahindal (1976-2002)

1976: Born in Turkey to a Kurdish Muslim family
1984: Moved to Uppsala, Sweden with her family
1996: Fell in love with Patrik Lindesjos, a young Swedish-Iranian man (1997/9: 1st death threat from F)
1998/1: Patrik’s F & GM visited & proposed
1998/5: On TV; Her father & brother were convicted
1998/6: Mysterious death of Patrik
1998/8: Brother (17 yr. old) in jail for 5 mo.)
2001/11: Speech in Swedish Parliament
(arranged by Violence Against Women on “Integration on Whose Terms?”)
2002/1: Killed by her father, Rahmi (56 yr. old):
“She was a whore; the problem is over now.” à Life sentence in jail



Unni Wikan puts tough questions to herself and to her readers in
this spellbinding, astonishing and courageous account of her
personal journey across moral universes. In Honor of Fadime is
far more than a eulogy—it is the best case study ever written
about the way liberal and illiberal moral communities
misunderstand and react to each other in Northern Europe. If
murder is defined as a wrongful killing, is an honor killing murder?
What precisely makes an honor killing wrong if it is an act of
collective defense and a last resort to protect a family from
humiliating and socially consequential harms inflicted on it by one
of its members? This brilliant book takes us far beyond the
“banality of evil” as we arrive at an eye-opening (even if troubling)
comprehension of how a morally decent husband and wife come to
feel they have no choice but to kill their daughter.

--Richard A. Shweder, University of Chicago



QUESTION
1. Is honor killing a religious practice or a cultural tradition? How frequent/rare?
2. Is it a form of violence against women? Or, globalized oppression of women?
3. Why hadn’t it happened earlier?
4. Why did Fadime’s M finally decide to defend her husband in the High Court?




Ethnographic Data

300+ pages of police interview records
Sat through trials of Fadime’s F in Uppsala District Court & the Swedish High Court
Interviews w/Fadime’s family members
(incl. her mother & baby sister (13 yr. old))
30+ yr. fieldwork in the Middle East & Inner Asia àCross-cultural comparisons




Definition of Honor Killing

UN report: 5,000 annually (?)
A murder carried out à restore honor
For a collective group (instead of a single person)
Approval of audience, ready to reward murder w/honor
The birth family’s obligation to “cleanse the shame” =/= “passion/jealousy killing”



The Code of Honor

Honor vs. Shame à
Honor vs. Dishonor; Shame vs. Pride
Honor vs. Law & Order
Male vs. Female (the only victims? violation of chastity)
Hierarchy & inequality
In the public eye
Gossips, rumors, laughter, image, face, reputation…
The loss of honor
Collectively shared by the family/clan/community
All-or-nothing




Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Arab communities in Sinai (Egypt), Israel, Oman, Turkey, Jordan…;
India, Pakistan; late medieval Europe; immigrant communities in Europe…
Honor can mean different things in different groups & settings
Honor killings--
Rural>urban; poorly educated>highly educated; conservative>liberal…
Culture is changeable; human attitudes can prevail
Lack of clear-cut, generalizable rules




Fadime vs. Her Father/Family

Choose own love vs Accept an intermarriage to a Turkish cousin
Publicize own story in the media/court/parliament vs Made hidden family life exposed; loss of honor in the public eye
Stand for an inclusive & universal view of freedom & equality vs Betrayal: value own happiness more than loyalty to community
Fear + hope à refuse to hide or exile vs Exile or be killed (the only way out)
Successful integration? vs Failed integration?



Richard A. Shweder on FGM

What about Female Genital Mutilation? And Why Understanding Culture Matters in the First Place (2002)
When Cultures Collide: Which Rights? Whose Tradition of Values? A Critique of the Global Anti-FGM Campaign (2003)



Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

Definition: all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons (WHO/UN)
Violation of girls’ & women’s human rights
Why not male circumcision?
Medical consequences
Sexual consequences
Father in Prison: Khalid Adem (2005-2020)



Lessons to Take Away

Integration/assimilation vs. separation/marginalization vs Diversities/pluralism/multiculturalism
Contradictory liberal impulses—
Leave individuals free to live their lives
Protect those who are vulnerable from exploitation
Where is the proper limit of social & legal tolerance (if not respect)?



Lessons to Take Away (cont.)

Researcher’s role
Emotional vs. intellectual
Forgivable vs. understandable
The devil is in the details