The politics of privacy: perceptions of domestic violence among select Muslims in Johannesburg

• Main Author: Mukaddam, Fatima
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Family violence > South Africa; Family violence > Social aspects > South Africa; Women > Violence against > South Africa; Muslims > South Africa
• Online Access: Mukaddam, Fatima (2016) The politics of privacy: perceptions of domestic violence among select Muslims in Johannesburg, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, < http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/21854>; http://hdl.handle.net/10539/21854

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Political Studies by Coursework and Research Report in the Department of Political Studies Faculty of Humanities March 2016 === Domestic violence is both a local and global phenomenon. Much research has been conducted on its incidence in South Africa, but there is a dearth of research on how it affects Muslim communities. Thus, this research report contributes to the literature in providing a case study of how a select middle class cohort of Muslims in Johannesburg, by gender and generation, discursively construct their perspectives on domestic violence in their community. The research investigates how members of Muslim congregations understand and define gendered violence, particularly violence against women. The research report addresses two key themes through the research. The first, involves a textual analysis of the interpretations of Chapter 4 Verse 34 in the Qur’an. The interpretations and understandings of this verse and of Islam form the basis for how the respondents defined, understood and perceived gendered violence in their community and in wider society, especially violence against women. The main focus of the empirical research, addresses how a diverse group of respondents relate to the issue of violence against women in Islam and in the Muslim community. This research report adopts a case study approach and thus does not have general applicability. However, through an analysis of focus groups and individual interviews, which form the basis of the research, the report presents the perspective on domestic violence as discussed by select Muslims in Johannesburg. It interrogates the notion of the public and private, of honour and shame versus security, and investigates the avenues of escape available to women. The respondents argue that while intimate family violence is a general social problem, it occurs in Muslim homes to a lesser extent. They refer to the writings of the Prophet Muhammad, his life and personal conduct, in order to show that domestic violence is not allowed in Islam. However, the older men and women respondents both directly and indirectly blame women for the abuse they endure. This victim-blaming resides within a strongly patriarchal bias that creates the idea that men are the protectors and representatives of the family in the public realm and inevitably justifies domestic violence. The younger cohort provided a somewhat less rigid set of perspectives that were less judgemental in nature. The distinction made between the public and private realms proved to be an important one in defining the status and roles of women and men, and in shaping what could be disclosed in public and what should remain private. Honour proved to be a central precept in the significance of privacy. In Islamic culture, the private sphere is associated with honour and if what is meant to be private is made public, this idea of honour is breached and the family suffers humiliation. But the women bear the brunt of the blame. Thus, the debate about honour in Muslim culture and Islamic precepts of what is right and wrong is critical in bringing the issue of domestic violence to the fore as a violation of women’s rights on the one hand, and Islamic dogma on the other. The resolution of this conflict is important in determining the role of the Jamiat and Muslim congregations in offering mechanisms of support for abused women and avenues of escape from the abuse. However, these mechanisms and avenues will only work if what is meant to be ‘a private matter’ is no longer made an issue of honour in Muslim communities === MT2017