C ARTOGRAFÍA DEL POT MUNICIPIO DE C ARTAGO - V ALLE

This dissertation is organized in six chapters. The first chapter discusses relevant

literature in each of the fields of feminist studies, political sociology and Middle Eastern gender studies. The second chapter offers a discussion of the methodology used to conduct this study in a society that is highly affected by close networks. In the third chapter, I discuss how kin groups influence women’s rights within both nuclear and extended family structures. Chapters four, five and six offer a discussion of women’s activism in Lebanon. In chapter four, I analyze the impact of being embedded in, or autonomous from kin groups on women’s decisions to engage in activism. In chapter five, I discuss the personal strategies that activists apply in utilizing their nuclear family support and extended kinship networks on facilitating their participation in the

movement’s activities. Finally, in the sixth chapter, I examine these strategies as they are enacted on the organizational level.

The first chapter on theory contributes to three bodies of literature in the fields of Social movements, social capital and feminism. Using the concepts of reflexivity, culture, kinship, and embedded-autonomy, I engage these bodies of literature and identify their

respective gaps when it comes to analyzing women’s activism in Lebanon. I examine how social movement theorists have normatively supposed that social capital has to be cultivated from autonomous relationships that are fostered only in the context of civil society in democratic settings (e.g. Tilly 1999). I also highlight the conflict they see between pursuing radical democratic goals and being embedded in parochial social networks as activists develop detached and cosmopolitan protest identities. I challenge the argument of social capital theorists that the development of trust networks outside family ties is necessary for the advancement of civil society, and that modern citizenship requires the erosion of traditional structures like kinship. In the same vein, I attempt to contribute to the dialogue between feminist theory and family scholarship, casting a light on a significant but understudied aspect of women’s agency within kinship structure.

Some Western feminist studies assume the inability of feminist movements to advance except in so far as they advocate for the goal of autonomy from traditional structures such as the family. While recognizing the salience of cultural differences, this dissertation converges with a number of studies by liberal feminists and the literature on women’s activism on the significance of the family in women’s lives.

The Methods chapter is a description of the approach I followed in applying qualitative methodological strategies while doing field research in Lebanon in 2006. Reflexivity and feminist principles guide my methodological approach and connect it to my theoretical perspective. The contribution of this chapter reaches beyond the practical knowledge associated with ethnographic work by putting the kinship network to practical

methodological application. I show how I maneuvered my own kinship networks and

used my family name and connections to get access to my respondents and also gain their trust. This chapter provides a vivid example of survival while doing research in a war zone. As my research was interrupted by the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this chapter provides insight about the complexity of assessing danger, evaluating rescue options, and making the evacuation decision.

In Chapter three on family structure, I map out a typology of Lebanese kinship relations, showing the conditions under which social capital is acquired in Lebanon through family membership. In developing a definition of kinship from a Middle Eastern perspective, I classify membership in a kin group according to five positions and relationships in nuclear and extended families (nuclear, natal, marital, extended and symbolic). I also examine how social capital from kinship is constructed within the context of community origin (in tribal, rural, urban and poor suburb communities), social class (among elites, intellectuals, middle and working class) and confessionalism. I offer an analysis of the responsibilities which women fulfill towards their kin groups in the form of care-giving and the rights which kinship offers in exchange in the form education and welfare.

The fourth chapter examines the agency/structure problem in terms of the woman’s rights motivation set. I review structural and personal reasons that have helped women become activists. This chapter explores how some arrangements in the nuclear family and the extended kinship structure encourage women’s activism while others do not. I examine closely the support that women received from their fathers, mothers, and husbands in their civic engagement and the opportunities offered to them through their kinship

networks and social status.

The fifth and sixth chapters on strategies address how women join, organize and frame their movement. The Lebanese women’s rights movement uses autonomous and embedded strategies to modify and partially dismantle the gender-defined division between the public and private sphere. In chapter five, I show how some Lebanese women’s rights activists use unobtrusive personal strategies. While adhering to the behavioral norms set by the kinship system, some activists use kinship networks to gain access and build their personal capacities and others worked outside them. Chapter Six highlights embedded and autonomous approaches to organizational resource mobilization strategies and framing processes.

CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND BACKGROUND

A. Introduction

This study aims to contribute to the sociological literature of three distinct but overlapping theoretical fields: Social movements, social capital and feminism. The chapter identifies assumptions in the literature that animate such claims as the following comparison, given in a New York Times article entitled “It Takes a Family (to Break a Glass Ceiling)” to describe Hillary Clinton’s ascension to power in America: “Like it or not, the road to female advancement often begins at the altar. History books are thick with examples of women who broke political barriers because their family connections afforded them the opportunity. If you’ve ever wondered why India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan and the Philippines seem readier to elect women than does the United States, here’s your answer: Societies that value a candidate’s family affiliation, and therefore have a history of nepotistic succession, are often open to female leadership so long as it bears the right brand. Benazir Bhutto, Indira Gandhi and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, among many others, slashed through gender barriers on the strength of their family names”

(Howley 2008).

Howley raises a valuable point showing that family’s reputation and networks have helped women’s ascension to power in various degrees. The question of whether women activists could consolidate their feminist identity and activism with their membership in the family becomes more than academic for feminists in Pakistan, India, Burma or – in

the country I studied – Lebanon. A gap in the scholarly literature on social movements and feminism exists in regards to studying the family and political activism. Studies that evaluate how feminism copes with, or is advanced or aided by kinship, especially extended family include studies such as (Boswell and McArthur 2006; Dabel 2008; Hill Collins 2008; Vargas 2008). The missing link lies in incorporating the experiences of non-western women in the analysis of social movements, social capital and feminist movements.

In the following, I examine instances in which the kinship system is perceived as a source of social capital or a web of social networks in the social and women’s movements literature. While a comparison between studies conducted in Western and non-Western societies might present different political environments and social contexts, the contrast offers an illuminating angle to explore the extent and power of family relations in both worlds. In the same vein, discussing social capital is an important part of understanding kinship’s negative as well as positive contributions to participation in the public life.