SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is two-fold: first, to discuss the activities of the women of the Shahsavan tribe of North-eastern Azerbaijan, Iran, and to consider the women's sub-society in which all Shahsavan women participate, and secondly, to determine the extent to which the three requirements abstracted from the Shahsavan material and essential to the development of such a sub-society can be used as predictive tools when applied to other communities. In Part 1, a brief introduction to the concept 'women's sub-society' is presented, and the selection of societies to be used for comparison is considered. Part 2 includes a presentation of the Shahsavan material: Shahsavan attitudes to women, women's daily activities, and those activities - particularly feast-going - which provide a basis for the women's sub-society. In Parts 3 and 4 comparative material, on the Pastoral Fulani, and the Tuareg of the Sahara respectively, is examined in terms of the requirements essential to the development of a women's sub-society; it is suggested that the existence of a women's sub-society is not unlikely among the Pastoral Fulani, whereas among the Tuareg, where the three requirements are not met, this does not seem to be the case, A broader perspective is presented in Part 5; the implications of a women's sub-society, particularly as it acts as an information service, a means of social control, and a possible psychological outlet for women, are examined in terms of societies other than those which are nomadic, Muslim, and male-dominated.