Citation

Billaud J. Cult. Med. Psychiatry 2012; 36(2): 264-285.

Affiliation

Forum Transregional Studies, Humboldt University, 'Legal Cultures' Program, Berlin, Germany, juliebillaud@yahoo.fr.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11013-012-9262-2

PMID

22528053

Abstract

Female suicide in Afghanistan has generally been given economic and psychological explanations. More rarely has its social dimension been analysed. In this paper, I underline the communicative potential of Afghan women's suicide in the 'post-war/reconstruction' context. I highlight its ambiguous symbolic power and its anchorage in the subversive imaginary universe of women's poetic expression. I argue that while reproducing certain cultural ideas about women's inherent emotional fragility, women's suicide also challenges the honour system in powerful ways and opens possibilities for voicing discontent. I qualify female suicide as the 'art of the weak' (De Certeau 1980, 6), a covert form of protest, a performance-in the sense of Bauman (2004)-that builds upon traditional popular 'knowledge' about gender in order to manage the impression of an audience and make women's claims audible.

Language: en