Citation

Riaz M. J. Res. Soc. Pak. 2022; 59(1): 245-254.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Research Society of Pakistan, Publisher Information Technology Centre University of the Punjab)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

The semiotics of the kitchen in Pakistan in terms of sustainable development, structural violence and unequal distribution of resources, particularly technological ones, has been analyzed. The diverse architecture and resources in the kitchen in rural and urban settings have been linked with gender-based oppression and inequality in the light of the concepts of patriarchal relativity and compound patriarchy elaborated by Akgul (2017), capabilities suggested by Nassbaum (2000), and the semiotics of kitchen attributed to Rosler (1975). By studying the semiotics of the architecture of nine purposively selected images of kitchens in Pakistan, the gender hierarchies and binaries of men and women as 'haves' or 'have-nots' and privileged or multi- marginalized have been elaborated. The analysis of Pakistani rural and urban kitchens suggests that the architecture of the kitchen connotes unequal distribution of resources, such as the supply of gas, electricity, and water among women living in rural and urban areas.

Keywords: Compound patriarchy, inequalities, gender, rural vs urban areas, structural violence, access to resources, semiotics of the kitchen

Language: en