On the Road to Social Death: A Grounded Theory Study of the Emotional and Social Effects of Honor Killing on Families—A Palestinian Perspective

Abstract

Despite high rates of domestic violence and increased rates of honor killing (HK) over the past decade, there is a paucity of empirical data about how HK affects family members. This study used grounded theory to explore the emotional and social effects of HK on 23 family members of murdered women and found that HK failed to achieve the restoration of honor. Following HK, families subsequently entered a protracted process of grief compounded by negative social interactions, which led to a form of “social death.” The road to social death was a painful and continuous social process, which, for many, never abated.

HIV/AIDS‐related beliefs among Israeli Arab‐Palestinian women

“…Muslim communities employ various mechanisms to police sexuality—particularly that of women—and control the risk of engaging in premarital sex, such as segregation and marriage at a young age (Adamczyk & Hayes, ; Zoabi & Savaya, ). Deviation from sexual norms by Arab women was shown to be heavily sanctioned by ‘honour killing’, ‘a form of gender‐based violence perpetrated by a male family member… against a female family member believed to have dishonoured the family by engaging in immoral and unacceptable forms of sexual behaviour’ (Awwad, , p. 39; see also, Khatib & Edge, on the stigma which the family faces).…”

Intersectionality and Femicide: Palestinian Women’s Experiences With the Murders of Their Beloved Female Relatives

“…The majority of the Palestinian society, both in general and in Gaza, is patriarchal by nature (Khatib et al, 2020). Patriarchy in this article refers to a system through which men exercise power and dominate women by controlling society’s governmental, social, economic, religious, and cultural institutions (Cohn, 2013).…”

“…Femicide exists in the three geopolitical contexts of Palestinian society, that is, within the Palestinian community living in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Although each context has distinct social and political features, femicide remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations against women in all three contexts (De Jong, 2014; Khatib et al, 2020; Shalhoub-Kevorkian & Daher-Nashif, 2013). Women in Gaza are exposed to two levels of abuse, namely, social and political (Thabet et al, 2011).…”

“…Each murdered woman has a sister and/or a mother and/or a daughter who was left bereaved and traumatized. Women in the families of murdered women live under the shadow of death; they have been characterized by Shalhoub-Kevorkian (2003) as the living dead and by Khatib et al (2020) as on “the road to social death” (p. 1008). Another aspect of female relatives and femicide is that they are sometimes involved and engaged in managing the murder.…”

“…Very few studies have addressed the severe psychosocial impact on sisters and mothers who witness the killing of their sisters or daughters. Knowing that their daughter, mother, sister, or aunt was killed could lead these women to live with the expectation that they could be next (Edvardsson, 2008; Kardam, 2008; Khatib, et al, 2020; Wikan, 2008). Previous researchers who interviewed family members reported that recruiting informants was very difficult and sometimes impossible because families did not want to talk about the incident (Edvardsson, 2008; Kardam, 2008; Khatib et al, 2020).…”