Notes from Source: Among Ghilzai Pakhtun in Afghanistan, women are veiled or secluded from those men to whom potentially they could be married. Avoidance, however, is mutual—men “veil” too—and cognate behaviors occur in other relationships where differentiation is deemphasized as the focus of interaction. The symbolism of the veil draws on a wider pattern of comportment, known as hajah, or “extreme politeness,” which distributes complementarily throughout all social relationships with a dzəgh, or “rough,” mode of interaction whereby transactions are framed in terms of differences between actors. A comparison of situations in which the veil is used and the placement of the veil in the context of meanings which inform that use reveal its significance as being not so much to keep men and women apart as to bring them together by regulating the terms in which they are socially present. Changes in the practice are consistent with alterations of social contexts rather than with changes in ideas about the identities of men and women.

Further Notes: Place: Freiburg Publisher: Paulusdruckerei