Abstract

JARDIM, Denise Fagundes. "Women fly with their husbands": Palestinian diaspora and gender relations.Translated byLeticia Maria Costa da Nobrega Cesarino. Horiz.antropol. [online]. 2008, vol.4Selected edition, pp. 0-0. ISSN 0104-7183.

This article proposes a reflection about gender relations and the forms of organization of contemporary Palestinian immigrants' experience. According to an Arabian proverb, collected during fieldwork, "the women fly with their husbands". The explanation refers to a kinship structure through which daughters-in-law come to live in the husband's father's domestic unit. This proverb reveals some aspects about the "coming and going" of Palestinian wives who reside or come from other localities to settle in Chui city. In the post-colonial era, women were converted in powerful identity symbols. Islamic women, specially Palestinians women, are part of a ideological debate about cultural integrity and authenticity. That proverb gives us access to different viewpoints on the cultural devices subjacent to those streams and, therefore, demands a reflection on gender relations and ways of analyzing the agency of Moslem.

Keywords : Arab family; ethnic identity; Moslem women; Palestinian diaspora.