The first thing that needs to be emphasised is that there’s nothing different about violence in the North Caucasus compared with other areas. However, there are cultural differences that are often used to commit and legitimise violence.
Describing the system of law and social relations in the region, many researchers talk about “legal pluralism” or the so-called “legal triangle”, which consists of: local traditions and customs (customary law); religious ethics; and Russian legislation. In Chechnya, this triangle forms a very different shape, the most significant part of which is the phrase “Ramzan said”. This refers to any written or oral statements of Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the republic, which acquire the status of a law or an insistent wish.
There is legal pluralism (the presence of several regulatory systems) in action here, but in the case of women’s rights, there’s another important concept. In terms of social anthropology, the Caucasus is similar to other parts of the world such as the Middle East, the southern United States, some Mediterranean regions and certain urban areas controlled by gangs in that there is a so-called ‘honour culture’.
Honour cultures are societies in which a person (usually a man) feels obligated to protect his reputation and, in response to insults and threats, can often use violence (including murder). The emphasis in honour cultures is on morality related to gender and group life. At the same time, different cultures have different ideas about where exactly “honour” lies: some communities overly value female chastity, while others focus on rules around male interaction. Some have strict standards of hospitality and courtesy towards strangers, while others actively encourage aggression against them.
Fear of shame
However, all honour cultures share the centrality attached to insults and threats and the need to respond to them with violence or the threat of violence. In this regard, the North Caucasian communities are close to the Middle East, where female chastity is an important part of the local “honour”, and men are ordered to protect it. Hence the notorious practices of revenge and ‘honour killings’, when a reputation can only be restored by shedding the blood of the offender.
Turning to legal systems or in this case, Russia’s national laws, in these cultures is less encouraged than trying to get justice with your own hands. Collective reputation is also inherently important when a man feels responsible for his family, or even the whole clan. In modern times, this sense of collective responsibility sometimes extends to the idea of an entire ethnic group or even a republic.
That is why any unfavourable stories about the behaviour of people from the North Caucasus that penetrate the media are perceived as a generalisation – since one Avar has done something bad, then the whole of Dagestan is perceived badly.
Since the sanction for loss of honour is shame, honour cultures have a particular sensitivity to insult, disrespect, and even unintentional neglect. Unni Wikan, in her 2008 book, ‘In Honour of Fadime’, wrote: “People who value ‘honour’ are not only motivated to attain and retain ‘honour’ but also concerned with avoiding shame.”
This is where the main conflict begins: visiting journalists exoticise the North Caucasus, and residents perceive any story about the region’s “’unusual problems” as a colonial, hierarchical slur in the spirit of “look at these wild mountaineers, how stupid/ridiculous/brutal they are behaving” – that is, shame.
This is why Chechen viewers were particularly indignant at Redaktsiya’s film: the main Chechen character left (and therefore was no longer “one of us”), calling her homeland “the planet of the apes”.
There is another problem with the Redaktsiya film: North Caucasian viewers did not see the women featured as people they could identify with their region.
Listen more, talk less
Rather, the principal characters were people whom locals consider atypical, if not marginal: a blonde woman from Dagestan with short hair and piercings, a young man with a mohawk, and finally a Chechen heroine in a white wig, whom many viewers identified as ethnically Russian.
For a film billed as a ‘special report’, this choice of characters seems odd. The authors of the film decided what problems women have in the Caucasus and now to present their vision to us.
In discussing the film, local viewers often raised an important question: why do Russian journalists always focus exclusively on the need to “liberate the women of the East” from the hijab and traditional values, but it never occurs to anyone to film the struggle of Muslim girls for the right to wear the hijab, despite the fact that conflicts between young religious women and their more secular parents are quite common.
This question concerns not only the Redaktsiya film, but also a 2020 film by the Russian independent TV channel, Dozhd. This film, titled ‘Those who took off their hijab: stories of girls from Dagestan who escaped from conservative families’ features a woman, Nina, who also appears in the Redaktsiya film and, indeed, other articles published in the Russian media in recent months.
From my field experience, I can say with confidence that Muslim women from Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan will criticise a single unifying approach to the situation of local women – it appears colonial, Western-centric and often Islamophobic.
Allowing for inclusive participation of vulnerable groups, taking the approach of “Nothing about us without us” would help to avoid these mistakes. If Moscow journalists engaged more actively with local consultants and included them in their crew, then there would be less coverage of “Indians”.
If they responded to the requests and ideas of Caucasus residents about what worries them and what problems they see in the lives of women, perhaps we would see new films about poor quality healthcare, corruption and unemployment, housework and difficulties with kindergartens – and other non-exotic topics.
Residents of the North Caucasus have long mastered their external roles, and often approach visiting listeners with memorised speeches about local customs, traditions and the high role of women in society. To get to the truth, researchers and journalists need a little more patience – as well as a greater willingness to leave their colonial hats at home.
Print
Irina Kosterina | Radio Free (2021-04-27T09:52:12+00:00) The media still misrepresents Russia’s North Caucasus. Here’s how to stop. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2021/04/27/the-media-still-misrepresents-russias-north-caucasus-heres-how-to-stop/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.