Bibliography
L. Abu-Lughod, Writing women’s worlds. Bedouin sto-
ries, Berkeley 1993.
R. Bourquia, M. Charrad, and N. Gallagher (eds.),
Femmes, culture et société au Maghreb, Casablanca
1996.
S. S. Davis, Patience and power. Women’s lives in a
Moroccan village, Bloomington, Ind. 1983.
P. Holmes-Eber, Daughters of Tunis. Women, family and
networks in a Muslim city, Boulder, Colo. 2002.
A. S. Kanafani, Rites of hospitality and aesthetics, in D. L.
Bowen and E. A. Early (eds.), Everyday life in the
Muslim world, Bloomington, Ind. 1993, 128–35.
H. Papanek, Family status production. The “work” and
“non-work” of women, in Signs. Journal of Women in
Culture and Society4:4 (1979), 775–81.
Paula Holmes-EberTurkey and the CaucasusThree factors have played important roles in the
social institution of hospitality in Turkey and the
Caucasus. These factors are gender, age, and social
status within the context of the Islamic culture and
the non-Islamic layer of tradition (≠àda, common
practice).
Traditional culture is conventionally represented
in familial and social everyday life by four basic
tenets: reverence to older people, respect for women,
mutual assistance, and hospitality.
The tradition of hospitality emerged long ago
and it still exists, though in a somewhat altered
state. There are certain rules of hospitality. The
attitude toward guests has varied and still does, but
the reasons for treating guests differently have
changed. For example, the Adygs who lived in the
Northwest Caucasus used certain criteria to define
the level of “honorability” of the guest, such as
how far the guest had to travel to get there, the
social status of the guest in comparison with the
social status of the host, the goals of the visit, spe-
cial personal traits (talents or achievements) of the
guest, his age, and the kind of kinship or cama-
raderie between the guest and the host. The way
hospitality was conducted depended upon all these
factors.
When the guest came, the partition of the house
into male (selamlık) and female (harem) parts
became of special importance. The guests were met
in the kunatskaya(guesthouse, from kunak, com-
rade) or in the male half of the house. The kunats-
kayais a part of the social (male) space in Turkey
and the Caucasus. That is why the chief role in
meeting the guests is played by the man, the head of
the family.
Feasts in Turkey and the Caucasus have always
been conducted according to principles of seniority
turkey and the caucasus 235and gender differentiation. When the guest came
into the house, women had to go to their rooms.
Women played attendant roles in hospitality: they
cooked and helped with arranging of the hand-
washing and sleeping arrangements. In the Cauca-
sus since the second half of the nineteenth century
young women have been allowed to enter the
kunatskaya and attend to the guests during the
meal. Sometimes the oldest woman in the family
helped to wash the hands of the most honorable
guests, but usually she only came into the kunats-
kaya to greet and welcome the guests. Women had
the right to participate only in meeting the most
honorable guests. The latter could even be invited
to the female half of the house, as a sign of special
honor. In former times, the guests were usually
men. If the guest were a woman, she might be met
in the female half of the house.
Under certain circumstances a woman also could
be seen as a distinguished guest. In hierarchical
Caucasian societies reception depended on the
social status of the guest, his wife, and the host; for
instance, a prince and his wife were always given a
grand welcome. The wife of the clan leader or fam-
ily head, or a woman with extraordinary talents
(for instance, a medicine woman, a witch, or a
woman who read or spoke Arabic) were also con-
sidered distinguished guests. At a party such a guest
would have the prime seat and be accorded all the
honors.
Hospitality in Turkey and the Caucasus has lost
much of its peculiarities and functions, in particu-
lar the function of communication. In a sense the
institution is preserved as a symbol and attribute of
ethnic identity and has acquired a hue of purpose-
ful display. Recently the number of female guests
has grown sharply and receptions for men and
women have become similar. Still, women’s status
and role have not seen much change: male guests
are entertained by the host and the hostess does not
take part in male receptions. When a mixed group
comes, the hostess can join them for a meal if the
host or one of the guests requests it; under very rare
circumstances girls are allowed to attend.Bibliography
(all works cited are in Russian)
I. L. Babich, Folk traditions in the social life of
Kabardians, Moscow 1995.
B. H. Bgazhnokov, The etiquette of Adygs, Nalchik 1978.
J. V. Chesnov, Women and the ethics of the Chehen’s life,
inEthnographic Review(Moscow) 5 (1994).
D. E. Eremeev, The women of Turkey and traditions, in
Peoples of Asia and Africa(Moscow) 3:4 (1978).
——,Between Asia and Europe. Essay on Turkey and
the Turkish woman and man, Moscow 1980.
U. U. Karpov, Female space in the culture of the
Caucasian peoples, St. Petersburg 2001.