Xabze and Circassian Women
When one discusses Circassians with people who are not Circassian, two themes emerge. One well-known thing about Circassians is that Circassian women are supposed to be very beautiful. Although I was not necessarily raised with impossibly high beauty standards, "beauty" was definitely important to my grandmother. My grandmother was known as a beautiful woman in her youth, and the family lore is that my aunt (my mom's older sister) was in her youth also sought after by families of eligible bachelors (who were responsible for securing a suitable match for their son) due to her resemblance to Hollywood icon Grace Kelly.
The other common theme that comes up is that of Muslim communities living in Turkey, Circassian women are given greater freedom. During our many conversations about Circassian culture, my second-cousin Yahya Kazokoğlu repeatedly made the claim that there couldn't be domestic violence or other forms of violence again women among Circassians in Turkey. After many such discussions, I began to seriously ponder the possibility of whether a greater degree of gender equality had truly been achieved among Circassian communities, compared to other Muslim communities in Turkey. The photo above (can also be seen below) constitutes one piece of evidence for this claim: It depicts students and faculty of one of the first coeducational institutions in the Ottoman Empire, the Çerkes Kız Numune Mektebi, founded by Circassians (Hamed-Troyansky 2018 and Arslan 2020). Circassian feminist Hayriye Melek Hunç is perhaps another piece of evidence.
Contrast the social mixing of boys and girls displayed here with Delaney's findings. Çerkes Kız Numune Mektebi, one of the first co-ed schools in the Ottoman Empire, 1919. Source: https://m.bianet.org/bianet/print/224485-hayriye-melek-hunc-cerkes-kadinlari-teavun-cemiyeti-ve-numune-mektepleri
Hayriye Melek Hunç: An Early 20th Century Circassian Feminist
Hayriye Melek Hunç (1896-1963) was a Circassian feminist author (a contemporary of the well-known feminist figure of Turkish modernization, Halide Edip Adıvar). She was one of the founders and president of the Circassian Women's Solidarity Association in 1918. The co-ed Çerkes Kız Numune Mektebi (Circassian Girls' Example School) was created under the association's auspices and operated until 1922.
I was surprised to learn of the existence of a coeducational school in 1919, founded by Circassians who are Muslims. My surprise stems from the findings of my doctoral dissertation that even in late 20th century Turkey, social mixing of genders was looked upon unfavorably. Observing a Muslim Turkish village in the 1980s, anthropologist Carol Delaney writes of the villagers' outlook on social interactions between unrelated men and women:
"social intercourse between unrelated men and women is almost equivalent to sexual intercourse, which is why town and city (as well as Europe and America) are considered bulaşık*, unlike the village, which is temiz (clean, pure) because it is kapalı (covered), as are its women. In the town and city, women and men mix more openly; they can hardly avoid it." (Delaney 1991, 42)
*Bulaşık means “smudgy, dirty.” In another context, it also means “dirty dishes.”
Delaney continues:
"In order to preserve her reputation, a girl participates in her own enclosure: she averts her eyes when unrelated men are around, wears the headscarf and other voluminous coverings such as şalvar (baggy pants), and stays at home. By these activities, she demonstrates that she is kapalı (covered, closed) as opposed to açık (open, uncovered), that she is temiz (clean, pure) as opposed to pis (dirty, defiled). She is preserved in this state until marriage, when her husband has the right to open her and thereafter control the times and places of her opening." (Delaney 1991, 42, italics in original)
The progressive feminist outlook of figures like Hayriye Melek Hunç and the fact that a co-ed Circassian school was possible in the early 20th century are certainly evidence that Xabze, the cultural code of Circassians, might give Circassian women greater freedom than described above by Delaney. After all, I have grown up in a family that has given its female members equal opportunities for education. All three of my grandparents' daughters went to college, even though they were born to a mother with no formal education. I was always encouraged and supported in my academic endeavors, leading up to a Ph.D. My cousin Yeşim is a lawyer in Germany. I often wondered about my grandfather's decision to make sure all his daughters had an education (as the head of the household in a patriarchal society, it would not have happened without his consent). This is, for example, in contrast with my paternal aunt (not Circassian), who was sent to a school for girls where she learned to be seamstress but was not allowed (or at least not encouraged) to pursue an education beyond middle-school.
Boundary work- my article.pdfCould it be that my mother, her sisters, and her paternal cousins were encouraged to pursue their educational and career aspirations (the latter also had to do with their spouses) due to Xabze's egalitarian gender norms? Or did this have to do with my grandfather's public servant status? I have elsewhere argued that public servants in the young Turkish Republic had to display high republican capital, which, among other things, meant secular leanings (Şanlı 2013). Maybe my grandfather just fit the profile. Our family was in the right place at the right time and was allowed to be upwardly mobile through education. Question is: where, if at all, did their Circassian identity fit in? What role, if any, did Xabze play?
In late 2020, as I was continuing with my research project, I heard about a survey being circulated among Circassians, by a scholar teaching at a Turkish university, based on the assumption that there was no violence against women in Circassian communities. As someone who has worked on violence against women in Turkey in her doctoral research, I was seriously suspicious of the claim that there was absolutely no violence against women in Circassian communities. As research tells us, nobody is exempt from domestic violence, rich, poor, white, Black, Asian, Circassian, unfortunately. A helpful clarification on the place of domestic violence in Circassian culture was provided by Dr. Handan Demiröz, a former Board Member of KAFFED. She argued in her talk during KAFFED's Women's Participation workshop on February 13, 2021 that domestic violence is looked upon unfavorably in Circassian culture and in the case of any abuse, the family would side with the woman. (Her talk can be heard at 7:30-27:40.)
As I was pondering these questions, I set up a Zoom meeting with a well-respected Turkish scholar, Sevda Alankuş, who also studies the Circassian diaspora in Turkey. Professor Alankuş and I concluded our meeting with the decision that I should study Circassian women ethnographically (which I still intend to do) to go deeper into the question of whether it's Circassian Xabze or other sociological factors like their social class, rural vs. urban status, parents' education etc. that gives Circassian women more or less freedom. For example, I have many female relatives living in Düzce and its surrounding villages who have not received any education beyond elementary school and do not work for a wage. So, we cannot talk about a "Circassian culture" that gives ALL Circassian women educational and employment opportunities. But once again, what is the impact of Xabze?
Almastı: Circassian Feminism in the Diaspora
What happened next was quite significant and unexpected: In the last few days of 2020, a Circassian feminist group which called itself Almastı catapulted itself into the the public sphere in Turkey with a manifesto, which many members of the Circassian diaspora felt was controversial. A fascinating discussion ensued.
In a nutshell, Almastı criticizes the assumption that the Circassian community, due to Xabze's allowance of somewhat more egalitarian gender roles, is exempt from patriarchal norms and unequal practices. They believe Xabze is being exploited and used to justify existing patriarchal structures. They are also critical of the physical scrutiny women (and men) are placed under due to Xabze: the obligation to always look one's best, be physically fit and attractive etc.
"Almastı does not accept the image characterizing Circassian girls as ones that are beautiful, elegant and thin, and as girls that behave modestly, are skilled, don't laugh or talk loudly etc. It sees this characterization as a tool for patriarchal repression and also as internalized Orientalism." (translation mine)
Almastı takes its name from a female figure in Circassian mythology (Nart) that is either depicted as an old evil woman with an ugly face and hairy body who scares children OR as a beautiful creature with hair touching the floor. This dichotomous depiction should sound familiar. In patriarchal cultures, women are often shown in binary oppositions as pure angels OR evil jezebels, as helpful fairies OR ill-meaning witches, as ugly and vengeful creatures OR as beautiful and docile characters, which keep us from seeing women as real human beings with their own complexities, needs, frustrations, desires, and aspirations. Almastı hopes that their movement opens up a conversation among the Circassian diaspora in Turkey that scrutinizes the place of women in the Circassian community.
For example, one salient discussion revolves around the question: Does Xabze keep us silent? The importance of haynape (shameful behavior) was discussed in the section on Circassian Culture. The women leading the Almastı movement ask: If our culture (Xabze) asks us not to complain, because it is shameful to do so, could it be that it also keeps us suffering in silence? If we are to be hospitable to any guest that comes to our house, even unannounced, and if we women shoulder the bulk of the housework (the household division of labor is still very unevenly distributed in Turkey, across cultural and religious communities), then are we to suffer in silence when we are fulfilling our culture's norms?
Other important critiques raised by Almastı revolve around issues such as the role of thamate (group leader/ elder) being reserved for men and that women are still very much underrepresented in Circassian associations' leadership ranks.
As Almastı continued to fearlessly speak up and express these concerns, a lynching campaign against them was launched by some members of the Circassian diaspora, especially men. They were subject to cyberattacks. Reportedly, the women's fathers were even asked to call their daughters to order. In my opinion, the reaction Almastı members received did nothing but prove their point.
Unfortunately, even the female leadership of the Circassian diaspora failed to respond to Almastı's demands adequately. On February 13-14, 2021, KAFFED (The Federation of Caucasian Associations) held a series of workshops on Women's Participation. While some interesting scholarly talks were held and some critical viewpoints were expressed, Almastı was merely mentioned twice during the course of the two days. Given how recent and explosive Almastı's introduction into the public sphere was, I certainly expected a much more robust discussion of Almastı's platform.
One speaker, Dr. Handan Demiröz, former Board Member of KAFFED, and co-organizer of the first women's participation workshop, without mentioning Almastı at all, listed the positive and negative aspects of Circassian Xabze from a gender equality perspective during the second session of KAFFED's Women's Participation workshop (7:30-27:40- see above). I found her lists helpful, although their validity need to be verified through research. Demiröz also emphasized that the positives are associated with village life and rural areas, and many of these practices have been abandoned in non-Circassian communities as well in urban areas. This hypothesis also needs to be tested and validated.
According to Demiröz, ways in which Circassian Xabze empowers Circassian women (compared with other Muslim women living in Turkey):
No betrothal at birth (beşik kertmesi)
No berdel - the practice of marrying a woman to her brother-in-law's brother
No gender segregation of men and women (see Zexes etc. discussed here)
No marriage among close relatives (within seven generations)
No expectation for a male offspring and the ensuing pressure on the woman to give birth to a male baby
No expectation of marriage at an early age (for women)
Elopement through mutual consent (see here for more)
Education for boys and girls
No dowry (by thamate decision)
No polygyny (marrying multiple wives, which is common among some Muslim communities)
No discriminatory, misogynistic language (especially in Adyghe language)
Domestic violence/ violence against women is looked at unfavorably, family sides with the woman
Ways in which Circassian Xabze is detrimental for Circassian women
Slavery, selling girls to the Palace as concubines, and continued positive associations with such historical practices such as boasting that one's ancestor lived in the Ottoman court
Hospitality and all associated domestic tasks being performed by women. Such as, women washing all of the guest's laundry overnight (the night the guest arrived) while the guest is asleep.
The exclusion of women from inheritance (customary practice, rather than legal according to Turkish law).
Mythical Ideal Beauty, Circassian Women, and The Social Construction of Whiteness
I was impressed by Almastı's following critique: "Almastı does not accept the image characterizing Circassian girls as ones that are beautiful, elegant and thin, and as girls that behave modestly, are skilled, don't laugh or talk loudly etc. It sees this characterization as a tool for patriarchal repression and also as internal Orientalism." I felt it spoke to another important truth about Circassians. When I mentioned the group and my study of them in the U.S., those few who knew something about Circassians, knew this: that Circassian women are supposed to be beautiful.
Janset Berkok Shami (pictured), daughter of an accomplished Circassian Ottoman general, Ismail Hakkı Berkok, exemplifies this "ideal Circassian beauty" well with her light skin, eye, hair color, and facial features that fit the ideal of Western beauty. She could have been a star in Hollywood.
The Berkok family is a highly accomplished family. Ismail Hakkı Berkok published a historical study of Caucasia (Caucasia in History), Janset is an accomplished novelist, and her daughter, Seteney Shami is the leading name in the anthropology of the Circassian diaspora.
The mythology around the beauty of Circassian women dates back centuries and is captured well in this essay:
"American, British and Russian travellers to the Caucasus thought that Circassian women had inherited ‘the lineaments of the face of the ancient Greek’. This was the ultimate compliment, given that European elites were brought up to revere classical models of beauty.
Circassian women were admired for their translucent pale complexions, regular features, eyes of a light grey, green or blue colour, and abundant hair which was often blonde or auburn. They were also believed to be particularly slender, boasting small waists, good posture, and an elegant demeanour. The American traveller and writer Maturin Murray Ballou (1820-95) enthusiastically described a Circassian woman who possessed a ‘form of ravishing loveliness, large and lustrous eyes, and every belonging that might go to make up a Venus’. And it wasn’t just men who got enthusiastic; Florence Nightingale wrote in her travel journal that Circassian women were ‘the most graceful and the most sensual-looking creatures I ever saw’."
Famously, Circassian slave women were sold to the Ottoman and Persian harem. In the Ottoman Empire, some of these Circassian concubines mothered Sultans, becoming valide sultan, mother of the Sultan, a position that afforded them considerable power in the court.
While the social construction of Circassian women as the ultimate ideal beauty is curious, one component of this social construction demands even greater attention: Circassia or Caucasia, their place of origin, was also socially constructed to be the place where the origins of the pure White race could be found.
It is well known that the hierarchy constructing the white race as the most superior was first put forth by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840) who in 1775 "published On the Natural Variety of Mankind, a work that became one of the most influential texts in the emerging European science of race. Blumenbach was a specialist in comparative anatomy, and he initiated the division of human beings into five distinct 'races' defined by region and color: the Caucasian or 'white' race, the Mongolian or 'yellow' race, the Malayan or 'brown' race, the Ethiopian or 'black' race, and the American or 'red' race" (Fried 2013).
Blumenbach's "scientific" classification of the five races forms the basis of our sense of race as based in nature, as opposed to socially constructed, and of the hierarchy in which the racial categories are placed.
Image: https://www.vox.com/2015/1/13/7536655/race-myth-debunked
A helpful video explaining the concept "social construction of race"
In his fascinating essay about how "The Circassian Lady" has become a freak show exhibit in P. T. Barnum's circus, Gregory Fried writes:
"The legend of the white 'Circassian Beauty' being sold into sexual slavery had taken on such a life of its own that in the early 1860s P. T. Barnum, the great American showman and promoter of hokum, conceived the idea of buying a Circassian woman out of captivity in Turkey to exhibit in his wildly successful American Museum in New York City. In a letter of May 1864, Barnum authorized his agent, John Greenwood Jr., to spend up to $5,000 in gold each (a vast sum in that day) for two Circassian beauties if Greenwood could successfully infiltrate the slave markets of Istanbul to buy them without being detected as a Westerner.
Greenwood failed in his attempt, but that did not stop Barnum, who had no qualms about finding someone who could 'pass' as Circassian to put on exhibition along with other remarkable individuals in his sideshow, such as Tom Thumb." (Fried 2013)
Barnum invented the sideshow "Circassian Beauty" with particular features that had little to do with reality:
"And so Barnum invented the 'Circassian Lady,' or sometimes the 'Circassian Beauty,' as a sideshow performer of a particular kind. The type included a number of key features: the woman must be pretty, or even beautiful, by Victorian standards; she would wear exotic clothing, generally more revealing than that worn by European and American woman of that era; she might display striking jewelry and other ornaments, such as strings of pearls or richly embroidered clothes. And the most telling feature of all: the big hair. This extraordinary hairdo was entirely Barnum’s invention, but it stuck as one of the defining markers of the 'Circassian' woman, no matter what circus or sideshow put a Circassian performer on the stage: a huge mass of hair, washed in beer and teased to a frizzy cloud resembling what might remind someone today of an Afro from the 1960s or 1970s. What is especially ironic is the tax stamp on the back of the portrait of Zulumma Agra: these stamps raised revenues for the Federal troops fighting in the Civil War, and yet the image traded in part on their titillating suggestion of white women sold into slavery. It is worth underlining that this costume and hair had nothing to do with how actual Circassian women looked, as the illustrations below indicate." (Fried 2013)
All images are from: http://mirrorofrace.org/circassian/
In his essay, Gregory Fried asks why "Circassian Gentleman" was not a common sideshow character like the "Circassian Lady." He answers this question and the mystery of fascination with this typology, thusly:
"First of all, we have to take into account that the myth of the Circassian included several intersecting elements of overwhelming interest, if not fixation, for nineteenth-century white Americans: race, slavery, and ideals of feminine virtue, beauty, and sexuality. Add to this heady brew the tincture of Orientalism that Edward Said has dissected as a feature of European colonial imagination, and we have in the Circassian Lady an archetype at the intersection of multiple Victorian obsessions, however covert. The Orientalist fantasy, especially the imagining of the harem and the seraglio, allowed Europeans and Americans to project their subterranean prurience onto a safely distant world.
The legend of the Circassian woman involved a provocative component for white Americans: the idea that the Circassians were the most primordial form of the white race, and therefore also the purest and most beautiful exemplars of whiteness, especially their women; yet at the same time, these Circassian women were subject to the slave trade of the Ottoman Empire. The idea that a white woman might be sold into slavery, and especially sold into a slavery that marked her as a sexual object in a potentate’s harem, was a matter of both moral horror and transgressive fascination to the white imagination." (Fried 2013)
Gregory Fried argues that the display of the Circassian Lady in sideshows had something to do with how whiteness was being constructed in the United States in 19th century. As whiteness was being associated with ideal beauty, culture, civilization, and goodness, at the same time, dark skin was being associated with ugliness (one scientist even called blackness "leprosy of the skin), nature, primitive living, and evil.
The idea of displaying human beings as "freaks" in sideshows was a 19th-early 20th century way of establishing who and what was "normal" and what was "abnormal," what was not only worthy of our fascination and wonder, but also, often, inhuman treatment and violence. Consider the life of Ota Benga, a young man from Congo, who was exhibited in a cage with an orangutan at the Bronx Zoo in 1906. When human beings are classified as "less than human" as Africans, aborigines, indigenous peoples of the Americas and Asia often were in that time period, that served the purpose of justifying and legitimizing the atrocities of colonialism and slavery.
Similarly, in the specific social construction of race and ideal beauty in Turkey, blue or green eyes, blond hair, tall stature, and thinness are associated with European physical characteristics and thus, considered ideal. This is a way in which modern Turkey has attempted to distance itself from Arabs and "Middle Easterners," who are generally thought of as darker, shorter, uncivilized, and primitive (for example, with imperfect hygiene) . When I was growing up, Turkey had a clear desire to be thought of as a part of Europe (technically, its territories in Thrace lie on the European continent) as opposed to being considered a part of Asia or the Middle East, where the majority of its territories lies. Indeed, Turkey applied to the European Union (European Economic Community at the time) in 1987 and was recognized as a candidate for full membership in 1999. Turkey's EU candidacy is still on hold today, stalled mainly due to its human rights abuses.
When Almastı declares itself against Orientalism and racism, and criticizes the imposition of the Western male gaze on Circassian women, I think they touch upon a number of important but overlooked issues:
The tenets of "Orientalism" as coined by Edward Said, are little known in Turkey. Orientalism, in a nutshell, refers to how Europe looks at the Middle East and Asia as exotic, different, mysterious, and inferior, rather than seeing the "East" in all of its diversity and complexity.
It is very much true that Circassian women have historically been and continue to, today, both by the Western world, and by Turks/ Ottomans, objectified and viewed as exotic beings who hold the highest standard of absolute (white) beauty. This is indeed, Orientalist, sexist, and racist.