Turkish Village
Copyright 1965, 1994 Paul Stirling. All rights reserved.
Paul Stirling
CHAPTER SIX
HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY STRUCTURE
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Page 101
of them. The old mother of Haci Osman (H) of Sakaltutan, himself an old man, was permitted to sit silently in his often well-filled guest room evening after evening in the winter - a ribute to her old age and infirmity. Very occasionally then, women, mostly those who are past the menopause, penetrate to the male domain. On the other hand, one or two men shun the guest rooms and spend a good deal of time in their own homes. These are regarded as odd, and such conduct is due rather to unsatisfactory relations with other men rather than to love for or interest in the family.
The men's avoidance of the house, except for the specific purposes of eating and sleeping, reflects their wider social relationships. It is a simple if sometimes neglected fact that a higher position in any system of social relations involves a wider range of social ties outside it. The men's network and the women's touch at many points, but they are separate. The men's is wider, related to political power both in the village and in the wider society. One effect of the guest room and the informal open air groups of men is to maintain these wider relationships, and thus their clear superiority in village society.
Fathers and sons. The father's authority is strongly emphasised. Sons are expected to obey their fathers, and on the whole they do. Respect is based on a series of formal rules. One does not answer back, one does not speak in public in one's fathers presence without specific invitation, and under no circumstances do fathers and sons refer to sexual matters in each other's presence, nor manifest any sexual behaviour. Sons do not smoke in their father's presence. Schooling apart, fathers are almost entirely responsible for educating and training their sons in socially acceptable behaviour, and in the essential farming skills. Sons are expected from about the age of eight to watch, water and feed the household animals, and at about twelve they learn to handle a plough.
No father normally hands over any land to his sons, nor makes any kind of will or testament see pp. 94 and 107 for exceptions). The allocation of the estate is left until after his death. He is unlikely to disinherit formally, but for a man to leav the ancestral home is to forfeit his immediate rights to a livelihood from the land, and to imperil his hopes of inheritance, since his brothers remaining at home may well take the opportunity to
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