Turkish Village
Copyright 1965, 1994 Paul Stirling. All rights reserved.
Paul Stirling
CHAPTER SIX
HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY STRUCTURE
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a wife gains companionship, and help with household chores. The villagers say firmly that a man must provide equally for both wives. In one of the four cases, the explicit point of taking second wife was to provide a son, and the first wife, who was incapable of bearing children, actually co-operated in procuring her. In another, the aim was also to produce more sons, because the first wife failed to bear more than one. Co-wives are expected to quarrel, but they do not always do so.
Sometimes co-wives do not share a household. One man in Elbashï had married his brother's widow, and visited her on alternate nights, but did not shift his residence. In another case, a man of Sakaltutan had taken two widows in addition to his first wife who lived in his own household; the others both lived in their own households. His three widows were all still alive at the time of our stay. This type of case seems to be a sort of business arrangement to the benefit of all parties. Marriage to a brother's widow has obvious advantages in preventing any outsider getting his hands on the patrimonial land and house. Marriage to a widow with her own household is less easy to interpret because no case was current during my field work. A widow's life is hard - in the past it was even harder - and even a share of a husband to protect and advise on practical matters-is a great advantage, especially if she is able to retain her independence through control of her former husband's house and land. The new husband gains some additional income from the land he helps to work, and the prospect of more sons, with little additional responsibility.
Brothers' wives. Turkish has a standard word for husband's brother's wife, elti. Brothers' wives normally begin married life by sharing a household. Even when the husband's father is dead, brothers often remain together until after they are all maried. Nevertheless, in fact, very few households at any given time contain married brothers. In one household of this type where we were welcome, the mother-in-law had died. The two elder brothers had established families, and the third married while we were in the village. Two younger brothers were due to marry. Relations seemed reasonably amicable, and three years later the household had not yet split up, although another brother had by then married. In this case, each of the younger wives had their
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