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Beyond Honour: A Historical Materialist Explanation of Honour Related Violence by Tahira S. Khan, Karachi, Oxford University Press, 2006, pp.361, price Rs. 495.
The honour- related violence perpetrated against women has not only been widely exposed and condemned in our society over the years, but has also been subjected to critical examination and academic research. Consequently, there is no dearth of literature on the subject; numerous NGOs have recorded extremely useful data on the subject and a number of well -researched publications have also enlightened us on various dimensions and the extent of the issue. However, it would not be wrong to say that despite all activism as well as the literature produced around the issue, one finds very little literature with coherent theoretical underpinning, highlighting the historical and socio-political factors operating behind the subjugation of women in society in general and the honour -related violence against them in particular. Even if selected socio-cultural aspects of violence have been discussed in certain works, the emphasis is more on violence rather than on the very concept of honour. Dr Tahira S. Khan's work goes beyond mere narration of incidents of honour-killing, their immediate causes or even their wider socio-political context. She addresses the issue of honour itself and begins by laying it down that the idea of honour should be understood in its historical materialist background. She tries to locate the idea in the histories of religious, legal, social, and...