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Commerce and Marriage in Altisheher (1850s—1930s)
Aikebaier, Aimaiti
Aikebaier, Aimaiti
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Abstract
This study explores the complex interactions between marriage, wedding practices, marriage payments, labor, market, epistemologies, and norms in the Tarim basin during a period roughly between the 1850s and 1930s. Emphasized in this research is the importance of silver investment by the Qing government in commodifying the economy and integrating money, commodities, and exchange relations. This research also highlights the role of commercial concepts and values which originated from commercial practices and became a part of the language and culture of Uyghurs.The main sources for this research are manuscripts from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a large collection of travel and research reports, and memoirs by foreign visitors to the Tarim basin, who came since the mid-19th century. Fragmented knowledge about the socio-economy and culture of the region are scattered throughout these sources. Through theoretical examinations of labor, capital, markets, marriage practices, and payments, this research organizes them into a coherent narrative of the history and culture of the region. Socio-linguistic and historical analysis in this research helps reconstruct the circulation of merchant capital and problematizes any assumption that the premodern economy of the Tarim basin was based on gift exchanges and reciprocity.This dissertation makes use of a variety of anthropological, sociological, and political economic concepts and theories, to analyze the condition of peasants, commodification of labor and women’s sexuality. An analysis of the history of Islamic family law and its practical implementation, its integration into customary practices and adaptation to socio-economic contexts reveals a tension between values and reality, marriage payments and political economy. Aside from empirical research of actual practices, this research also prioritizes theoretical analysis of forms that were abstracted from commerce and were applied to framing relationship between deity and followers, men and women. This in turn allows the research to go beyond the traditional division between gift and commodity, which is insufficient to comprehend the premodern culture, society, and economy of the Tarim basin.As this study demonstrates, the cheapness of marriage payments in the Tarim basin was an expression of devaluation of peasants’ labor. On this, the present study agrees with major anthropological theories in defining marriage payments as compensations for women’s fertility and labor power but diverges from them by pointing out that in the Tarim basin, where labor was commodified, and peasants were expropriated through an advance system, women’s fertility and great productivity co-existed with cheap marriage payments. At the same time, this study warns against the assumption that women’s fertility and labor power are often compensated according to their intrinsic values, as assumed by many anthropologists. The cheapness of marriage payments in the Tarim basin was exacerbated by gender imbalance, and the ease of divorce for men, as consistent with Islamic family law. Together, these factors worked to become a dynamic, which was unique to women’s situation, and created a class of proletarianized women who were employed for cheap wages in factories and workshops. However, the cheapness of marriage payments removed an economic barrier to marriages and sped up demographic growth. On the other hand, divorce and wage employment created relative independence for women, although they were often paid bare minimum. Due to the widespread poverty of peasant households, many women were forced to marry temporarily in markets and urban areas, where a Shia practice enabled the circulation of their sexuality in a quasi-legal framework.
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2023-05-31
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University of Kansas
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This item contains archived web content.
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1039757_1.pdf
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Keywords
Asian studies, Asian history, Sociology, Altisheher, bridewealth, capital, marriage, Uyghur, Xinjiang