kyriarchy

{{Short description|In feminist theory, a social system based on oppression}}{{Feminism sidebar}}

In feminist theory, kyriarchy ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|aɪ|ɹ|i|ɑɹ|k|i}}) is a social system or set of connecting social systems built around domination, oppression, and submission. The word was coined by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in 1992 to describe her theory of interconnected, interacting, and self-extending systems of domination and submission, in which a single individual might be oppressed in some relationships and privileged in others. It is an intersectional extension of the idea of patriarchy beyond gender.{{cite journal |title = Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Postcolonial Studies |author = Kwok Pui-lan | author-link = Kwok Pui-lan |year = 2009 |journal = Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion |volume = 25 |issue = 1 |pages = 191–197 |publisher = Indiana University Press |jstor =10.2979/fsr.2009.25.1.191 |doi=10.2979/fsr.2009.25.1.191|s2cid = 144562065 }} Kyriarchy encompasses forms of dominating hierarchies in which the subordination of one person or group to another is internalized and institutionalized.{{r|teraudkalns}}{{Cite book|title = Her Master's Tools?: Feminist And Postcolonial Engagements of Historical-critical Discourse|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RO9YnY2xKaQC|publisher = BRILL|date = 2005|isbn = 9004130527|language = en|first1 = Caroline Vander|last1 = Stichele|first2 = Todd C.|last2 = Penner}}

Etymology

The term was coined into English by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza{{cite book |title = Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation |chapter = Glossary |last = Schüssler Fiorenza |first = Elisabeth |author-link = Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza |publisher = Orbis Books |location = New York |year = 2001 |chapter-url = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dku%2Frios |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufDNBgAAQBAJ |isbn=1608332527}} in 1992 when she published her book But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation.{{cite book |title = Prejudice and Christian beginnings: investigating race, gender, and ethnicity in early Christian studies |chapter = Introduction: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Gender, Status and Ethnicity in Early Christian Studies |last = Schüssler Fiorenza |first = Elisabeth |author-link = Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza |editor1-last = Nasrallah |editor1-first = Laura |editor2-last = Schüssler Fiorenza |editor2-first = Elisabeth |publisher = Fortress Press |location = Minneapolis |year = 2009 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=u7XoAi3VfOEC |isbn=978-1451412840}} It is derived from {{langx|el|κύριος, kyrios}}, "lord, master" and {{langx|el|ἄρχω, árcho|translit=}}, "lead, rule, govern".{{r|teraudkalns}} The word kyriarchy ({{langx|el|κυριαρχία, kyriarchia}}), already existed in Modern Greek, and means "sovereignty".

Usage

The term was originally developed in the context of feminist theological discourse, and has been used in some other areas of academia as a non–gender-based descriptor of systems of power, as opposed to patriarchy.{{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=Susana|title=Close Kin and Distant Relatives: The Paradox of Respectability in Black Women's Literature|date=February 4, 2014|publisher=University of Virginia Press|isbn=978-0813935515|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXWjAQAAQBAJ&q=kyriarchy|access-date=8 December 2015}} It is also widely used outside of scholarly contexts.{{cite journal|last1=Osborne|first1=Natalie|title=Intersectionality and kyriarchy: A framework for approaching power and social justice in planning and climate change adaptation|journal=Planning Theory|date=2015|volume=14|issue=2|page=132|doi=10.1177/1473095213516443|hdl=10072/57232|s2cid=145700378|hdl-access=free}}

The Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker Behrouz Boochani has described the Australian-run Manus Island prison as a kyriarchal system:{{cite journal|last=Boochani|first=Behrouz|title=A Kyriarchal System: New Colonial Experiments/New Decolonial Resistance|journal=9th Annual Maroon Conference Magazine|access-date=17 February 2019|publisher=Charles Town Maroon Council|url=https://maroons-jamaica.com/conference2017/modules/mod_flipbook_3/tmpl/mobile/index.html#p=21|place=Charles Town, Jamaica|date=2017|issn=0799-4354|pages=20–22|others=Translated by Omid Tofighian}} one where different forms of oppression intersect; oppression is not random but purposeful, designed to isolate and create friction amongst prisoners, leading to despair and broken spirits.{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/no-friend-but-the-mountains-review-behrouz-boochanis-poetic-and-vital-memoir-20180801-h13fuu.html|title=No Friend But The Mountains review: Behrouz Boochani's poetic and vital memoir|first=Robert|last=Manne|date=10 August 2018|publisher=Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=2 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030122031/https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/no-friend-but-the-mountains-review-behrouz-boochanis-poetic-and-vital-memoir-20180801-h13fuu.html|archive-date=30 October 2018}} He elaborates on this in his autobiographical account of the prison, No Friend But the Mountains.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d_-GDwAAQBAJ&dq=no%20friend%20but%20the%20mountains&pg=PP1 | title=No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison | isbn=978-1-4870-0684-6 | last1=Boochani | first1=Behrouz | date=11 February 2019 | publisher=House of Anansi }}

Structural positions

Schüssler Fiorenza describes interdependent "stratifications of gender, race, class, religion, heterosexualism, and age" as structural positions assigned at birth. She suggests that people inhabit several positions, and that positions with privilege become nodal points through which other positions are experienced. For example, in a context where gender is the primary privileged position (e.g. patriarchy, matriarchy), gender becomes the nodal point through which sexuality, race, and class are experienced. In a context where class is the primary privileged position (i.e. classism), gender and race are experienced through class dynamics. Fiorenza stresses that kyriarchy is not a hierarchical system as it does not focus on one point of domination. Instead it is described as a "complex pyramidal system" with those on the bottom of the pyramid experiencing the "full power of kyriarchal oppression". The kyriarchy is recognized as the status quo and therefore its oppressive structures may not be recognized.

To maintain this system, kyriarchy relies on the creation of a servant class, race, gender, or people. The position of this class is reinforced through "education, socialization, and brute violence and malestream rationalization". Tēraudkalns suggests that these structures of oppression are self-sustained by internalized oppression; those with relative power tend to remain in power, while those without tend to remain disenfranchised.{{cite book |title = Religion and political change in Europe: past and present |chapter = Construction of Masculinities in Contemporary Christianity |pages = 223–232 |last = Tēraudkalns |first = Valdis |editor-last = Cimdiņa |editor-first = Ausma |publisher = PLUS |year = 2003 |isbn=8884921414}} In addition, structures of oppression amplify and feed into each other.{{Cite journal|title = Antiracist Theological Education as a Site of Struggle for Justice|last = Reed-Bouley|first = Jennifer|date = Spring 2012|journal = Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion|doi = 10.2979/jfemistudreli.28.1.178|volume=28|pages=178–189|s2cid = 143768692}}