Kyriarchy

Etymology

The term was coined into English by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in 1992 when she published her book But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation. It is derived from , "lord, master" and , "lead, rule, govern". The word kyriarchy (), 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. It is also widely used outside of scholarly contexts.

The Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker Behrouz Boochani has described the Australian-run Manus Island prison as a kyriarchal system: 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. He elaborates on this in his autobiographical account of the prison, No Friend But the Mountains.

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". In addition, structures of oppression amplify and feed into each other.

References

References

1. Kwok Pui-lan. (2009). "Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Postcolonial Studies". Indiana University Press.
2. (2005). "Her Master's Tools?: Feminist And Postcolonial Engagements of Historical-critical Discourse". BRILL.
3. Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. (2001). "Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation". Orbis Books.
4. Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. (2009). "Prejudice and Christian beginnings: investigating race, gender, and ethnicity in early Christian studies". Fortress Press.
5. (February 4, 2014). "Close Kin and Distant Relatives: The Paradox of Respectability in Black Women's Literature". University of Virginia Press.
6. (2015). "Intersectionality and kyriarchy: A framework for approaching power and social justice in planning and climate change adaptation". Planning Theory.
7. Boochani, Behrouz. (2017). "A Kyriarchal System: New Colonial Experiments/New Decolonial Resistance". Charles Town Maroon Council.
8. Manne, Robert. (10 August 2018). "No Friend But The Mountains review: Behrouz Boochani's poetic and vital memoir". Sydney Morning Herald.
9. (11 February 2019). "No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison". House of Anansi.
10. Tēraudkalns, Valdis. (2003). "Religion and political change in Europe: past and present". PLUS.
11. Reed-Bouley, Jennifer. (Spring 2012). "Antiracist Theological Education as a Site of Struggle for Justice". Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.