BARREN GROUND: RE-CONCEIVING HONOUR AND SHAME IN THE FIELD OF MEDITERRANEAN ETHNOGRAPHY Rosemary J. Coombe University of Toronto Abstract: Despite the differences in perspective that define the field, ethnographers of Mediterranean societies consider the cultural values of honour and shame in a remarkably consistent and theoretically im- poverished manner. The article attempts to demonstrate that the rhe- torical strategies of structural functionalism continue to characterize discussions of honour and shame in Mediterranean societies, even when anthropologists appear to have rejected this theoretical para- digm. Arguing that to conceptualize the values of honour and shame as a type of juridical code does representational violence to the lives and experiences of Mediterranean peoples, the author advocates a practice-oriented theoretical approach to these cultural values that is more sensitive to social relations of inequality and difference. - Résumé: En dépit des différences de perspective qui définissent le champ, les ethnographes de sociétés méditerranéennes considèrent les valeurs culturelles d'honneur et de honte de façon remarquablement consistante et théoriquement appauvrie. L'article essaye de démontrer que les stratégies rhétoriques du fonctionnalisme structurel continuent à caractériser les discussions traitant de l'honneur et de la honte dans les sociétés méditerranéennes, même si les anthropologues semblent avoir rejeté ce paradigme théorique. En raisonnant que cette concep- tualisation du complexe honneur/honte en tant que code juridique n'est que représentation injuste de la vie et de l'expérience des peu- ples méditerranéens, l'auteure recommande une approche théorique et pratique vis-à -vis ces valeurs culturelles, plus sensible aux relations sociales d'inégalité et de différence. 1 Nothing has been more definitive of the ethnography of Mediterranean so- cieties than an enduring concern with the cultural values of honour and Anthropologica XXXII (1990) 221-238
222 Anthropologica XXXII (1990) shame. Stanley Brandes argues that the honour/shame theme played a pivo- tal role in the emergence of the Mediterranean as a culture area and a legiti- mate regional specialization (Brandes 1987:121). Rather than make another contribution to this enormous literature, I have chosen instead to focus upon a few exemplary studies (Campbell 1964; Davis 1977; Delaney 1987) to ar- gue that despite considerable differences in theoretical perspective, the honour/shame complex has been conceptualized in a remarkably consistent and limited manner. It may well be argued that Mediterranean ethnography is no longer predominantly concerned with considerations of honour and shame. However, to the extent that contemporary anthropologists continue to claim the importance of the honour/shame complex in defining the Medi- terranean as a culture area and stress "the continuing fruitfulness of honour and shame as organizing principles for research" (Brandes 1987:121), a critical consideration of the manner in which the concept has been theorized appears both relevant and necessary. It would seem that a felt need to establish cultural unity among Mediter- ranean societies has resulted in an inability or lack of desire to explore cul- tural creativity, conflict or resistance within these societies. Other scholars have expressed scepticism about the proposition of a Mediterranean cultural area revolving around a series of traits in which the honour/shame complex is