Voices That Matter(English, Paperback, Schaefers Marlene)

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Voices That Matter(English, Paperback, Schaefers Marlene) is written by Schaefers Marlene and published by The University of Chicago Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0226823059 (ISBN 10) and 9780226823058 (ISBN 13).

A fine-grained ethnography exploring the sociopolitical power of Kurdish women's voices in contemporary Turkey. "Raise your voice!" and "Speak up!" are familiar refrains that assume, all too easily, that gaining voice will lead to empowerment, healing, and inclusion for marginalized subjects. Marlene Schaefers's Voices That Matter reveals where such assumptions fall short, demonstrating that "raising one's voice" is no straightforward path to emancipation but fraught with anxieties, dilemmas, and contradictions. In its attention to the voice as form, this book examines not only what voices say but also how they do so, focusing on Kurdish contexts where oral genres have a long, rich legacy. Examining the social labor that voices carry out as they sound, speak, and resonate, Schaefers shows that where new vocal practices arise, they produce new selves and practices of social relations. In Turkey, recent decades have seen Kurdish voices gain increasing moral and political value as metaphors of representation and resistance. Women's voices, in particular, are understood as potent means to withstand patriarchal restrictions and political oppression. By ethnographically tracing the transformations in how Kurdish women relate to and employ their voices as a result of these shifts, Schaefers illustrates how contemporary politics foster not only new hopes and desires but also create novel vulnerabilities as they valorize, elicit, and discipline voice in the name of empowerment and liberation.