In feminist theory, kyriarchy ( ) 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.
Etymology
The term was coined into
English language 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 -run Manus Island prison as a kyriarchal system:
Structural positions
Schüssler Fiorenza describes interdependent "stratifications of gender, race, class, religion,
heterosexism, 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".
See also
Further reading
-
Giannacopoulos, M. "Kyriarchy, Nomopoly, and Patriarchal White Sovereignty." Biography, (2020) 43(4), 736–747.
-
Thompson, Margaret Susan. "Circles of sisterhood: formal and informal collaboration among American nuns in response to conflict with Vatican Kyriarchy." Journal of feminist studies in religion 32.2 (2016): 63-82.
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Thompson, Margaret Susan. "Sacraments as Weapons: Patriarchal Coercion and Engendered Power in the Nineteenth-Century Convent." Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 38.2 (2022): 89-104.
External links
