Whose honour are they protecting by killing their children?
The concept of “honour” is intriguing. In essence, it relates to a sense of pride, respect and dignity attached to the very existence of a social being but endeavours for its sustenance have been extremely violent. To understand why a concept so noble has led to inhumane actions against certain sections of society, two issues have to be dealt with: the paradox of traditional values and changing times, and the patriarchal connection.First, the traditional concept of honour belongs to what Lord Bhikhu Parekh calls in his essay “The modern conception of right and its Marxist critique — a pre-modern society,” where there was no concrete individualisation of rights. Rights belonged to the realm of community/society. Honour like rights was a communal virtue in such a society and was viewed as a collective matter. There was no scope of a clash between individual rights and norms of societal honour. But post-17th century, in the modern conception of rights, the individual was regarded as its p
