Nineteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept and acceptance of honor killing in the case of Banaz Mahmood. Ms. Mahmood was a Kurdish woman whose family fled from Iraq and was granted asylum in the United Kingdom. Gossip as a communicative act in the community led the brutal rape, torture, and strangulation. The killing of Banaz Mahmood was fueled by gossip within the Kurdish community namely by older woman to maintain “traditional morality, social cohesion and cultural stability” (Glazer and Ras, pg. 269). To better understand these three important things that a community has to uphold, it is imperative to look at the concept of face, shame gossip, and honor killing.