Evening talks

Please note this event is ZOOM only

Like many countries, Jordan is said to be in the midst of a "crisis of marriage," with activists pointing to everything from rising marriage ages to increasing rates of "spinsterhood," divorce and even "divorce before consummation" as evidence. This paper examines the state policies, cultural practices and activist tactics that render this crisis increasingly visible (if not thinkable), from the increasing circulation of statistics and statistical categories produced by government Sharia Courts to the statistical reports, training courses, and mass weddings of activist organizations like Jordan's Islamist charity "The Chastity Society." I argue that state efforts to legitimate its citizens' marriages have entailed subversive effects that increasingly draw the state’s own legitimacy into question--though activists may find that their own increased involvement in legitimating marriages has similarly ambivalent consequences.