Donne, famiglia e biopolitica: Kuwait ed Arabia Saudita a confronto

Abstract

The present article investigates the family in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as the intermediary institution between the individual and the state, and as the site of reproduction of the social order through the control over the woman’s body. This control is operated by means of citizenship laws, restrictive interpretations of the sacred sources, and a body of laws modelled on sharia regulating public and private life. The role of the family is examined here with the theoretical contribution of Foucauldian biopolitics intended as the state’s political regulation of the biological element through power consolidation and preservation strategies. Women activists’ actions aiming at the reform of the guardianship system in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will be critically examined in the context of the wider regional challenges and movements. The article also interrogates the role of women in the authoritarian nation-state, and how it is constructed at the intersection between the family, sexuality, reproduction and religion.

Keywords: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, woman’s body, state consolidation, biopolitics.