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2012 12: 81 originally published online 5 February 2012Marketing TheoryNacima Ourahmoune and Nil Özçaglar-Toulouse

dynamics of structure and agencyExogamous weddings and fashion in a rising consumer culture: Kabyle minority

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Article

Exogamous weddings andfashion in a risingconsumer culture: Kabyleminority dynamics ofstructure and agency

Nacima OurahmouneReims Management School, France

Nil Ozcaglar-ToulouseUniv Lille Nord de France – SKEMA Business School

AbstractThis study critically explores the intersection of fashion consumption, gender, and weddingceremonies in contemporary Algeria. The specific research location offers the opportunity toinvestigate a Western minority, the Kabyle people, living in an Arabo–Islamic country, whichprovides a broader spectrum of analysis and enriches understanding of the role of fashion inconsumers’ identity project construction. An interpretive analysis of consumer fashion discoursesand practices during wedding ceremonies suggests that rising material aspirations play a significantrole and reflect marked transformations among the elite. Furthermore, the adoption of previouslystigmatized outfits appears to intensify power issues in terms of gender, class, and ethnicity. Unlikein previous research that stresses a will for differentiation and the role of fashion in constructingindividual identities, in this study the respondents’ choices are driven mainly by collectivenarratives.

Keywordsagency, ethnic minority, fashion, gender, identity, marriage, semiotic square

As an important institution in contemporary societies, fashion has great influence on global cul-

tural flows (McCracken, 1988; Murray, 2002; Thompson and Haytko, 1997). For example Kabyle

Corresponding author:

Nacima Ourahmoune, Reims Management School, Reims, 51100 France

Email: [email protected]

Marketing Theory12(1) 81–99

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women use fashion during wedding ceremonies to assert their position in Algerian society. Using

an interpretive analysis of consumer fashion discourses and practices during wedding celebrations,

we investigate consumers’ identity projects as expressed through their choice of wedding outfits.

Rising material aspirations and fashion consumption appear to mirror the marked transformations

among the elite, as well as women’s desire for play, pleasure, and fantasy, in which context they

manipulate eclectic new fashion codes. This consumption of wedding outfits intensifies power

issues in terms of gender, class, and ethnicity. In particular, our study lends credence to the theory

that fashion actually reproduces and stabilizes an existing social order. Unlike previous research

that stresses the will for differentiation and the role of fashion in constructing individualities, we

assert that the respondents’ choices reflect mainly collective narratives.

In the next section, we present theoretical issues surrounding fashion, as well as the com-

plexities of the Algerian and Kabyle research context. We can link these complexities to the

question of fashion meanings, using marriages as a site of identity negotiation. We then move on to

explain our research methodology before presenting our findings. These findings have relevance

for the structure versus agency debate that appears often in conceptualizations of fashion.

Fashion theory

Existing sociocultural studies of fashion tend to focus on either social control or social change,

with an emphasis on the link between fashion and customs. The resulting dialectic contrasts

fashion as either innovation or convention. Furthermore, fashion as a means of social control

appears in relation to three main issues.

First, considering the relationship between fashion and social stratification, does fashion mirror

the social structure, or does it represent an equalizing force? Theorists from Veblen to Simmel have

called differentiation and stratification essential preconditions of fashion. Veblen (1953 [1899])

contends that a leisure class engages in wasteful consumption to distinguish itself from lower

classes, and the middle and working classes imitate the former to improve their own status. Simmel

(1904 [1957]) analyzes fashion as a contradictory phenomenon, characterized by innovation and

emulation. When a new fashion emerges, people seek to adopt it to avoid standing out in the crowd.

Bourdieu (1979) instead suggests that each social class has a distinctive consumption pattern that

gets reproduced across generations. Family socialization and education thus imbue members of a

given class with specific cultural capital, which produces class-specific consumption practices and

tastes. Because people internalize their class position, it is difficult or undesirable for them to imi-

tate the lifestyles of other classes. This view contrasts with Veblen’s and Simmel’s assumptions

that imitation is a universal human trait. However, other theorists (e.g. Davis, 1991) point out that

not only do fashions fail to trickle down, but they often are inspired by new fashions that appear

first on the street. Crane (2000) argues that consumer society has replaced class with lifestyle

groups, and authors such as Bourdieu (1979) and Baudrillard (1967, 1979) find social hierarchy

reflected in the subtle practices of education and consumption that underlie apparent social change.

Second, fashion theory suggests that uniforms may take on general functions and ideological

meanings. For centuries uniforms have been used to impose social identities on more or less

willing subjects. In the 19th century, uniforms and dress codes were broadly imposed to express

social distinctions and status boundaries (Lipovetsky, 1987). Furthermore, in any society, rites of

passage (e.g. weddings) tend to be scripted events that express social norms, especially through

clothing. For example we consider the shift in Kabyle brides’ ‘uniforms’ as an expression of social

change. In Algeria, uniforms have undergone marked changes since the rise of radical Islamist

82 Marketing Theory 12(1)



movements during the 1980s (e.g. the importation of Afghan outfits), the spread of satellite

television (i.e. Middle Eastern fashion), and since the 1990s, easy access to travel visas to Turkey

and Tunisia rather than traditional French destinations. Older women in Algiers used to wear large,

white silk scarves, or hayek, and employed a specific technique to tie them. Their white outfits thus

were emblematic of Algiers, but they have progressively been replaced by the more functional

Moroccan kachabia, as the borders between the two countries have opened up.

Third, the discourse of empowerment and control over the body recognizes that appearance has

a potent, immediate effect. In particular, women’s appearances play key roles in self and identity

construction. Barthes (1957) thus gives fashion a certain stature, calling it ‘the dream of identity’,

and Baudrillard (1979) concurs that fashion is a basic element of the dream world that forms ‘a

dimension of reality constructed from images’. Fashion, desire, and identity construction thus are

primary topics in consumer research (e.g. Belk et al., 2003; Murray, 2002; Thompson and Haytko,

1997), though little is known about the dynamics of fashion in transitional markets. We examine

Kabyle women’s ‘work of appearance’ during symbolic social events to capture this sense of self/

other, as mediated by material symbols.

Research context

Algeria

Located in the north of Africa, Algeria was a French departement from 1830 to 1962. After its

independence, the Algerian government systemically opposed French colonization, allying with

the Soviet Union and constructing a national identity based on the exclusion of French, Ottoman,

Greco–Roman, Berber, and other influences. Moreover, similar to Eastern Bloc countries, Algeria

established an authoritarian regime that combined socialist ideals with unaligned and pan-Arab

ideologies. The lack of democracy, manifest corruption, and nepotism in a resource-rich (mainly

gas and oil) environment led to the birth of a radical Islamist movement. In the first multiparty

local elections after the 1988 riots, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) party won the vote, but the

army halted the electoral process. The outlawed FIS then turned to clandestine and terrorist oppo-

sitions. The government adopted an eradication policy, presenting it as a legitimate guarantee

against barbaric violence. But during the 1990s, more than 10,000 people died. Meanwhile, eco-

nomic liberalism emerged after 40 years of a socialist industrial economic policy.

Algeria currently enjoys a strong financial situation, thanks to continuing high oil prices. Yet

corruption, nepotism, an extensive brain drain, and the rise of a new rich class have rapidly trans-

formed Algerian politics. Various socio-political identity projects now compete for dominance,

including radical islamists (Salafism), Arabo-islamists (Wahhabism, Ba’athism), pan-Arabs, region-

alists, democrats, and lay people. These modern trends also have major implications in terms of the

rapidly expanding consumer society and new consumption patterns that reflect sociocultural and

ideological transitions. The case of the Kabyle subculture offers a rich context for understanding

these existential challenges.

The Kabyle subculture

Kabyle people officially represent between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of the Algerian population.

They are native to Kabylia, in North-east Algeria. Biological anthropology and general distance

theory indicate their similarities to Corsicans, Sardinians, Spanish, and Italians but their consider-

able differences from Middle East populations (Chamla, 1974). Several cultural studies have

Ourahmoune and Ozcaglar-Toulouse 83



treated Kabyle society as a metonymy of traditional Mediterranean culture (Boetsch and Ferrie,

1991) or representative of the Mediterranean world that Latin, Western culture inherited

(Bourdieu, 1972, 1998).

The Kabyle people are a sociolinguistic group with their own language (Tamazight), who face

cultural assimilation (Arabic and French) and mutations to their social organization, especially

since French colonization. Although Islamic assimilation occurred during the 7th century, Arabic

assimilation still sparks resistance (Aıt Kaci, 2004). The Berber spring (1980), school bag strike

(1994–95), and Black spring (2001) movements aimed to establish Tamazight as an official

national language. Moreover, democratic opposition to the regime is represented by two Kabyle

parties (Socialist Forces Front [FFS] and Rally for Culture and Democracy [RCD]); and a radical

movement (Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia [MAK]) promotes Kabylia’s autonomy.

Marriage as a site of identity negotiation

In this study, we are interested in the growing number of mixed marriages (between Arabs and

Kabyle) in present-day Algeria, a phenomenon in which consumption may play a significant role

for determining identity dynamics. Marriage ‘is not and has never been, and cannot be a private

issue’ (Levi-Strauss, 2002) but rather is driven by cultural and economic considerations. Marriage

depends on certain objectives for society; for example to facilitate social relations between groups,

one person may be obliged to find his or her partner outside his or her social group (village, family,

clan, tribe). To reinforce social cohesion, another may be encouraged to find companionship within

his or her social group (aristocracy, religious groups, casts). These drives imply exogamy and

endogamy rules, respectively.

In a challenge to this purely structuralist view, Bourdieu (1980) notes the possibility of a man

marrying his uncle’s daughter (father’s side, ‘patrilateral’), a case of endogamy that does not fit

Levi-Strauss’s (2002) parenthood theory. According to Bourdieu, to understand Arab marriages, a

researcher must inscribe them within a practice analysis: First, the principle of ‘honor’ asserts it is

shameful not to be able to find a husband for one’s daughter. Second, the question of patrimonial

heritage is an issue. In theory then, exogamic marriage allows for a logic of exchange, but in

practice, the exchange is not possible unless the group is able to prove its coherence and reproduce

and accumulate symbolic (honor) and economic capital.

For the Kabyle, starting in the 17th century, local assemblies (Djemaa) forbade women and men

to marry people outside their community; if they did, they would not be eligible for heritage (Aıt

Kaci, 2004). This endogamy ruling was intended to prevent the fragmentation of Kabyle land.

Marriage remained overwhelmingly endogamic until the present decade in Algeria. However,

Kabyle–French marriages, currently the largest group of multicultural couples in France represent

an exception for a long time.

In a country where 70 per cent of the population is under 35 years of age and socially not

allowed to form a couple unless married, marriage remains a very significant phenomenon.

Therefore, by situating this research within the current Kabyle minority in Algeria, we aim to

explicate how consumers use fashion to express identity projects in the context of their shift from

endogamic to exogamic weddings. This context offers a unique setting, in which the minority

group is more connected to Western culture than is the majority. Kabyle society is inscribed within

Mediterranean Western culture, though it is more traditional than those influences (Aıt Kaci, 2004;

Bourdieu, 1980; Mouzaıa, 2006). For Bourdieu though, it is explicitly not a site for an orientalist

fantasy.




Methodology

One of the authors attended seventeen weddings: nine of them as a simple observer with no

ambition to carry out research, and eight as a participant observer/interviewer. The weddings

provide qualitative diversity (Schwarz, 1990) rather than a representative sample. The couples

come from varied backgrounds, although their educational levels are relatively high. They live in

Kabylia or Algiers; the brides were aged between 23 and 42 years. None of them involved pre-

arranged marriages, as Table 1 describes.

In Table 2, we also reveal the gender differences that affect Kabyle matrimonial choices. That

is, men are more inclined to choose Arab partners, whereas women appear to prefer more tradi-

tional endogamic choices (Kabyle–Kabyle) or marry other Berber or French men. A marked

Kabyle gender difference thus appears in the way they break traditional rules.

For this study, each marriage (from preparation to the ceremony) is described, with additional

data obtained through informal conversations, transcribed interviews, and photographs taken in the

field. In addition, 100 photographs of Kabyle weddings provided by informants (going back to the

1970s) were collected in an album. The 29 semi-structured interviews with Kabyle and Arab men

and women (i.e. brides, grooms, and their relatives) took place in the respondents’ houses or during

the wedding celebrations (see Table 3), lasting from 40 to 90 minutes. They were recorded and

transcribed, and respondents had the opportunity to review the transcripts. Most interviews were

conducted in French, with the exception of a few idioms in Kabyle and Arabic. Some respondents

preferred speaking Arabic, so these interviews were then translated into French by the first author.

The main themes investigated included their relation to the marriage, partner choices, organization

of the wedding, the choice of outfits, and the respondent’s reactions to mixed marriages.

The first author collected the data. Her status as a Kabyle facilitated access to the field (lan-

guages, customs); her residence in France for 25 years (i.e. dual nationality, French as native

language) also ensured an analytical perspective. She conducted an introspective analysis of her

Table 1. Historical evolution of marriages by/to origins

Year Kabyle/ Kabyle Kabyle/ Other Berber Kabyle/ Arab Kabyle/ French

1985–89 1 0 1* 01990s 3 1 0 12000–10 3 1 4** 2TOTAL 7 2 5 3

* Before 1988, 100% of marriages were intra-Kabyle.

** The growing number of Kabyle–Arab couples is very recent (four since 2007).

Table 2. Gender differences in exogamic marriages

Kabyle Men Marrying . . . Number Kabyle Women Marrying . . . Number

Arab women 5 Arab men 0Kabyle women 4 Kabyle men 3Chaoui women (other Berber subgroup) 1 Chaoui men (other Berber subgroup) 1French women 1 French men 2Total 11 Total 6




experience. The second author, a French woman from a Mediterranean background without any

connection to Kabyle culture, provided analytical distance for the data collection, coding, and

interpretation. The two authors analyzed the data, first separately and then together, according to

the themes that emerged. The findings represent their negotiated understanding of the data.

This analysis focused on the brides’ outfits, which offer representations of inspirational models,

as we depict in Figure 1. During wedding ceremonies, Algerian brides traditionally wear up to

seven outfits. Kabyle brides also change their outfits, though in an aesthetic register that until

recently has been confined to Kabyle- and Western-style clothing only.

Drawing from a deep reading of cultural texts on Algeria and Kabyle socio-historical culture,

together with our observations, interviews, and analyses of wedding photographs over time, we

construct a semiotic square (Floch, 1990; Greimas and Courtes, 1986; Holt and Thompson,

2004; Ourahmoune and Nyeck, 2008), which we use to interpret brides’ fashion and the links with

these consumers’ identity projects. Both visual data and transcripts read as text help identify the

Table 3. Descriptions of informants for the 29 semi-structured interviews

Identifier Gender Age Origin (Kabyle or Arab) Role Occupation

Kh F 39 K Groom’s sister EngineerF F 63 K Groom’s mother University professorN F 42 K Groom’s sister HousewifeI F 32 K Groom’s cousin EngineerN F 33 K Groom’s sister-in-law HousewifeF F 37 K Groom’s sister HousewifeA F 29 K Bride DoctorS F 23 K Bride Student in managementF F 42 K Bride EngineerA F 38 A Bride’s sister HousewifeN F 29 A Bride HousewifeM F 26 A Bride DoctorI F 27 A Bride’s sister VendorH F 59 A Bride’s mother HousewifeJ F 64 A Bride’s mother HousewifeF M 41 K Groom CEOR M 34 K Groom DoctorN M 30 K Groom BankerM M 65 K Groom’s uncle Retired (admin. career)L M 45 K Groom’s cousin EntrepreneurM-S M 67 K Groom’s father Retired (public industry)O M 57 K Groom’s uncle DoctorY M 16 K Groom’s cousin StudentMa M 17 K Groom’s cousin StudentS M 60 A Bride’s father InstructorB M 30 A Bride’s brother UnemployedCh M 67 A Bride’s father RetiredMb M 61 A Bride’s father DoctorR M 23 A Bride’s brother StudentH M 35 A Bride’s brother Pharmacist




structural correspondence between consumers’ wanted values (logic of consumption) and their

expectations related to the consumption category (fashion and wedding outfits). With this method,

we reach the deepest level of consumer discourse, which can establish a structural correspondence

between consumers’ expectations and the system underlying them. The analysis thus reveals

similarities and differences in consumers’ discourses and signifiers contained in the visuals. We

contrast two types of discourses that reflect the dialectics of inclusion versus exclusion:

1. Consumers’ discourses that define being a Kabyle by a sense of belonging to the ethnic group,

with its related customs, heritages, aesthetic, and ethic references, such as ‘it’s necessary to be

Kabyle to have a consciousness of centuries of resistance to maintain our heritage, even against

the French Colony . . . but with a true aspiration for democracy’ (M, male, 65); or ‘In our clan

where everyone is concerned by everyone: if you have Kabyle origins, you want to participate

in our culture with us, then you are a Kabyle’ (A, female, 29).

2. Consumers who define being Kabyle systematically and in contrast with Arabic values, such as

‘Kabyles don’t like all the show-off like the Arabs, the cars, gold . . . you know totally differ-

ent’ (F, female, 63); or ‘We are Imazighen [free people], we are not like Arabs’ (N, male, 30).

The semantic category that captures the deep structure of respondents’ discourses and the signifiers

contained in the visual depictions of the wedding outfits can be summarized as IN(SIDE) versus

OUT(SIDE). The projection of this category on a semiotic square (Figure 2) reveals that this binary

Figure 1. Evolution of Kabyle brides’ wardrobe.




opposition covers other realities that also represent the current Kabyle identity positions, as mate-

rialized by women’s outfits during wedding ceremonies.

Findings

Kabyle identity positions

The IN(SIDE)–OUT(SIDE) semantic opposition (see Figure 2) can capture the dominant narra-

tives that prevail in Kabyle consumer culture, building fundamental orientations that sustain

consumers’ evaluations, expectations, and choices in relation to the products they buy and

consume.

Being IN(SIDE) the community means valorizing ancestral Mediterranean culture and

aesthetic references to Kabyle and Berber fashion, together with largely French-inspired style

(Illustration 1):

Like my mother, my cousins, or my aunts I have chosen most of my outfits to be chic, almost

everything is homemade and inspired by French high couture classics, you see this tailor very

Chanel, or I took my inspiration from fashion shows to choose, my white gown comes from

France . . . . For the Kabyle outfits everything is also made to measure, with the family jewels

(A, female, 29).

Figure 2. Semiotic square: Fashion illustration of Kabyle identity positions.




Conversely, being OUT(SIDE) the community means valorizing the other or exotic images, in

this case the Arabic–Islamic aesthetics and fashion, which were forbidden to Kabyle women

until recently. As Illustrations 2–4 show, the participants adopt other regions’ traditional

outfits, such as Ottoman, Moroccan caftans, or Lebanese make-up, as well as gold jewelry

rather than traditional Kabyle silver and coral jewelry. As one informant explained,

Now you know it’s less the spirit of the time the Berber outfit, outdated no, I don’t like it, the guests will

like the gold outfits more, so I will have both the Caraco and the Djeba constantinoise, you know it’s

beautiful very rich gold Arab embroidery (S, female, 23).

The semiotic square enriches this binary opposition though, to emphasize two other signifieds.

Being NOT OUT(SIDE) strictly conforms to Kabyle ethics and aesthetics and negates any

resemblance to or inspiration from Arabic–Islamic Algerian culture. It is mainly the position

occupied today by autonomy seekers, who insist weddings cannot be exogamic and display only

typical Kabyle folk traditions in their fashion, music, and food during the ceremony (Illustration 5: ).

Fashion consumption thus mirrors minority radical resistance to the dominant culture through the

display of ‘natural’, ‘pure’, or ‘Arab-free’ signs:

Kaftan? No, no, never, to get married? Why would I put this Moroccan outfit? I am not Moroccan, or

Arab:Do they put our folk outfits??!! No, I am proud to be Kabylian, we have beautiful possibilities,

it’s our culture, our traditions, I love it and I follow the path of my grandmothers . . . and centuries

before me! (M, female, 26)

Illustration 1. Typical Kabyle Bride’s wardrobe, Kabylia, 2008.




Illustration 2. Exogamic marriage 1: Arab aesthetic signs, Algiers, 2008.

Illustration 3. Exogamic marriage 2: ‘Exotic codes’, Algiers, 2009.




Illustration 4. Kabyle wedding 1: Kabyle women emulating Arab style, Kabylia, 2009.

Illustration 5. Kabyle wedding 2: ‘Arab sign-free’ wedding, Kabylia 2007.




Finally, being NOT IN(SIDE) implies a renouncement of Kabyle specificities and adherence to

nationalist Arabic–Islamic ideology, even if people acknowledge their Kabyle origins. This

position is mainly taken by families who have moved to other Algerian regions or been closely

connected at high levels to the political regime, because the Algerian governments have instituted

Arabic–Islamic identity as a unique source of ‘Algerianness’ (in a Jacobinist sense). In terms of

consumption and fashion, exogamic weddings have become the rule, so even though the families’

names might be Kabyle, they experience themselves as (highly acculturated) Arabs and display

only Arabic–Islamic fashion (though with some contrasts among regions, class, gender ideology,

and religious practice). We were not able to attend such a wedding, which mainly would occur in

regions other than Kabylia or Algiers, but Illustration 6 represents a Kabyle-free aesthetic that sur-

prised Kabyle guests unfamiliar with this form at an exogamic marriage (Kabyle groom/Arab

bride).

Prior to today, most mixed marriages have involved Kabyle men rather than Kabyle women

marrying Arabs. But even though women are still less directly involved, new consumption prac-

tices allow them to participate in the Kabyle/Arab acculturation process. In particular, our analysis

of the evolution of Kabyle brides’ outfits shows how they have shifted from a dual aesthetic

reference (Kabyle and French styles) to a juxtaposition of references, including valorization of

Arab aesthetics.

Young female Kabyles display syncretic signals and attempt to avoid certain cliches by adding

‘Arab references’ (Ottoman, Moroccan, Lebanese) to their traditional Kabyle/Berber and Western

outfits. They thus introduce a new uniformity: All brides display the same signs according to

scripted sequences that represent the main ideological forces in Algeria today. This context

Illustration 6. Exogamic marriage 3: ‘Kabyle sign-Free’ wedding, Algiers, 2009.




strongly contrasts with the previous generation of modern Kabyle women, who embraced French

(colonial) aesthetics. Thus, a fifth position within our semiotic square (Figure 2), IN(SIDE)

AND OUT(SIDE), emerges from this study and can account for the start of a pendulum swing

(Askegaard et al., 2005), as represented in Illustration 7:

As I live in Algiers I don’t want to put only European and Kabylian outfits, you know the people they

talk if you don’t conform to this now . . . Anyway, I have also added the Caraco from Algiers, the

Moroccan caftan . . . Yeah it’s totally different styles but I like them both and it reflects my per-

sonality, I like to mix (N, female, 29).

Evolving Kabyle fashion as an ambiguous dialectic of agency and structure

The phenomenon of fashion relates to change. In this sense, Bell (1992) calls fashion a social

mirror, and Blumer (1969) asserts that fashions reflect the ‘spirit of the times’. Thompson and

Haytko (1997: 16) characterize the Western fashion model in terms of ‘novelty, rapid changes, a

proliferation of styles, and more important, the mass consumption of goods’. In our research, new

fashion codes in the Kabyle community mirror the evolving social norms that are reflected in our

informants’ discourses: compensatory and frenzied consumption after decades of socialism and

social trauma due to terrorism; ostentation as a new marker of success after the brain drain and the

rise of a ‘nouveau riche’ class; and evolving aesthetic norms mediated by satellite television.

Finally, the expansion of global consumption has generated enthusiasm but also fears of identity

loss. Therefore consumers reactivate their local customs.

Illustration 7. Kabyle wedding 3: Arab style enters Kabyle brides’ wardrobes, Kabylia 2003.




According to Thompson and Haytko (1997), consumers use socio-historical fashion discourses

in personal ways to alter their dominant meanings. Kabyle women are attracted by new fashion

codes that imitate, re-interpret, or contest dominant group aesthetics, and recent exogamic

marriages offer them a greater opportunity to attend Arab marriages.

I choose to add the caftan to my list for my wedding when I attended a wedding at the Hotel L’Aurassi

. . . Previously I did not attend many Arab ceremonies, I only saw a few caftans but there it was

amazing, the cut, the material . . . I wanted one! Even though it is expensive and my family prefers

the Berber dress . . . I plan to own a custom Berber dress with a caftan belt soon (A, female, 29).

The dynamics of imitation in fashion thus combine with a customization process that aims to

endogenize imported cultural references. At the opposite extreme, rejection of new exogenous

fashion practices signals the strengthening of the minority group:

Because my brother married a girl from Blida, I am often invited to Arab weddings now. Well, I did not

change my style . . . it’s not me and . . . sometimes you have people with a great elegant Karako in

the pure style of Algiers but honestly I prefer the more simple dress in Kabyle weddings with few

Kabyle dresses and classic clothes (F, female, 37).

By adapting culturally established fashion discourses and codes to address the complexities of their

modern everyday lives, consumers employ consumption to ‘forge self-defining social distinctions

and boundaries, to construct narratives of personal history, to interpret the interpersonal dynamics

of their social spheres’ (Thompson and Haytko, 1997: 16).

Kabyle women who have recently juxtaposed unusual codes in their community reflect

consumers’ agency and negotiation with the established social order. Fashion for a minority group

in a developing country can signify the women’s inner desires to overcome clan and gender

restrictions, as the following quote exemplifies:

You know our society is difficult for women, you can’t do anything outside the rules – and in the first

place get married! – otherwise you are judged . . . I always say being a man in our community must

be great . . . you can do what you like but as a women it’s another story! (F, female, 42).

Fashion instead permits women to insert feminine claims into scripted events and thus tell personal

stories about their lived experience of recent social mutations that involve them in new interactions

with social others:

Now that there are mixed marriages in our families we can no more escape relations with new alliances

. . . it means also that they judge . . . so it’s a shame if we don’t dress a little bit like them . . . or, we

should not accept the marriage! It’s logical! (F, female, 37).

Still, Arab brides (unless marrying a Kabyle man) never wear Kabyle/Berber fashions. Our

informants also reported situations in which Arab brides refused to wear Kabyle outfits even in a

wedding to a Kabyle man, which created great family conflicts. Clothing issues thus reflect the pre-

eminence of power structures in dominated–dominant ethnic equations. According to Murray’s

(2002) re-inquiry into Thompson and Haytko’s (1997) research, consumers’ agency should be

counterbalanced by the deep structures that dominate the social order and orient consumers’ repre-

sentations, consciously or not. In that sense, Murray (2002) reconnects with Simmel’s (1957) view

of fashion as a ‘social form’ that resists the notion of change. From this perspective, fashion is a




medium for a type of change under the control of the elites that can affirm or reproduce existing

social and power structures. Although they can experience and enter multiple identity frameworks,

our female respondents do not object to traditional social norms. By adopting new aesthetic signs

of social success (emphasizing Arabic–Islamic dominance, with outfits made of gold that are much

more exclusive), our informants use fashion and appearance to mirror their marital, family, or clan

position:

You know we [Kabyle] have always been seen by the Arabs as more educated especially at ease

speaking French but still for them we are the poor, the farmers . . . and that mostly because of our

customs, our clothes, jewels without gold. So now the new generation shows that they can possess all

those things, we can have both (F, female, 63).

Furthermore, the marriages themselves are shows that last hours and include hundreds of guests.

During the ceremony, brides and their closest companions change their clothes several times; men

tend to leave the ballrooms or remain separated from the women. The groom is dressed in Western

style and does not change his outfit; he may even be absent for much of the ceremony. Women thus

are more involved in both preparing and performing the show, and the ceremony is ‘a woman

thing’, according to several informants:

Our marriages are huge, women change a lot the clothes to show they enter a rich family, it’s an

exhibition, even if the men are not in the room, everyone knows they have provided all this . . . it’s

incredible (Kh, female, 39).

Even as men tend to stay in the background, women provide signals of their social success. Rivalry

among families and emulation of the Arabs in terms of consumption related to the event (e.g. food,

music) thus is becoming more and more prominent in Kabyle marriages.

Moreover, in contrast with their mothers who adopted Western fashion and high professional

positions (i.e. the first educated female generation), a growing number of upper-class, educated

women stay at home to care for their children and maintain a family-oriented social representation.

This conservative feminine position echoes the bourgeois model that confines women to passive

objectivity and a ‘gazed at’ position. Similarly, Sandikci and Ger (2010) interpret the rise of veiled

Turkish women as a rebellion against the traditions of their mothers who adopted Western garb. In

this case, veils, which are stigmatized clothes in secular countries, communicate a sense of inde-

pendence from social norms, just as blue jeans or tattoos might in other cultures. The attraction of

veils in Turkey reflects the interaction of market, religion, national, and international political

spheres; Arab outfits chosen for Kabyle rites of passage similarly might be read as reactions to both

the local context (inside the clan) and the national context.

Even while witnessing how this stigmatized practice becomes fashionable among Kabyle

women who initiated those transformations, our female informants still do not rebel against many

powerful Kabylian rules but support them actively. Female informants claim they still conform to

endogamy rules, would like their brothers and sons to marry Kabyle women only, and interiorize

their role as the persons responsible for transmitting language and reproducing customs. Various

informants proudly and extensively noted these functions. In analyzing the changing fashion

codes, we thus discovered that though fashions might mirror complex transformations in response

to rapid economic and political changes, the evolving fashion consumption codes fail to decon-

struct any existing power (dominant–dominated) principles in terms of gender roles or ethnic




interactions. Fashion in the Kabyle context reinforces social distinction and masculine domination

(Bourdieu, 1979, 1984, 1998).

Bourdieu’s (1984) ideas seem to apply: Various actors, whose ongoing struggle for domination

depends on overall respect for existing ‘rules of the game’, constantly reaffirm the order of the field

as a whole. The struggle for power assigns symbolic power to legitimate norms. Thus the field

structures and rules of the game remain stable (e.g. patriarchy; Aıt Kaci, 2004; Bourdieu, 1972;

Mouzaıa, 2006) when all actors (including women) implicitly and silently accept and endorse the

game and its rules. By including anomic Arab aesthetic references, Kabyle women do not contest

the internalized social order; they willingly follow Kabyle men, who instrumentalize them to

display new marks of social success and respectability:

At first, I dreamed of a Kabyle wife . . . but you know things are changing . . . My wife is related to my

[Arab] business partner. The last ten years I realized that it is impossible now to have success if you

don’t interact with all the Algerian regions . . . For instance, I need to go the mosque because there

you have business connections; if you don’t you will be judged (FF, male, 41).

As women we have the responsibility to honor our culture and to support our brothers and husbands . . .

Things are changing in Algeria. If they want to have their place in society, there are some com-

promises now but we hope . . . For us, women it’s different! (F, female, 42).

Women clearly play men’s games, as signified in their clothing, even though they claim not to adhere

to men’s choices or maintain endogamy rules. From a masculine perspective, a male respondent who

preferred an Arab wife to a Kabyle one would find it shocking if his sister chose an Arab partner:

Thanks to god, no . . . I am happy my sister married a Kabyle man. No, I don’t think it is a good idea that

Kabyle women marry Arab men. Otherwise you know our culture, our group will disappear . . . you

know the circumstances want this, but it is better our women perpetuate our traditions (FF, male, 41).

Kabyle men also struggle in the recent capitalist and elitist context to acquire social legitimacy, and

they use women to support their efforts. Thus Arab women are possessed and Kabyle women are

displayed with Arab signs. Yet Kabyle males forbid their sisters and daughters to marry Arab men.

The structures of traditional Kabyle masculine domination (Bourdieu, 1998) are maintained,

because the circulation or exchange of women remains under male control. Women are willing

agents in the system and use fashion to reinforce a group-level social position. Thus Bourdieu’s

concepts of habitus (i.e. sociocultural modes of practices and habitual dispositions) and doxa

(sociocultural systems determined by uncontested/uncontestable categories of thought and belief,

perceived as a natural order) are exemplified and fueled by consumption behaviors that only seem

new and revolutionary.

With regard to the structure/agency debate surrounding fashion consumption, two schools of

thought might help unpack the emerging phenomena. On the one hand, Kabyle women who adopt

Arab aesthetics act as bricoleurs (Firat and Venkatesh, 1995), experimenting with signs (Murray,

2002) and constructing fragmented identities in the recently opened Algerian market. On the other

hand, in line with the dominant sign perspective (e.g. Murray, 2002; see also Bourdieu, 1984;

Simmel, 1957), ‘anomic’ consumption results from the class structures’ dynamics in the field. The

vivid struggle to control the meaning of taste accounts for the elite transformations in Algeria,

which affects ethnic and gender equations of power. The dialectic between these two perspectives

then inscribes the Kabyle ethnic minority in a new movement toward consumption, in a transitional




economy materialized by new interactions with social others. By inserting this level of analysis

into conceptualizations of fashion, this research reveals the extent to which legitimatization of

appearances requires others’ validation.

Conclusion

The socialist period in Algeria and its civil war had led to frozen ethnic relations. But since the

opening of the market, more interactions now occur between Kabyle and Arabic Algerians, in both

public and private spheres. Those new interactions reframe legitimate appearances according to

different positions for consumers, as our semiotic square reveals. The dialectic of structure/agency

can be mobilized to represent how consumption reflects different identity projects within the

Kabyle community. Nevertheless, the dominant sign school of thought (Murray, 2002) seems to

capture the complexities faced by Kabyle consumers and better materialized by exogamous

weddings. If the fashion market represents a free, discursive place where consumers can manip-

ulate codes to construct specific meanings, our data support however a strong connection to deep

power structures in terms of class, ethnic, and gender politics in Algeria. For instance the bricolage

of identities through consumption does not affect the dominant group that still rejects any

attraction to the Kabyle and Berber aesthetics.

In this case, the question of Western conceptualizations of identity construction through fashion

consumption arises. The tension between rising individualism in a transitional economy and deep

clan traditions, including patriarchy, as features of Kabyle society (Aıt Kaci, 2004; Boetsch and

Ferrie, 1991; Bourdieu, 1979, 1980, 1998; Chaker, 2003; Chamla, 1974) thus may help explain the

limited agency of our female respondents. Even women who resist Kabyle aesthetics norms and

men who marry Arab women – who thus reject Kabyle ethics – do so in relation to and in support of

Kabyle social norms, echoing Baudrillard’s (1970) idea of consumption as a citizenship duty. The

ambivalence of the fashion code and consumers’ deep meanings and representations echoes the

‘consumer paradox’ mentioned by Newholm and Hopkinson (2009). That is, clothing contributes

to the construction of the self, especially in terms of individuality and a sense of differentiation.

However, our findings suggest that consumers also can minimize the sense of self and indi-

viduality, in favor of collective identity projects driven by class concerns and the minority group’s

struggle to survive. Our data also contradict Simmel’s (1957) and Bourdieu’s (1979, 1984) con-

cepts of class differentiation: Our informants refer constantly to their membership in the ethnic

community and the risks of stigmatization, whether by their own group or by an allied Arab family.

Class structure is however a strong motive for change and the reframing of taste in this context. The

Kabyle community is widely considered a Western minority group (Aıt Kaci, 2004; Bourdieu,

1972; Mouzaıa, 2006), but our findings challenge Western consumers’ identity project construc-

tion when they constitute a minority group. Additional contributions should investigate this

phenomenon further, as well as the intersection of contingent cultural definitions of the self and

consumption choices.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or

not-for-profit sectors

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Nacima Ourahmoune is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Reims Management School. She contributes

on a regular basis to various consultancy projects, using qualitative methods and bringing a cultural focus to

managerial issues. Her academic research tackles sociocultural aspects of consumption and of branding, espe-

cially the way masculinities are constructed by the fashion market and reshaped by consumers’ discourses and

practices. Her work has been presented in 20 international conferences, published in Advances in Consumer

Research and two international book chapters. Address: Reims Management School (RMS), 59 rue Pierre

Taittinger – 51100 Reims, France. [email: [email protected]]

Nil Ozcaglar-Toulouse is Professor of Marketing at the Univ Lille Nord de France (IMMD) and SKEMA.

She carries out research primarily in the field of consumption, including analyzing consumer ethics, immigra-

tion, sustainable development, and promising niche markets such as fair trade. Her work has been published in

the Journal of Business Research, Recherche et Applications Marketing, Journal of Macromarketing, and

Journal of Business Ethics. Most recently, she co-edited Marketing Management: A Cultural Perspective

(Routledge). Address: Institut du Marketing et du Management de la Distribution (IMMD), Universite Lille

2, 6 rue de l’Hotel de ville BP59 – 59051 – Roubaix Cedex 01, France. [email: [email protected]]




exogamous weddings and fashion in a rising consumer culture: kabyle minority dynamics of structure...

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