The Discursive Power of the “Good Wife”: How Language Sustains Marital Violence among Syrian Refugee Women in Jordan

This article examines how the “good wife” discursive canons influence Syrian refugee women’s experiences of marital violence in Jordan. Drawing on narrative interviews with 33 Syrian refugee women, the analysis employs the feminist poststructuralist lens and Foucauldian discourse analysis to deconstruct the impact of language in gendered subjectivities reinforced by the “good wife” virtues of obedience, enduring patience, and self-sacrifice. Findings reveal a predilection towards the internalization of “good wife” canons among participants, evidenced by the use of self-blaming language that rationalizes violence and sanctions resistance. However, a minority of women successfully rejected the discursive constructs, metamorphosizing from passive to agentic subjective positionalities. The article emphasizes the role of language in not only mirroring but constituting power relations, thus affecting the conceptualization, tolerance and/or resistance to marital violence. The article recommends the rigorous interrogation of mainstream discourses that standardize marital violence while simultaneously curtailing women’s expression of agency.