Berdel
Artist
Designer Unknown
Date1990
Dimensions39 1/8 x 26 3/4 in. (99.4 x 67.9 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Saul Zalesch
Object numberPH.6706
DescriptionIn the Turkish film promoted here, the father of five daughters in a traditional Anatolian family attempts to force his eldest child to marry an older man in order to allow him to take this man's younger sister as his second wife, in the hope that she will bear him a son. It also means he can avoid the dowry he cannot afford. This eastern Anatolian tradition, in which two members of a family marry two others in another family as part of an exchange, is known as berdel. The design here is based on a still from the film, which was sponsored by the Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation, perhaps because the family in it has so many children.On View
Not on view
