Another very good book

In 1956 Elizabeth Warnock Fernea accompanied her husband, who was doing postgraduate work in anthropology, to the village of El Nahra, Iraq. For nearly two years, they lived as guests of Sheik Hamid Abdul Emir El Hussein. Elizabeth donned the abayah and attempted to integrate with the women of the village. Her Arabic was not very good and her hosts were naturally reluctant to welcome an American Christian. They assumed she was lazy, retarded and that she didn’t know how to cook. As her knowledge of the language and customs improved she came to be accepted as a member of the village and developed a mutual love and respect for the women of El Nahra.

Guests of the Sheik is a very readable and entertaining look into the lives of women in rural Iraq.

Comments: 3

Maureen Long Sep 17, 2007, 11:23pm EDT

I think I'll look for the book. I worked with a woman who had lived in Saudi Arabia for several years while her husband worked there. She didn't find the restrictions difficult to live with. She rather enjoyed having someone drive her where she wanted to go, esp. when it was to places that she'd be uncomfortable going as a woman alone.