I'm getting toward the end of Writing Women's Worlds, and learning this week about weddings and related customs. I have been wondering throughout this book if much has changed since Lila last visited this society in 1989. I should look that up and report back.
The next book on the list is a novel by Isabel Allende, the Chilean writer (and second cousin of ex-president Salvador Allende). I've read a couple of her books, but the one I have planned is her first: The House of the Spirits, which was made into a movie by the same name in 1993: The House of the Spirits. Though it starred Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep and Glenn Close, it was not well received. I've never seen it, myself. Maybe I'll give it a go after I read the book.
I started reading House of the Spirits once before but didn't get very far. This time I hope to finish it. More later.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
From Desert Solitaire to Desert Solidarity
I finished Desert Solitaire, although by the end I was starting to lose interest, I must say. I'll probably go back and read the ending again sometime; maybe my mindset will be different by then.
Right now I'm reading the next book on the list, Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories, by Lila Abu-Lughod, a Palestinian-American anthropologist. She has written about the Bedouins of Egypt before. This time she focuses on women and aspects of their lives, from birth to death.
Lila writes beautifully, and the stories are very interesting and enlightening. One of things that has finally been made clear to me is the impact modernization has had on Muslim cultures. We think that modernization is all good, but it is really the reason for the tightening of restrictions on women. Before, in their rather isolated societies, women were freer, paradoxically, because the dangers of the outside world were not felt. Women were safe within their kinship circles because the men were all relatives. When the world intrudes with its strangers, women have to retreat to their households and spend all their time outside covered up to avoid being seen by non-relatives. It's not comfortable for them; they don't like it, but the reality of being surrounded by strangers leaves them with no alternative, given their cultural/religious restrictions of only being "themselves" around family.
Of course, we would say: change your culture, then! Not any easy or a quick solution, because women who try it are only viewed as non-honorable, "fallen" women (as they used to call them in our culture).
Lila's book takes us behind the scenes and shows us the women relatively unguarded and what they think. It's a fascinating look at a culture we don't often readily understand.
I'm enjoying the book very much. Though it is a scholarly work, I recommend it highly.
Right now I'm reading the next book on the list, Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories, by Lila Abu-Lughod, a Palestinian-American anthropologist. She has written about the Bedouins of Egypt before. This time she focuses on women and aspects of their lives, from birth to death.
Lila writes beautifully, and the stories are very interesting and enlightening. One of things that has finally been made clear to me is the impact modernization has had on Muslim cultures. We think that modernization is all good, but it is really the reason for the tightening of restrictions on women. Before, in their rather isolated societies, women were freer, paradoxically, because the dangers of the outside world were not felt. Women were safe within their kinship circles because the men were all relatives. When the world intrudes with its strangers, women have to retreat to their households and spend all their time outside covered up to avoid being seen by non-relatives. It's not comfortable for them; they don't like it, but the reality of being surrounded by strangers leaves them with no alternative, given their cultural/religious restrictions of only being "themselves" around family.
Of course, we would say: change your culture, then! Not any easy or a quick solution, because women who try it are only viewed as non-honorable, "fallen" women (as they used to call them in our culture).
Lila's book takes us behind the scenes and shows us the women relatively unguarded and what they think. It's a fascinating look at a culture we don't often readily understand.
I'm enjoying the book very much. Though it is a scholarly work, I recommend it highly.
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