I just finished reading Guests of the Sheik by Elizabeth Fernea. I highly recommend reading it. Following is my review of the book.
In The Guests of the Sheik, Elizabeth Fernea gives her account of a stay in a tribal Iraqi village in the late 1950s. At different points, the account can be upsetting, touching, perplexing, but most importantly, human.
I believe the thing that this book does best is to put a human face on the women of the Middle East. Something that most people in the West (and America especially) have no knowledge of or experience with. All the women that Fernea meets during her stay are interesting characters made all the more interesting by their culture and the setting in which the story unfolds. More importantly than any differences that may exist between our two cultures is the fact that we are all human and all value things like having good friends and being good people.
For too long have the women of the Middle East been seen as weak, passive, and subjugated in Western eyes. This book is quite effective at dispelling that myth. The veil, especially, has been seen as a device that Muslims use to subjugate their women. After reading this book, one cannot believe that anymore (not to say that I ever did believe that, remember, I am above that). Women are not forced to wear the veil. They see it in terms of humility and tradition, rather than an instrument for male domination.
The author's struggle to fit in in the village of El Nahra speaks to everyone. I can't think of a single person who has not had to struggle to fit in in some situation (even less drastic than the author's situation). I do respect her efforts to fit in and make friends. Most people would not have been culturally aware enough to do what she did. Her awkwardness also showed us that there is little meaningful difference between our two cultures. The gap is not as pronounced as one would have thought it would be, being reared on Western television and media.
The author's travels between the tribal village of El Nahra and Karbala and Baghdad also shows us that whatever stereotypes Westerns may hold about Middle Eastern women should promptly be discarded. Not only is there no way to categorize them, but there is such a degree of variation between areas and even individuals that any such categorization would be foolish at best. The differences between the tribal villages and the metropolitan areas are as great (if not greater) than the political differences between Berkeley and Oakdale (and if you do not know Oakdale, the difference is immense).
I found this account to be very interesting. I honestly did not know what conditions were like for women. I did not believe the stereotypes, because after all, stereotypes are a horrible way to try to infer information about anything. I believe that anyone who reads this book will realize that everything we think we know about Middle Eastern women is useless. This book is the perfect introduction to any sort of study about women in the Middle East.
