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Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village [Paperback]

Elizabeth Warnock Fernea (Author)

4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Anchor Books; Reissue edition (Jun 1969)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0385014856
ISBN-13: 978-0385014854
Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 1.8 x 20.3 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 208,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Middle East > Iraq

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Product Description

A delightful, well-written, and vastly informative ethnographic study, this is an account of Fernea's two-year stay in a tiny rural village in Iraq, where she assumed the dress and sheltered life of a harem woman.

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First Sentence
The night train from Baghdad to Basra was already hissing and creaking in its tracks when Bob and I arrived at the platform. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting and fun to read, 30 Aug 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village (Paperback)

I picked up this book as a result of a Cultural Anthropology class, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Fernea never claims to be a trained anthropologist at the time she traveled to Iraq, she merely recounts her experiences as they happened. She was traveling with her anthropologist husband. For those who say she was a tourist who suddenly claimed to be an expert, I think they should have read her comments more closely. Perhaps they are among those who skip to chapter 1 without reading the foreward???

Let me stress again, Fernea was only recording her experiences as an American woman in a remote Iraqi village. Upon returning to the US she continued to study the region, and went on to teach Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas at Austin. I would hardly say she took a little vacation and immediately claimed to be an expert! Obviously, her life in the village of El Nahra impacted her life greatly.

This book was great, and very readable. I would recommend it to anyone curious about women's life in remote Iraqi society.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real gem, 9 Mar 2009

Sandra Lemon (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village (Paperback)

I read about this book in the author's obituary and searched Amazon to find it. It is a beautifully written account that is a pleasure to read. Elizabeth Warnock Fernea was a great observer of people and as the book rolls on and she gets to know and become friends with her subjects she gives a wonderful account of the society they live in and the way they respond to it. It is clear the Iraqi's then, as now, were a warm welcoming people. If you are interested in people and other societies this is a "must read".

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative read, 13 Aug 2007

Keiko Tamura - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village (Paperback)

I picked this book up in a used book shop in 1986. I had studied Arabic but knew little about the region, so this served as an entree for me, and a useful one, at that. Because the setting is rural Iraq of the 1960's (or was it 50's?), we get to see society from this part of the world at its real core. There is no need to peel off the veneer of the more modern society to try to devine what lies beneath - there is no veneer. I found it useful not only in understanding what is different about society in this part of the Middle East, but also in understanding what is at least common to my own society, if not universal to us all. As a snapshot in time, it is also a great window into a world we won't see again. I recommend this in the same way that I recommend Memories of Silk and Straw for a look at pre-war rural Japan. You can see how much the societies have changed and - perhaps - fathom how much of a jar that change has proven.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and highly readable
I was so pleased to see that Amazon sells this book by Ms. Ferneau. I read it about 5-6 years ago in a freshman college anthropology class and have thought of it ever since. Read more

Published on 20 Aug 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars unbiased, informative, and entertaining
I recently read Guests of the Sheik for one of my classes. Not only did I find the book informative, but I was also so enthralled by it that I found myself neglecting other work... Read more

Published on 29 Mar 1999

1.0 out of 5 stars A Poor Attempt
What is this trend that we Americans seem to be following? We visit foreign country, meet the natives, learn very little about their culture and customs, and suddenly we are... Read more

Published on 12 Feb 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read for middle east enthusiasts
I borrowed this book from a colleague of mine and carried it around for five months, not having time to sit and read it. Oh I wish I had read it five months earlier! Read more

Published on 27 Jan 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars powerful
this book is both depressing and uplifting....tormenting and joyful....you will refuse to turn off your bedroom light until fernea has written her last word.... Read more

Published on 7 Dec 1997

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for the understanding of Muslim women by Westerner
I cannot give this review without some personal background - I was a student of Robert Fernea's Middle EasternAnthropology class in 1972 at the University of Texas - "Guests... Read more

Published on 18 Oct 1997

› See all 9 customer reviews on Amazon.co.uk

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