Guests of the Sheik
Elizabeth Warnock Fernea provides an overview of the ethnography of an Iraqi village in her work, The Guests of the Sheik. Within her book, Fernea considers the element of gender and its impact on the roles of women in Iraq, as well as the expectations based within the gender-specific social constructs, Fernea, who the women of the harem call Beeja, presents experiential information about the life for both women and men, and her role within her husband's life as it reflects upon the eastern culture. There are distinct differences within the comparisons made between Beeja and the wives of the sheik, especially Selma, and this provides for an interesting perspective about the different roles of men and women in distinct cultures.Fernea's account comes from her own personal account of her say, with her husband, Bob, on the outskirts of a Iraqi village, and the encounters that they experienced as "guests of the sheik." Even though Fernea and her husband were both well-respected westerners, Fernea herself recognized that the role of women within the Iraqi community would require her to conform to some of the gender-based social norms, and this was evident in her expectations of their firs meeting. After being incited by the sheik to
lunch, Fernea contemplated the visit by stating that the invitation meant that "Bob would eat with the men in the sheik's mudhif or guesthouse, and I would lunch in the Harem, or women's quarters" (24). Immediately, I was brought into the view of the different gender roles and the perspective of both the western guests and the community within which they would visit. Though Elizabeth Warnock Fernea acted as a respectful guest within the community of the Iraqi village and accepted an almost unbelievable level of female subjugation. There was a considerable double standard within this culture, and few of the expectations of women were also expected of the men. Instead, the account provided by Fernea, known as Beeja to the women of the harem, demonstrates the way in which ancient cultures have supported the subjugation of women and the differences that are inherently created when comparing these constructs against western culture. Within the community, there are three elements of life that appear over and over and underscore the gender differences within the culture. These include the relationship between women and the rearing of children, the preparation and consumption of food (including the feast of Ramadan) and customs and the process f marriage. Within Fernea's experiences, these elements repeat and continually provide greater understanding of the differences between Fernea's western culture and intricacies of the culture of the Iraqi village. The other women that Fernea encounters celebrate the bearing of children, and even have had a number of the sheik's babies. It is interesting that the members of the harem share a common understanding of the imp
Some common words found in the essay are:
Guests Sheik, Warnock Fernea, Fernea Beeja, iraqi village, western culture, women harem, roles women, culture iraqi village, Elizabeth Warnock, elizabeth warnock fernea, subjugation women, child rearing, girl virgin, guests sheik, raising children, culture iraqi,
Approximate Word count = 1125
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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