Gender Relations in Guests of the Sheik Amanda Maciocia College

Gender roles and relationships in Islamic societies are best understood through historical and religious context. This is because social norms and customs that regulate the behaviours of Muslim men and women are rooted in sacred texts and pivotal events, that date back to the formative period of the faith. As a result, complex cultural systems have been established with multiple layers of meaning that make it difficult for foreign scholars to study gender in Islamic countries. Western notions of gender can impede a proper understanding of these societies, even more so if this value system is projected upon Islamic traditions. This why Elizabeth Fernea’s, Guests of the Sheik ‘An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village’, has proven to be a critical resource in the study of gender relations within Islam. Her firsthand observation of a small rural village in Iraq provides unique insights into the personal experiences of local women and the socio-religious principles that frame their daily lives. In describing a society that is very different from her own, Fernea assists readers in discovering the inner operations of a highly-gendered space.

Upon arrival, Fernea struggled with cultural norms that regulated her appearance in public, in...