Guests of the Sheik

An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village

By: Elizabeth Warnock Fernea

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

A delightful, well-written, and vastly informative ethnographic study, this is an account of Elizabeth Warnock Fernea's two-year stay in a tiny rural village in Iraq, where she assumed the dress and sheltered life of a harem woman. This volume gives a unique insight into a part of the Midddle Eastern life seldom seen by the West.

©1965 Elizabeth Warnock Fernea (P)2017 Tantor

Very vivid & interesting story

I loved the way this book was written. The narrator was fantastic to say the least. The story made even the most mundane events interesting. There wasn’t a moment I didn’t enjoy the story.

Unforgettable

This well-written but unpretentious ethnography of a rural Iraqi village is the most authentic view you will ever find into the lives of women in a traditional middle eastern village, mid-20th century. Author Elizabeth Fernea, a young newlywed, follows her husband on his middle eastern doctoral research, settling in a mud hut in Al Nahra in 1956, the first western woman ever to live in the village.

Like the village women, Elizabeth dons the full-length black veil and becomes immersed in the culture, secluded from the men, but making friends with the sheikh's wives in the harem. At first, she is pitied by the women (too skinny, short hair, no children), but gradually improves her Arabic and learns to navigate the culture, becoming part of the social tapestry of the village. Eventually, she is embraced by the women, who treat her as one of their own family.

Her observations and insights into the daily lives of the village women provide a unique and invaluable snapshot into the sheltered lives of work, childbearing, religious observances, and plural marriage experienced by Iraqi women in that time and place.

Like Elizabeth, you will be puzzled by the customs, develop empathy for the women, come to love the life, and feel her heartbreak when she has to leave. The stories are unforgettable. Both Fernea and her husband, after more than a decade in the middle east, returned to the US as college professors, and Elizabeth, also an author and filmmaker, created multiple works about her time in the middle east. Her other books include "A Street in Marrakesh" and "A View of the Nile." After leaving Al Nahra in 1958, she had a rare opportunity to catch up with some of her old village friends in 1997, the details of which you can read in "The Arab World," a book she co-wrote with her husband.

Don't miss this extraordinary and unforgettable book, a seminal work about the lives of Iraqi village women in the 1950's. Although it has become a college text, it reads like a heartwarming memoir of a very special time. Thank you, Professor Fernea, for this illuminating work, and thank you, Audible, for producing the long-awaited audiobook.

Good but chapters are off

The book is great but the chapters are off by so chapter 16 is actually chapter 15.

Great book!

I read this book for a project in university and it was a wonderful and entertaining one! I highly recommend:)

Incredible. Very well written. Honest and funny.

I loved getting to know the women and seeing the bonds grow stronger. She has such a good eye and I was right there with her the whole time.

Filled with insight and compassion

Despite being written in the late 50s, Guests of the Sheik feels as though it could have been written yesterday. The comparisons drawn in the mindset of the author feel as relevant today as they did back then. Full of charm and humor, the author never fails to reflect on the differences between Iraqi culture and Western culture, while taking any missteps with grace and humility.

Good, but limited

This was recommended to me a few years ago and I finally got around to reading it. This story gives a little perspective into life in a very small Iraqi Islamic village from an American 1950's housewife's perspective. The author's stay was about 2 years, and immersion was quite limited. This is a lot better than a travel log, but it is not a deep work. The writing is conversational and little more. It is a nice story and was worth reading, but it was limited in depth, analysis and perspective. I certainly should not be one's only perspective on life in Iraq.

This is mostly the story of the effects of a 1950's era tiny Islamic Iraqi village upon a American newlywed. This could have been better if the writing was more emotional or more intense. It felt mostly honest, but a bit detached

The narration was good, but less than excellent.