The UMASC Thursday book group meets on Zoom at 1 PM the fourth Thursday each month. We still have room for two or three new members. If you think you might be interested in joining our group, please call the UMASC office at (207) 621-3551 and someone will reach out to answer any questions you have.

On May 26 we will be discussing Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea. This book is the author’s account of two years beginning in 1957 when she and her husband lived in a small mud-brick hut in southern Iraq. The couple was newly married, and Robert Fernea was in Iraq to complete graduate studies in anthropology. They both struggled to understand the language, fit in, make friends, and conduct their lives without offending anyone. To make matters worse for Elizabeth, Robert was gone much of the time. Fortunately, the Shiite women took pity on their young guest who had no children, no mother for companionship, and—worst of all—no gold of her own (which they cautioned was a grave mistake). The village women welcomed her into their culture and, over time, shared what they knew about a woman’s role and her responsibilities.

The subtitle of this book is An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village. Ethnography is the study of a culture from the point of view of the subject of the study. Recent reviewers have criticized this book written in 1965 for its lack of relevance 60 years later. However, these Iraqi women are the mothers of our generation and the grandmothers of modern Iraqi women. Haven’t we all seen our mothers in the mirror? Haven’t we each heard our mother’s words in our own voice? I am looking forward to reading what the village women of El Nahra chose to share with the young American in 1957 and wondering, too, who the real student in the experience turned out to be–the doctoral candidate or his young bride.