Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society PDF
Preview Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society
Veiled Q&entiments HONOR AND POETRY IN A BEDOUIN SOCIETY Thirtieth Anniversary Edition With a New Afterword LILA ABU-LUGHOD University of California Press VEILED SENTIMENTS This page intentionally left blank Veiled Q&entiments HONOR AND POETRY IN A BEDOUIN SOCIETY Thirtieth Anniversary Edition With a New Afterword LILA ABU-LUGHOD University of California Press University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Oakland, California © 1986, 2016 by The Regents of the University of California ISBN 978-0-520-29249-9 (paper) ISBN 978-0-520-96598-0 (ebook) Portions of this work originally appeared in "Honor and the Sentiments of Loss in a Bedouin Society," American Ethnologist 12, no. 2 (1985): 245-61, reprinted here by kind permission of the American Anthropological Association. Photographs: Lila Abu-Lughod/An thro-Photo The Library of Congress has cataloged an earlier edition of this book as follows: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Abu-Lughod, Lila. Veiled sentiments. Bibliography: p. Includes index. i. Bedouins—Egypt—Social life and customs. 2. Folk poetry, Arabic— Egypt—History and Criticism. 3. Bedouins—Egypt—Folklore. 4. Honor— Folklore. 5. Sex customs—Egypt. 6.Women—Egypt. I.Title. DT72.B4A28 1986 306'.089927 86-6948 ISBN 978-0-520-22473-5 (pbk : alk. paper) Manufactured in the United States of America 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21 To my parents This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Acknowledgments xi A Note on Transcriptions XV ONE Guest and Daughter 1 The Community 1 Fieldwork 9 Poetry and Sentiment 24 PART ONE The Ideology of Bedouin Social Life TWO Identity in Relationship 39 Asl: The Blood of Ancestry 41 Garaba: The Blood of Relationship 49 Maternal Ties and a Common Life 59 Identification and Sharing 65 Identity in a Changing World 70 THREE Honor and the Virtues of Autonomy 78 Autonomy and Hierarchy 78 The Family Model of Hierarchy 81 Honor: The Moral Basis of Hierarchy 85 vii Contents Limits on Power 99 Hasham: Honor of the Weak 103 FOUR Modesty, Gender, and Sexuality 118 Gender Ideology and Hierarchy 118 The Social Value of Male and Female 119 The "Natural" Bases of Female Moral Inferiority 124 Red Belts and Black Veils: The Symbolism of Gender and Sexuality 134 Sexuality and the Social Order 143 Hasham Reconsidered: Deference and the Denial of Sexuality 152 The Meaning of Veiling 159 PART TWO Discourses on Sentiment FIVE The Poetry of Personal Life 171 On Poetry in Context 171 The Poetry of Self and Sentiment 177 SIX Honor and Poetic Vulnerability 186 Discourses on Loss 186 Matters of Pride 187 Responding to Death 197 The Discourse of Honor 204 SEVEN Modesty and the Poetry of Love 208 Discourses on Love 208 Star–Crossed Lovers 209 viii Contents An Arranged Marriage 215 Marriage, Divorce, and Polygyny 222 EIGHT Ideology and the Politics of Sentiment 233 The Social Contexts of Discourse 234 Protective Veils of Form 238 The Meaning of Poetry 240 The Politics of Sentiment 248 Ideology and Experience 255 Ethnography's Values: An Afterword 261 Appendix: Formulas and Themes of the Ghinnawa 303 Notes 315 Bibliography 339 Index 351 ix
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