Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society

382 Pages·2000·15.398 MB·English

by  Lila Abu-Lughod

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
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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
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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