Veiled Sentiments

“Many times during my stay I was confronted with the critical importance of the shared Muslim identity in the community’s acceptance of me.”

Abu-Lughod’s ambivalence about her own Muslim identity shapes her feelings and confidence about her ethnographic study. She knows that she can blend in because her father introduces her to the Haj and therefore legitimizes her as a protected woman. However, she also knows that there is a gap in her true identification with the Bedouin community. This sense of kinship, without complete belonging, permeates her relationship with the Haj and his family until his death.

“In the first months, even as I appreciated the warm acceptance I received, I chafed at the restrictions of my role and position in the community. It was difficult being so dependent. Also, although I enjoyed living in the Haj’s household and felt infinitely more comfortable around the people I knew best, I was worried by the idea of what anthropologists were supposed to do.”

During her time with the Haj’s family, Abu-Lughod must suspend her expectations about the experience as a condition of her age and gender. Knowing that her relationship as “dependent” limits her, Abu-Lughod must adjust her ethnographic techniques and listen carefully to the cultural movement around her.

“I found that these poems, called ghinnāwas (literally, little songs), were lyric poems, like Japanese haiku in form but more like American blues in content and emotional tone.”

Throughout the text, Abu-Lughod seeks descriptions of Awlad ‘Ali poems that aptly describe their purpose, sound, and form. The particular combination of elements shapes the way they are received in their social context, and social reception is the key to the poems’ purpose within the Awlad ‘Ali community.