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Lila Abu-Lughod’s
Veiled Sentiments is an ethnography on the Bedouin tribes of Egypt,near the Western Desert and Libyan border. Abu-Lughod did her fieldwork between 1978 and1980, and lived with a host family in a particular Awlad ‘Ali (Bedouin) community.Theanthropologist had initially planned to study “the patterning and meaning of interpersonalrelations, in particular between men and women.” (25) However, Abu-Lughod soon discoveredthe prevalence of informal poetry performances by many members of her community. These poems are called ghinnawa to the Bedouin. Thus, she changed the course of her research toinstead focus on the use of poetry in personal expression and confidential communication. Thissomewhat drastic change of plans (although her new topic embodied elements of socialinteraction as well) portrays an ethnographic strength: Abu-Lughod was flexible about whatwould be her specific research. She let the important aspects of the Awlad ‘Ali come to surfaceand then pursued this poetic discourse understanding that it had some great presence and role inthe community. This is indicative of a transformation from classical to modern anthropology, inwhich the researcher works retrospectively rather than prospectively.Thus, unlike previousanthropologists such as Margaret Mead, Abu-Lughod’s objectives of research evolved while shewas in the midst of her research. Lila Abu-Lughod’s eventual research goal was to study thesentiments that are portrayed through the Awlad ‘Ali poetry form. Specifically, she intendedto show that sentiments can actually symbolize values and that expression of thesesentiments by individuals contributes to representations of the self, representations thatare tied to morality, which in turn is ultimately tied to politics in its broadest sense. Whatare individuals symbolizing about themselves through expression of these non-virtuoussentiments? (34-5)After looking at the poetry and sentiments through individual expression, Abu-Lughod
Lila Abu-Lughod’s
Veiled Sentiments is an ethnography on the Bedouin tribes of Egypt,near the Western Desert and Libyan border. Abu-Lughod did her fieldwork between 1978 and1980, and lived with a host family in a particular Awlad ‘Ali (Bedouin) community.Theanthropologist had initially planned to study “the patterning and meaning of interpersonalrelations, in particular between men and women.” (25) However, Abu-Lughod soon discoveredthe prevalence of informal poetry performances by many members of her community. These poems are called ghinnawa to the Bedouin. Thus, she changed the course of her research toinstead focus on the use of poetry in personal expression and confidential communication. Thissomewhat drastic change of plans (although her new topic embodied elements of socialinteraction as well) portrays an ethnographic strength: Abu-Lughod was flexible about whatwould be her specific research. She let the important aspects of the Awlad ‘Ali come to surfaceand then pursued this poetic discourse understanding that it had some great presence and role inthe community. This is indicative of a transformation from classical to modern anthropology, inwhich the researcher works retrospectively rather than prospectively.Thus, unlike previousanthropologists such as Margaret Mead, Abu-Lughod’s objectives of research evolved while shewas in the midst of her research. Lila Abu-Lughod’s eventual research goal was to study thesentiments that are portrayed through the Awlad ‘Ali poetry form. Specifically, she intendedto show that sentiments can actually symbolize values and that expression of thesesentiments by individuals contributes to representations of the self, representations thatare tied to morality, which in turn is ultimately tied to politics in its broadest sense. Whatare individuals symbolizing about themselves through expression of these non-virtuoussentiments? (34-5)After looking at the poetry and sentiments through individual expression, Abu-Lughod