Five contemporary Egyptian women, ranging in age from early twenties to mid-sixties, members of Cairo’s impoverished middle to lower classes, told their life stories to Nayra Atiya over a period of many months. Their stories are fresh and vivid, recording the various roles of being co-wife in a polygamous marriage, the complications of divorce, the rituals of female circumcision and marriage, the loss of children, life-long hate and its source, the position of witchcraft and superstition in their daily lives, primitive health practices, and managing a family’s meager resources, including gold or silver khul-khaal anklets worn by married women. These self-portraits are fascinating reading and a mine of information for anyone interested in understanding contemporary Egyptian life. A foreword by anthropologist Andrea Rugh and many photographs by Asma el-Bakry are included.
Khul-Khaal
Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories
Nayra Atiya
Foreword byAndrea B. Rugh
Photography byAsma el-Bakry
172 pp.
39 illus.
14X23cm
ISBN 9789774240287
For sale only in the Middle East
$17.95
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