Sunday Book Coveting*

The other day I was walking Genevieve, our lovely dog, and listening to To the Best of Our Knowledge on my beloved iPod. The episode is titled Women & Islam. (You can click from this page to listen, if you wish).

The first segment discusses a book titled My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes. I might want to read this book, even though I’m not a big non-fiction reader. It is a series of essays written by Iranian women, and discusses the Iranian revolution, and how it has suppressed women in Iran, and yet in no way has it completely stifled feminism there. From Powells.com:

In the first anthology of its kind, Lila Azam Zanganeh argues that although Iran looms large in the American imagination, it is grossly misunderstood—seen either as the third pillar of Bush’s infamous “axis of evil” or as a nation teeming with youths clamoring for revolution.This collection showcases the real scope and complexity of Iran through the work of a stellar group of contributors—including Azar Nafisi and with original art by Marjane Satrapi. Their collective goal is to counter the many existing cultural and political clichés about Iran. Some of the pieces concern feminism, sexuality, or eroticism under the Islamic Republic; others are unorthodox political testimonies or about race and religion. Almost all these contributors have broken artistic and cultural taboos in their work.

Journalist Reza Aslan, author of No God But God, explains why Iran is not a theocracy but, rather, a “mullahcracy.” Mehrangiz Kar, a lawyer and human rights activist who was jailed in Iran and is currently a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, argues that the Iranian Revolution actually engendered the birth of feminism in Iran. Journalist Azadeh Moaveni reveals the underground parties and sex culture in Tehran, while Gelareh Asayesh, author of Saffron Sky, writes poignantly on why Iranians are not considered white in America, even though they think they are. Poet and writer Naghmeh Zarbafian expounds on the surreal experience of reading censored books in Iran, while Roya Hakakian, author of Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran, recalls the happy days of Iranian Jews. With a sharp, incisive introduction by Lila Azam Zanganeh, this diverse collection will alter what you thought you knew about Iran.

I’ve had several friends over the years who left Iran during the time of the revolution, and it’s always so interesting to hear about their country, and what they loved and miss about their country, and what the feel are its shortcomings.

The second segment discusses women in Afghanistan under the Taliban, supporting their families in secret by practicing hairdressing in their homes.  If that doesn’t put the true meaning of feminism on its ear, I don’t know what will.   Women in the west tend to think of feminism in the middle east as being about the veil.  The woman being interviewed said that feminism in Afghanistan has nothing to do with the veil.  They wear the veil and don’t mind…what they do mind is war and opression and supression and the attacks on their chances at education.  Watching their husbands and children die.  Fearing being stoned in the street for no reason whatsoever.  That kind of puts it all in perspective, huh?  

Also discussed in this segment is the plight of women in Iraq since the American occupation, which has gotten much, much worse than under Saddam Hussein.

The third segment discusses women in Islam, and Laila Lalami’s novel, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits. I’m thinking I might want to pick this one up from the library, as well as the first book.

*Dewey over at the hidden side of a leaf has this weekly feature…I tend not to look at nearly as many books as she does, because I think it would kill me to really acknowledge how many books there are out there that I’ll never have time to read…I wonder if she eventually gets to all of them, or if not, what percentage of her Sunday Book Coveting books she gets to actually read.