The Women of Deh Koh: Lives in an Iranian Village

by Erika Friedl

Book Overview

"Masterful . . . absorbing. This finely written book gives us a whole new sense of Iran."-- The Washington Post Book World While doing research in the Iranian village of Deh Koh, Erika Friedl was able... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140149937
• ISBN13: 9780140149937
• Release Date: September 1991
• Publisher: Penguin Adult Hc/Tr
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Village Life: Timeless and Changing

Having spent more than a year in a small Iranian town similar to the one in which Friedl's stories take place, I can appreciate the depth of insight and meticulous attention to detail that make her book something special. One needs, as an outsider, to "peel back the layers of the onion" in order to be aware of, and to fully comprehend, the complex relationships and dynamics of village life. This book does so, without letting "method" intrude on the story-telling; as another reviewer said (and as the author herself acknowledges) she tried at all times to let the principals tell their own story with a minimum of interpretation. Other such ehnological works (even the best, such as Colin Turnbull's "The Forest People", or Richard Critchfield's "The Golden Bowl Be Broken") often have the sense of an omniscient observor who "knows more" than the characters in the story. Friedl is scrupulous about keeping her own perspectives out of the stories (to the extent that anyone can).

A vivid portrait of women's lives in an Iranian village

In "Women of Deh Koh" Ericka Friedl presents us with the stories of twelve different Iranian village women, using situations, she says "in which many women find themselves, wish to find themselves, or hope never to find themselves at one stage or another in their lives." She lays out the stories from the woman's point of view, touching on subjects such as rape, arranged marriage, polygamy, but never once asking for sympathy or understanding. From Perijan with a late child to Sarah who's husband took another wife to Parvane with a mental illness, we become a part of these women's lives and get a glimpse of their intricate social structure and how they support each other. While the stories are about different women, many of the other women are present in the stories, so we quickly feel as if we know these women, as if they are our friends. This book is a wonderful example of the "show, don't tell" concept one of my English teachers always tried to get across to us. Friedl never "tells" us anything, but rather lets us come to our own understandings from reading about the everyday lives of these women. This book completely changed my perspective of Islamic women. From reading other books (namely the "Princess" series) I thought that women under Islam were downtrodden, oppressed, and desperately needed to be liberated. Naive, I know, however that is largely the image presented to us. After reading this book however, I realized that my stereotypes of Islamic women were for the most part, wrong. The women in "Women of Deh Koh" don't feel sorry for themselves, and neither should we. Ericka Friedl is a gifted writer, and ties all the women's stories together beautifully. I have read the book close to 20 times, and have walked away more fulfilled each time. This is, perhaps, the best book I've ever read.

A glimpse of rural Iran

Friedl is a wonderful writer, turning the most mundane details into narrative that you can't put down! I loved the book, found it extremely valuable during this time of intense interest in the Middle East. The book made me feel I was there, in a remote Iranian village, taking a peek into the lives of ordinary people.

Beautiful.

This book was the most profound and stunning look at the lives of Muslim women I have ever encountered. I highly recommend it to anthropology majors and womens studies majors both. By the end of the book I felt like I had gained far more than the average ethnography teaches: by giving intimate glimpses into these women's lives, Erika Friedl vividly shows us not only their hardships but their strengths as well. I was touched by the stories she related, and even more touched by the quiet way in which she lets the women speak for themselves, from the first page to the last.

One of the best ethnographies ever written

As a student, graduate student, and professional, I have been reading anthropology for about 40 years. Some of that reading is necessarily in theory, in books that deal with new ideas and concepts or attempt to overturn the old. But, to broaden one's horizons, to keep abreast of how people are writing, and to get material to use for classes, an anthropologist has to read a certain number of ethnographies every year. So, I suppose I may say, however immodestly, that I have read quite a few ethnographies. A lot, actually. Of all such books that I have read in the last forty years, I would say that Friedl's WOMEN OF DEH KOH ranks in the top three or four. I never read a review of it, I stumbled on it in a bookstore, I am not an Iran-specialist. But this is just a gem of a book. If you want to understand the workings of an Iranian village, not from the usual anthropological perspective of neat categorizations and summings-up of the ethnographer's work, but from poetical prose that seems to come from the womens' mouths, then you must read this book. The author allows the women to speak more than almost anyone else I have ever read. The book could be a novel, but it is not at all, the author defines her presence, explains how she wrote the book. It is divided into 12 chapters, each devoted to a separate woman, but the others appear again and again, fleshing out the bones of the story, making the village come alive in their interactions. Any student of anthropology would love to read this book and for teachers it is an excellent ethnography to show what the field is really all about. If you have nothing to do with anthropology, but are interested in Iran or, if you are just surfing around looking for a good book, choose this one ! Oh, God, if You could only have let me write like Erika Friedl !