PULLMAN – Elizabeth W. Fernea will present a lecture titled “Iraqi Women, Then and Now” at Washington State University April 11 at 7 p.m. in Todd Hall, room 216.
This lecture was originally planned for Women’s History Month in March, but was rescheduled due to illness.
Fernea, author of the highly popular book “Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village,” will be on campus at the invitation of WSU’s History Department. Fernea will sign copies of her book before and after her lecture and will also take part in a brown bag lunch talk on “Iraqi Women” April 11 at 12:10 p.m. in Murrow Hall, rooms 53/55.
Fernea has produced six documentaries and a dozen books focused primarily on women and families in the Middle East. Her most recent film, “Living with the Past: Historic Cairo,” was produced in 2001 and is an intimate portrait of the neighborhood of Darb al-Ahmar, in the heart of the old city of Cairo. Other documentaries by Fernea include “A Veiled Revolution: Women and Religion in Egypt” and “The Struggle for Peace: Israelis and Palestinians.”
Fernea’s latest book, “In Search of Islamic Feminism” (Anchor/Doubleday), was called “a remarkable, stereotype-shattering, gender bending study of Middle Eastern women” by Kirkus Reviews.
Fernea has taught at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin for 25 years and is professor emeritus of English and Middle Eastern studies. She was one of the founders of the UT women’s studies program.
