Patience and Power: Women's Lives in a Moroccan Village

Patience and Power: Women's Lives in a Moroccan Village by Davis, Susan Schaefer. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780870735042.

This sociocultural anthropological study of Moroccan village women helps us to understand another way of life. "Patience and Power" blows away the cobwebs of myth surrounding women in an Islamic society. It shows them in their true light -- not subordinate to men, but revealing both patience and power. | Older literature about Muslim women (written mostly by men) has been superficial in approach and often inaccurate. More recent studies offer details with few explanations or conclusions. "Patience and Power", on the other hand, is written by an anthropologist who uses a new, more systematic approach. Additionally, Dr. Susan S. Davis not only speaks Moroccan Arabic fluently but is at home in the culture. | The author begins by describing the research environment and the form of the field-work she set up. Her presentation is clear and engaging and terms are well defined. She looks at the roles of both men and women within the traditional categories used by anthropologists -- the social, economic, political, and supernatural spheres. Dr. Davis compares formal and nonformal roles of both sexes in the public and private domains, and ends up with a more complete and less mystifying view of Muslim women. The picture of Muslim women is enhanced by the photographs taken by the author, which we are proud to reproduce. We see veiled women, and women busy with domestic tasks, but we also see women laughing, women enjoying friendships, neighborhood gatherings and family celebrations -- women of patience and power. | This book will have relevance for students studying anthropology, womens studies, and (specifically) the Middle East. Social scientists with a special interest in women and their social roles will find it indispensable.