During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the author lived with a community of Bedouins in the Western Desert of Egypt for nearly two years, studying gender relations, morality, and the oral lyric poetry through which women and young men express personal feelings. In this book, the poems are haunting, and the evocation of emotional life vivid.

Acknowledgments A Note on Transcriptions One: Guest and Daughter The Community Fieldwork Poetry and Sentiment PART ONE The Ideology of Bedouin Social Life Two: Identity in Relationship Asl: The Blood of Ancestry Garaba: The Blood of Relationship Maternal Ties and a Common Life Identification and Sharing Identity in a Changing World Three: Honor and the Virtues of Autonomy Autonomy and Hierarchy The Family Model of Hierarchy Honor: The Moral Basis of Hierarchy Limits on Power Hasham: Honor of the Weak Four: Modesty, Gender, and Sexuality Gender Ideology and Hierarchy The Social Value of Male and Female The "Natural" Bases of Female Moral Inferiority Red Belts and Black Veils: The Symbolism of Gender and Sexuality Sexuality and the Social Order Hasham Reconsidered: Deference and the Denial of Sexuality The Meaning of Veiling PART TWO Discourses on Sentiment Five: The Poetry of Personal Life On Poetry in Context The Poetry of Self and Sentiment Six: Honor and Poetic Vulnerability Discourses on Loss Matters of Pride Responding to Death The Discourse of Honor Seven: Modesty and the Poetry of Love Discourses on Love Star–Crossed Lovers An Arranged Marriage Marriage, Divorce, and Polygyny Eight: Ideology and the Politics of Sentiment The Social Contexts of Discourse Protective Veils of Form The Meaning of Poetry The Politics of Sentiment Ideology and Experience Ethnography's Values: An Afterword Appendix: Formulas and Themes of the Ghinnawa Notes Bibliography Index

“A fascinating, fresh interpretation of the mechanics of the twin codes of Bedouin behavior: the ‘code of honor’ . . . and the ‘code of modesty.’ The argument is compelling—it makes sense of honor killings, the veiling of women, and a seemingly excessive sexual modesty. There is a certain excitement here, as the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.”—Inea Bushnaq, New York Times Book Review   “A brilliant study of moral constraint and personal expression. . . . Detailed, immediate, and superbly composed. . . . Some books extend discussions, others launch them. This is one of the latter.”—Clifford Geertz   “A truly extraordinary book—beautifully and modestly written, remarkably insightful, consistently compelling.”—Edward Said