Veiled Sentiments Essay

The teachings of Islam are closely adhered to in Bedouin society. This creates some of the gender ideologies and differences seen in Veiled Sentiments, by Abu-Lughod. These gender ideologies reflect how a women must act in order to be seen by society as a “good Bedouin with close ties to kin and a devotion to Islam.” (Veiled Sentiments, Abu-Lughod. Page 219) Religious practices and engagements are very important parts of this society because they dictate how a woman must dress, act, what she can say and who she can say it to. A very prominent part of Abu-Lughod's ethnographic study is the use of poetry in the daily lives Bedouin people. This everyday ritual is influenced by the Bedouin code of honor which also is a contributor to Islamic Law by which the Bedouin people adhere to. The ideologies of gender in Bedouin society are intertwined with moral discourses involving modesty and honor. Gender ideologies are used to “rationalize the social hierarchy and inequities in the freedom of individuals to make choices about their lives and to influence others.” (Veiled Sentiments, Abu-Laghod. Page 118) In Bedouin society men are associated with 'autonomy' and women with 'dependency'. This concept relates back to the social hierarchy in which the Bedouins revolve around. It usually is that in the economic
While Islamic Law does not nessecarily dictate the way in which the Beduoin tribe asesses their male and female counterparts, it does play an imporatnt role on what the expectations are of the two genders. Men and women, in particular, have certain expectations in which they have to live up to that has been set down by Islamic Law throughout its history. It is part of their innate culture, it is part of their history that they can never escape as it is engrained into their very