Reclaiming Honor in Jordan: A National Public Opinion Survey on "Honor" Killings [Paperback]

Ellen R. Sheeley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2007

In early 2003, Ellen R. Sheeley began to educate herself about "honor" killings, particularly those that take place in Jordan. That summer she journeyed from her home in San Francisco, California, USA to Amman, Jordan, where she learned of the needs for empirical, objective, baseline data pertaining to the Jordanian public's attitudes, opinions, and beliefs about "honor" killings and for a sustained marketing campaign to change hearts and minds. As a seasoned marketing professional, she was confident she had the ability and the qualifications to fulfill these needs. Unable to secure funding or sponsorship from the obvious and even the not-so-obvious sources and, yet, unwilling for mere lack of financial support to give up on the needs of the at-risk individuals and the victims, she quit her job, moved from her home, placed her personal effects in storage, bade adieu to her loved ones, and returned to Amman in October 2005 to perform the work pro bono, funded by her private savings. "Reclaiming Honor in Jordan" is a result of this effort and reveals a number of surprising findings about public opinion on this subject. Profits from this book will contribute to "honor" killings work.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ellen R. Sheeley is the Founder and CEO of Nob Hill Consulting, a San Francisco, California, USA based management and marketing consulting firm specializing in the international financial services and the technology sectors. She possesses an M.B.A. degree with a marketing concentration, a B.A. degree in psychology, and over 25 years' professional experience. Ellen has served on the boards of a number of nonprofit and technology corporations and on the faculties of four American universities. She has lived and/or worked in the United States, the CIS, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim and traveled to over 80 countries throughout the world. The research about which this book was written is a labor of love for Ellen and was wholly funded from her personal savings. In addition, all time and labor devoted to it were provided pro bono. Additional information, including how to make a most welcome contribution to this effort, may be gotten through her author page at the Web site Red Room (URL available via Google).

Product Details

• Paperback: 133 pages
• Publisher: Black Iris Publishing; 1st edition (March 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9957860704
• ISBN-13: 978-9957860707
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,510,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stereotype Busting, August 13, 2009

By 

Anonymous (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reclaiming Honor in Jordan: A National Public Opinion Survey on "Honor" Killings (Paperback)

The subject of this book could not be more bleak. However, after systematically and exhaustively querying the Jordanian public on its attitudes toward these murders, Ms. Sheeley concludes that people are ready for change. This is good and perhaps surprising news. In a democracy it would mean that punishments for these crimes would finally fall into line with international standards. But most countries in the Middle East are not democracies.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Piece of Work..., July 12, 2007

By 

Zeina A (Jordan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reclaiming Honor in Jordan: A National Public Opinion Survey on "Honor" Killings (Paperback)

So begins the arduous task of reviewing this unique item. Arduous because, as a Jordanian, it burdens my heart that this book even needs to exist (it does). Arduous because it shook me that the subject was studied at this level of detail by a non-Jordanian. But...perhaps an integral factor in the equation of bringing this book into existence is that the writer has to be an outsider. Jordanian journalists from within have been trying to know themselves and know their society by exposing it's shadow...but anybody, is welcome to tackle the shadow.

Ellen R. Sheeley, being an American who -devotedly- dove right in to a foreign society to try to dig up info about this taboo issue may be an outsider, but that's what may have helped her keep cool enough of a head to compile the data needed to publish such a work.

I applaud her for being able to withstand the hardships of the process of publishing and marketing this type of book. I know some of what she has had to endure, and I only hope that her endeavours will be recognized by people who will thence take action upon eradicating these dis-honorable crimes.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A profound and thought-provoking work, October 18, 2007

By 

A. M. McReynolds (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reclaiming Honor in Jordan: A National Public Opinion Survey on "Honor" Killings (Paperback)

This was a hard book for me to read, but it's something that everyone, especially women, should know about. Ellen Sheeley, at her own expense and very real personal risk, has undertaken to systematically expose both these crimes and the apathy that seems to pervade Jordanians when it comes to acknowledging and punishing these honor killings. A 'must-read' for anyone who cares about human rights.