The Women of Deh Koh: Lives in an Iranian Village (Paperback)

~ (Author) "After her sixth child (the fourth boy) was weaned and no longer tolerated or demanded being carried and cuddled, Perijan started to dress and feel..." (more)
Key Phrases: acorn bread, divorce money, old courtyard, Deh Koh, Deh Rud, Miss Salimi (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This fascinating collection lifts their concealing veils to bring us face to face with the women of a contemporary Iranian mountain village. Their situations are primitive and oppressive by Western standards, but the author, an anthropologist who has lived a number of years in Iran, lets the women speak through her deft pen, capturing their voices in tales of domestic power politics, childbearing, barrenness, marriage, old age. Like the relationships in this village of gossipy, intermarried and extended families, the 12 stories are interconnected, revealing a pungent, incisive view of women's society as a whole, and multifaceted portraits of some memorable individuals: Perijan, who was so embarrassed at being pregnant at a relatively advanced age that she hid her condition until after she gave birth; tough, elderly Maryam who, upon being widowed, braved the trials and controversy of remaining on her own land rather than accept a subordinate position in the household of one of her married brothers. Always denied a place in the public arena (even more so in the past decade since the revolution) the women of Deh Koh shape and control the home sphere--an area that these sagacious tales vivify with respect and integrity.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This book illuminates Iranian life with sympathy and understanding. It contains 12 chapters highlighting women's lives in an isolated Iranian village, less isolated today than a generation ago, but still dominated by tradition, religion, and a simplicity lost long ago in the city. The author, a trained anthropologist, skillfully portrays her heroines and their lives, characterized by major events such as motherhood, marriage, family crises, and constant struggle for livelihood in the sparse mountainous land. Her gentle and moving prose helps us understand a world different from our own, where religion and custom and family obligation have their own logic, infused with sorrow, but also joy and beauty. This should have some appeal. Recommended.
- Elizabeth R. Hayford, Associated Colls . of the Midwest, Chicago
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (September 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140149937
• ISBN-13: 978-0140149937
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #194,721 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best ethnographies ever written, October 18, 1999

By	Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As a student, graduate student, and professional, I have been reading anthropology for about 40 years. Some of that reading is necessarily in theory, in books that deal with new ideas and concepts or attempt to overturn the old. But, to broaden one's horizons, to keep abreast of how people are writing, and to get material to use for classes, an anthropologist has to read a certain number of ethnographies every year. So, I suppose I may say, however immodestly, that I have read quite a few ethnographies. A lot, actually. Of all such books that I have read in the last forty years, I would say that Friedl's WOMEN OF DEH KOH ranks in the top three or four. I never read a review of it, I stumbled on it in a bookstore, I am not an Iran-specialist. But this is just a gem of a book. If you want to understand the workings of an Iranian village, not from the usual anthropological perspective of neat categorizations and summings-up of the ethnographer's work, but from poetical prose that seems to come from the womens' mouths, then you must read this book. The author allows the women to speak more than almost anyone else I have ever read. The book could be a novel, but it is not at all, the author defines her presence, explains how she wrote the book. It is divided into 12 chapters, each devoted to a separate woman, but the others appear again and again, fleshing out the bones of the story, making the village come alive in their interactions. Any student of anthropology would love to read this book and for teachers it is an excellent ethnography to show what the field is really all about. If you have nothing to do with anthropology, but are interested in Iran or, if you are just surfing around looking for a good book, choose this one !

Oh, God, if You could only have let me write like Erika Friedl !

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vivid portrait of women's lives in an Iranian village, January 3, 2002

By	"peace4allca" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

In "Women of Deh Koh" Ericka Friedl presents us with the stories of twelve different Iranian village women, using situations, she says "in which many women find themselves, wish to find themselves, or hope never to find themselves at one stage or another in their lives." She lays out the stories from the woman's point of view, touching on subjects such as rape, arranged marriage, polygamy, but never once asking for sympathy or understanding. From Perijan with a late child to Sarah who's husband took another wife to Parvane with a mental illness, we become a part of these women's lives and get a glimpse of their intricate social structure and how they support each other. While the stories are about different women, many of the other women are present in the stories, so we quickly feel as if we know these women, as if they are our friends.

This book is a wonderful example of the "show, don't tell" concept one of my English teachers always tried to get across to us. Friedl never "tells" us anything, but rather lets us come to our own understandings from reading about the everyday lives of these women. This book completely changed my perspective of Islamic women. From reading other books (namely the "Princess" series) I thought that women under Islam were downtrodden, oppressed, and desperately needed to be liberated. Naive, I know, however that is largely the image presented to us. After reading this book however, I realized that my stereotypes of Islamic women were for the most part, wrong. The women in "Women of Deh Koh" don't feel sorry for themselves, and neither should we.

Ericka Friedl is a gifted writer, and ties all the women's stories together beautifully. I have read the book close to 20 times, and have walked away more fulfilled each time. This is, perhaps, the best book I've ever read.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful., April 19, 2001

By A Customer

This book was the most profound and stunning look at the lives of Muslim women I have ever encountered. I highly recommend it to anthropology majors and womens studies majors both. By the end of the book I felt like I had gained far more than the average ethnography teaches: by giving intimate glimpses into these women's lives, Erika Friedl vividly shows us not only their hardships but their strengths as well. I was touched by the stories she related, and even more touched by the quiet way in which she lets the women speak for themselves, from the first page to the last.