Elizabeth Warnock Fernea facts for kids
Elizabeth Warnock Fernea (born October 21, 1927 – died December 2, 2008) was an important writer and filmmaker. She spent much of her life studying and making films about cultures in Africa and the Middle East. She focused on the challenges and changes these cultures faced. Her husband, Robert A. Fernea, was an anthropologist, and he greatly influenced her work. Many people see Elizabeth Fernea as a leader for women studying the Middle East.
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About Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
Her Early Life and Education
Elizabeth Warnock Fernea was born on October 21, 1927, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her father was a mining engineer. His job took the family to Flin Flon, Canada. Instead of living in a company area, her father chose for them to live in town with regular people. This choice might have sparked her interest in studying different cultures.
As an American in Canada during the Great Depression, Fernea felt like an "outsider." Other children sometimes yelled at her, saying, "It's not that we hate you, it's just that you're American." This was her first experience of being different. Her mother also taught her that a wife should follow her husband for his job. These lessons may have made her willing to move to Iraq with her husband later. They also helped her learn to fit in with the women there.
Fernea had a good school experience in Canada. Many excellent teachers moved there from America because teaching jobs were hard to find during the Depression. When World War II began, her family moved to Portland, Oregon. She found school in America less challenging than in Canada. After high school, she earned a degree in English from Reed College in Portland. She also did more studies at Mount Holyoke College and the University of Chicago. She met Robert Fernea at Reed College and they married in 1956.
Living in Iraq and Learning About Cultures
After marrying Robert in 1956, Elizabeth went with him to Iraq. He was finishing his studies in anthropology. For two years, she lived with him in a village called El Nahra, in southeastern Iraq. There, she learned a lot about women in the Middle East.
At first, Fernea did not want to wear the veil or abayah (a loose robe). But people stared at her, so she decided it was best to wear the clothes of the women in El Nahra. She wanted to try to act like an insider, not an outsider. By imitating their culture, she hoped to learn from it.
Something else surprised her: the women in the village felt sorry for her! They pitied her even though she was college-educated, well-dressed, free to vote and travel, and happily married. They saw it as a misfortune that she was thin, had short hair, no children, no mother, and no gold. These women did not see themselves as cut off from the outside world. This was confusing for Fernea. She realized that these two cultures, Western and Middle Eastern, often struggled to understand each other. This made her wonder if their studies could truly bridge this gap.
By the end of her stay, she felt like she was leaving home when she and Robert returned to America. She had become very close to the women of El Nahra and made lasting friendships. Her husband and a friend encouraged her to write about her time there. She decided to publish her writings, even though she said she wasn't an anthropologist. Still, she continued to write about her experiences.
Her Career and Contributions
From 1959 to 1965, Fernea and Robert lived in Cairo, Egypt. Robert taught anthropology at the American University in Cairo. While there, they had their three children. In 1965, the family moved back to the United States. They lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a year while Robert taught at Harvard. In 1966, they moved to Austin, Texas, where Robert worked at the University of Texas. He later became the director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies there.
Elizabeth Fernea became a senior lecturer at the University of Texas in 1975. She became a full-time professor in 1990. From 1980 to 1983, she led the University’s Women’s Studies Program. She was also the president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America from 1985 to 1986. In 1994, she received an honorary doctorate from the State University at New York.
Explaining the Veil
In 1986, Fernea and Robert wrote an article together called "Symbolizing Roles: Behind the Veil." Since veiling is a big difference between Western and Middle Eastern cultures, Fernea wanted to show Westerners how Middle Eastern women felt about it. She learned from living in El Nahra that this culture needed to be explained to outsiders.
A main goal was to show each side what the other was like. She wanted Western women to understand that wearing a veil does not mean women are forced to live in submission. For many, it was their choice and part of their beliefs and customs. Her own experience taught her that the veil also offered protection from dust, heat, and flies. Also, the privacy that came with wearing a veil was often valued. A woman could go out without worrying about strangers staring at her.
Filmmaking and Bridging Cultures
Besides writing, Fernea also produced films. She received grants for her work. Her films include "Reformers and Revolutionaries: Middle Eastern Women," "The Struggle for Peace: Israelis and Palestinians," "The Road to Peace: Israelis and Palestinians," and "Living with the Past."
The film "Living with the Past" was about restoring an old area in Egypt called Al-Darb Al-Ahmar. She cared deeply about the people who were being moved from their homes so historical sites could be saved. She believed that the true spirit of a place comes from its people, not just its monuments. Instead of showing Egypt only as a land of pharaohs and pyramids, she wanted to show Americans what Egypt was really like and how people lived with their history. She wanted to make Middle Eastern culture more understandable for Americans. To share this story even with Egyptians, she made copies of her film in Arabic and gave them to Egyptian television. Fernea always had a strong desire to explain the differences between Western and Middle Eastern life.
Her Legacy
In 1999, Fernea retired from teaching at the University of Texas. Her books include "Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village," "A View of the Nile," "A Street in Marrakech," "Middle Eastern Muslim Women Speak," "Women and Family in the Middle East: New Voices of Change," and "In Search of Islamic Feminism: One Woman’s Global Journey." She also wrote two books with Robert: "The Arab World: Personal Encounters" and "Nubian Ethnographies."
The University of Texas created an award in her honor in 2004. The Elizabeth Warnock Fernea Excellence Endowment in English helps graduate students studying comparative literature with their research and teaching. It often supports studies about the Middle East, different cultures, or cultural theories.
Elizabeth Fernea passed away on December 2, 2008, at the age of 81. She left behind her husband, Robert, her daughters Laura Ann and Laila, her son David, and eight grandchildren. She made a huge contribution to understanding Middle Eastern women and left a lasting mark on anthropology, even though it wasn't her first field. She was able to move easily between countries and cultures, always feeling at home. Her main goal was to help the West and the Middle East understand each other, and through her writing and films, she showed many people both sides of the story.
