Need Help Writing a Paper?

Have Paper Masters custom write your project today!

  • 24/7 Customer Support
  • Free Plagiarism Check
  • Writing at Your Level
  • Writers All Have Advanced Degrees
  • Will Follow Specific Instructions
Need Help Writing a Paper?
Yes! Write My Paper!

Lila Abu-Lughod

Lila Abu-Lughod

Anthropology research papers can focus on famous anthropologists like Egypt's Lila Abu-Lughod. Have our writers custom write her biography or focus on discoveries she has made that have contributed to the field of anthropology.

In 1978, Lila Abu-Lughod set out to do an anthropological study of a Bedouin community, Awlad 'Ali, in Egypt. The result of this anthropological study was her dissertation and the present book being reported on, Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society, published in 1986. Up until that time, male anthropologists had done most of the anthropologists studies of Bedouin culture. References had been made to the use of poetry in the lives of Bedouin peoples, but superficially and primarily as it related to males. As a trained anthropologist, Ms. Abu-Lughod set out to investigate, "the relationship between Awlad 'Ali sentiments and experiences and the contradictory discourses that express and inform them; a genre of and lyric poetry of love and vulnerability on the one hand and the ideology in ordinary conversation and everyday behavior on the other."

Ms. Abu-Lughod is at first put-off when her father of Arab heritage, insists on traveling with her to begin her study. As she, and I as her reader, later learns, it is his insistence on introducing her into this Arabic society, which facilitates her ability to properly enter into the Bedouin culture, as a woman. Ms. Abu-Lughod describes the foundations of identity in the Awlad 'Ali society, according to the following:

  • Gender
  • Bloodline
  • Age
  • Marital status
  • Personal carriage

As the primary anthropologists that had preceded Abu-Lughod were men, their view of the society was primarily through the male experience, as they had very little access to women. The male anthropologists had observed, primarily, the poetry of honor and bravado that are given at feasts and others displays. Yet, it struck Abu-Lughod and others that the tone and texts of much of the poetry coming from Bedouin society crossed the usual boundaries of what is considered polite and proper in the society.

Approximately 1% of Egypt's inhabitants are of Bedouin ancestry. Most live in rural areas or small towns, according to Abu-Lughod. As a result, Abu-Lughod's study of the Bedouin takes place in a rural Egyptian area, known as Awlad 'Ali. As a minority, the Bedouin had a strong sense of identity as a group, and often used their own cultural standards to morally judge the Egyptians.

Related Research Paper Topic Suggestions

Critical Race Theory - Critical race theory had its origins in the 1970s, developed out of the concern that race reform was not being affected as quickly as leaders and advocates of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Cultural Anthropology - Cultural Anthropology research papers examine a subset of the larger discipline of anthropology that focuses on cultural variation among humans, noting that human beings acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization.


Paper Masters

  • Custom Written Papers
  • 100% Plagiarism Free
  • 24/7 Customer Service
  • Guaranteed Confidentiality
  • Text us for a Quote Today!
    1-570-301-7456

This is a topic on
Lila Abu-Lughod Research Papers

Lila Abu-Lughod Research Papers examine one of the first female anthropologists that studies in Bedouin culture.

Choosing a Topic:

Can't decide on a topic? Need ideas or inspiration for research in your field of study? Paper Masters provides topic suggestions to make your decision easier.

Paper Masters Site Search