Lila Abu-Lughod, "Honor and Shame"

Questions for Making Connections within the Reading:  

1. One of the challenges that readers of Abu-Lughod's "Honor and Shame" must tackle is keeping track of the relationships between all of the people mentioned in the essay. Who is Kamla? What is her relationship to Abu-Lughod, Gateefa, Haj Sagr, Migdim, Salih, Aisha, Sabra, and Dhahab? Draw a chart that shows the relationships between all of the central figures in "Honor and Shame."  

2. Who are the Bedouin? What is their relationship to Egypt? To Islam? What does it mean, within the context of Abu-Lughod's "Honor and Shame," to be "Egyptianized"?  

3. "Honor and Shame" ends with a confession: Kamla acknowledges that she has "belonged to two worlds" and that she lives a "double life." What are the two worlds that she inhabits? Which world does she wish to live in? Which world does Abu-Lughod want her to live in?  

Questions for Writing:  

1. At one point in her discussion of her essay on the education of Bedouin girls, Kamla stops midsentence and says, "Boy, if my father heard this!" This is one of many private moments that Abu-Lughod records and repeats for the readers of "Honor and Shame" to consider. What is gained by recording such moments? What is lost? Does the study of another culture require such violations of privacy?  

2. In a sense, "Honor and Shame" is an essay about student writing: Kamla reads aloud and comments on an essay that she has written for school; Abu-Lughod listens, responds to, and comments on what Kamla has written and then provides additional background to illustrate, extend, and complicate the assertions Kamla has made. Is Abu-Lughod studying Kamla? Is she teaching her? Who benefits from the work Abu-Lughod has done with Kamla's essay?  

Questions for Making Connections Between Readings:  

1. "As for the bad things, I will talk about them." In Abu-Lughod's "Honor and Shame," Kamla records her thoughts about how life has changed for Bedouin girls over the past forty years. How would James C. Scott interpret the stories that Kamla has told? How many different transcripts are present in "Honor and Shame"? Who is best positioned to read and interpret these transcripts?  

2. Abu-Lughod confides, "I worry about Kamla's blithe confidence that life in the city will be so much better." Is Kamla's vision of city life a case of "miswanting" as Gilbert and Loewenstein define the term in Jon Gertner's "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness"? If so, where does the miswanting originate: Does it start with Kamla? With Kamla's parents? With Abu-Lughod? Does Gilbert and Loewenstein's research suggest that Kamla should do anything differently? Does this research suggest that it doesn't matter what anyone does, because happiness will always be elusive? Write an essay in which you explore the usefulness of Gilbert and Loewenstein's work for a better understanding of the Bedouin.

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