Description
Book SynopsisWhen Princeton anthropologist John Borneman arrived in Syria's second-largest city in 2004 as a visiting Fulbright professor, he took up residence in what many consider a "rogue state" on the frontline of a "clash of civilizations" between the Orient and the West. Hoping to understand intimate interactions of religious, political, and familial auth
Trade Review"First of all, the book is gorgeously written. Second, it is the anthropology of experience rather than the anthropology of abstruse theory."--Martin Peretz, New Republic "Vivid detail fills Syrian Episodes, a book startling in its frankness about the Princeton professor's friendly, frustrating, and even flirtatious encounters in Syria's second-largest city... The author fulfills his early promise of an ethnography that is as much about others' questions as his own. Both intrigue the reader as one reads conversations about subjects as varied as God, sex, movies, George W. Bush, and the Ba'ath Party. Drawing on his experiences at the souk, and the university, Mr. Borneman tells the stories of young men, some oppressed by paternal authority, some adrift without it."--Nina C. Ayoub, Chronicle of Higher Education "Readers who are nostalgic for the orientalist tradition of encounters with the exotic other would enjoy this book, particularly given the accessible narrative style in which it is written."--Faedah M. Totah, H-NET Reviews
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations vii Preface ix Acknowledgments xxix Chapter I: P Aleppo 1 "Prayer is better than sleep" 1 Imad's Japanese Girlfriend 7 Farce 11 "I would rather have children than fly" 13 "Once you love deeply, you never forget" 21 "My father says he saves for me" 23 "As long as she gets along with me, she will have no problems with my mother" 26 "Do you desire your mother?" 29 Traffic, or the Normal Order of Things 31 Preparing to Teach 42 Administrative Pleasantries 43 "But we are homophobic!" 52 "So, what do you think of Muslims?" 62 "I'd like to be the next president" 68 "The religious people see this and hate it, but they cannot turn it off" 74 "God will tell us when we have to do something" 84 "Kiss Daddy! Kiss Daddy!" 88 Chapter II: P The Souk 96 "Come into my shop and let me take you" 96 "Do you have a brother?" 100 "Ossi oder NorMAL?" 103 The Souk's Logic of Exchange 107 Fathers, Sons, Brothers, and Inheritance 112 Dream Collector 115 Dream of the Mistress 117 "How great is my disappointment when I see my dreams breaking down" 119 "Every woman thinks I only want to sleep with her" 123 Cell Phone, Cassettes, String Underwear 127 "That is fieldwork!" 128 "A father, perhaps a brother" 130 Fathers and Sons 145 "It is a blessing" 149 The Rumor 153 Chapter III: P Syria 156 "These are my children" 156 Aleppian Food, in Public 162 Obtaining an Exit Visa 166 The Ba'ath Party 169 Student Radicals 175 Teaching Anthropology and American Culture 178 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 187 Wild Dog Attack 190 Chapter IV: P Reflections on Teaching and Learning in Syria 192 Pedagogy 192 Lectures 194 Films 196 Coda: January 2006 200 Further Reading 225 Index 233
