Stephanie Jane recenzis Life in the Camel Lane de Doreen M. Cumberford
A very readable Saudi memoir
4 steloj
Doreen Cumberford's memoir, Life In The Camel Lane, is a fascinating and very readable account of her fifteen years living in the Middle East and how the culture she encountered in Saudi Arabia informed and affected her choices on her return to the USA. As a dedicated traveller myself, albeit on a less adventurous scale, I was particularly interested in her observations and advice around liminal living, ie the inbetween stage of not quite belonging to one country or another. Already a Scot married to an American, Cumberford had already integrated into a second culture. Her family's life in Saudi Arabia however would involve the contradictions of living in a fairly free American company compound within a strict Muslim country.
I loved the anecdotes of minor subterfuges undertaken in order to keep up various American holiday traditions without offending Saudi sensibilities. I could empathise with this desire to keep traditions …
Doreen Cumberford's memoir, Life In The Camel Lane, is a fascinating and very readable account of her fifteen years living in the Middle East and how the culture she encountered in Saudi Arabia informed and affected her choices on her return to the USA. As a dedicated traveller myself, albeit on a less adventurous scale, I was particularly interested in her observations and advice around liminal living, ie the inbetween stage of not quite belonging to one country or another. Already a Scot married to an American, Cumberford had already integrated into a second culture. Her family's life in Saudi Arabia however would involve the contradictions of living in a fairly free American company compound within a strict Muslim country.
I loved the anecdotes of minor subterfuges undertaken in order to keep up various American holiday traditions without offending Saudi sensibilities. I could empathise with this desire to keep traditions from 'home', but also found it strange that the Aramco families - quite the global multicultural mix themselves - were expected to live in a closed Company community with excursions to nearby Saudi towns, rather than immigrating fully for the duration of their contracts. I imagine being so totally reliant on one's employer could feel stifling from time to time.
Of course I was initially drawn to reading Life In The Camel Lane for its glimpses into Saudi life and Cumberford didn't disappoint. I appreciated her balanced and thoughtful discussions of concepts such as social gender segregation and the wearing of abayas. As I remembered from Excellent Daughters by Katherine Zoepf, freedoms for women are increasing with Cumberford able to patronise a women-only mall, staffed by women, and with the long-awaited right to drive cars being granted not long after she left the Kingdom. Her insights into Life In The Camel Lane show a country quite different from its usual Western portrayal so I am grateful to have had this opportunity to see it through her eyes.