Our Women Are Free : Gender and Ethnicity in the Hindukush

Rating:
Summary: Affectionate Anthropology
Review: The wonderful thing about this book is that, while covering all the scholarly, academic bases, Maggi also manages to be warm and funny and show tremendous affection for her subjects. She writes beautifully, tells wonderful stories, and both she and her Kalasha subjects are delightful company. Reading this book makes you want to (a) travel to Kalashadesh and get to know these folks yourself, (b) become an anthropologist yourself, (c) hang out with Wynne Maggi and listen to more of her stories and insights, or (d) all of the above.
The Kalasha live in the mountains of northern Pakistan and have retained much of their ancient culture and pagan religious beliefs despite being surrounded by Islam for centuries. One of the crucial ways they distinguish themselves from their neighbors is through their belief that "our women are free", and Maggi sets out to examine what they mean by that. She looks at the work Kalasha women do and its importance to the community. She explains how Kalashadesh is divided between "ongesta" (pure) and "pragata" (impure) areas and how women tend to those shifting boundaries. She describes their distinctive fashion, their marriage customs (especially the tradition of elopement or "going alasin"), and, perhaps most fascinating, the "bashali", where women go when menstruating or giving birth, and where the sense of community among Kalasha women is strongest.
All this adds up to a thorough analysis of Maggi's central question, but more important, for the non-scholars among us, is how enjoyable the book is along the way. I especially loved Maggi's sense of humor, a quality that isn't often found in scholarly works, unfortunately. At one point, for example, when Maggi is lamenting the disappearance of some bashali customs, a Kalasha friend retorts, "Wynne, if you like all that so much, then you sit on a rock, naked, waiting for a bird to chirp so you can pee, and I'll go back to America and ride around in your car with your husband."
There are many such moments in this book. Treat yourself, and hope Wynne Maggi has more treats in store for us in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Affectionate Anthropology
Review: The wonderful thing about this book is that, while covering all the scholarly, academic bases, Maggi also manages to be warm and funny and show tremendous affection for her subjects. She writes beautifully, tells wonderful stories, and both she and her Kalasha subjects are delightful company. Reading this book makes you want to (a) travel to Kalashadesh and get to know these folks yourself, (b) become an anthropologist yourself, (c) hang out with Wynne Maggi and listen to more of her stories and insights, or (d) all of the above.
The Kalasha live in the mountains of northern Pakistan and have retained much of their ancient culture and pagan religious beliefs despite being surrounded by Islam for centuries. One of the crucial ways they distinguish themselves from their neighbors is through their belief that "our women are free", and Maggi sets out to examine what they mean by that. She looks at the work Kalasha women do and its importance to the community. She explains how Kalashadesh is divided between "ongesta" (pure) and "pragata" (impure) areas and how women tend to those shifting boundaries. She describes their distinctive fashion, their marriage customs (especially the tradition of elopement or "going alasin"), and, perhaps most fascinating, the "bashali", where women go when menstruating or giving birth, and where the sense of community among Kalasha women is strongest.
All this adds up to a thorough analysis of Maggi's central question, but more important, for the non-scholars among us, is how enjoyable the book is along the way. I especially loved Maggi's sense of humor, a quality that isn't often found in scholarly works, unfortunately. At one point, for example, when Maggi is lamenting the disappearance of some bashali customs, a Kalasha friend retorts, "Wynne, if you like all that so much, then you sit on a rock, naked, waiting for a bird to chirp so you can pee, and I'll go back to America and ride around in your car with your husband."
There are many such moments in this book. Treat yourself, and hope Wynne Maggi has more treats in store for us in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Highly overrated book
Review: This book is biased, repetitive and Maggi contradicts herself througout. I don't thinks she writes effectively as an anthropologist, if she can admire and appreciate one culture so much, why and who gives her the right to deride any of the neighboring cultures? She wastes a lot of paper just by repeating what she has already said before as if trying to convince herself of those statements. And at times the reader is just confused because she makes statements and then immediately contradicts them. She's just another tourist in awe of an exotic culture who picked up some of the language while she visited.

Rating:
Summary: A readable ethnography!
Review: What miracle is this--a new ethnography that is actually readable!? Maggi writes good English, is theoretically sophisticated without jargon...She provides a wonderful and detailed description of women's lives among the Kalasha--the famous "pagan" community of northern Pakistan. The women are not only more "free" than neighboring Muslim women; they are also articulate, hospitable, and self-aware enough to talk vividly and insightfully about their lives. Anyone interested in the area should read this book.
I could wish that more were done with theory and hypothesis, but, in compensation, readers are spared the dreadful "review of the literature" usually obligatory in theses (this book started life as a Ph.D. dissertation). What matters is that Maggi fulfills what should be the goal of ethnography: making the book interesting enough to give the reader some idea of how richly alive the people themselves are.

Rating:
Summary: A readable ethnography!
Review: What miracle is this--a new ethnography that is actually readable!? Maggi writes good English, is theoretically sophisticated without jargon...She provides a wonderful and detailed description of women's lives among the Kalasha--the famous "pagan" community of northern Pakistan. The women are not only more "free" than neighboring Muslim women; they are also articulate, hospitable, and self-aware enough to talk vividly and insightfully about their lives. Anyone interested in the area should read this book.
I could wish that more were done with theory and hypothesis, but, in compensation, readers are spared the dreadful "review of the literature" usually obligatory in theses (this book started life as a Ph.D. dissertation). What matters is that Maggi fulfills what should be the goal of ethnography: making the book interesting enough to give the reader some idea of how richly alive the people themselves are.