Research Catalog

Title

Before the Taliban : living with war, hoping for peace / Mary Smith.

Author

Smith, Mary.

Publication

Aberdour : IYNX Publishing. 2001.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

vi, 262 p.; 22 cm.

Summary

"The women of Afghanistan, living in a country long plagued by war and displacement, have also had to struggle with a form of cultural and religious oppression, which makes life immeasurably more difficult. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism, citing medieval Sharia Islamic law as its authority, severely curtailed women's right to full participation in the social, economic, cultural and political life of the country." "Mary Smith offers an insight into the lives of these women before and after Taliban's rise to power. Working in Afghanistan with a small health organisation, often spending months alone in remote villages, we meet the women who became her friends and share their hopes, their laughter and their tears. Many of the women she met worked outside their homes in the cities and villages, demonstrably pushing beyond the boundaries of their traditional cultural roles." "The courage these women show in reaching out to grasp hold of threads of personal freedom is extraordinary. Knowing that the Taliban will sweep away all that they have struggled to gain makes their story all the more poignant."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Women > Afghanistan
• Smith, Mary (Poet) > Travel > Afghanistan
• Women > Afghanistan > Social conditions > 20th century
• Smith, Mary > Travel > Afghanistan

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Flea Bites, Power Cuts and Women with no Trousers -- Chicken Soup to Clear the Tubes -- Condoms and Abortions -- I Wont't Sell My Sister -- Go Safely, Come Back Quickly -- When You Can Eat Sugar ... -- Social Etiquette and Toilet Training -- Blessings on the Goat -- Stereotypes and Misconceptions -- What's Wrong with Eating Potatoes? -- Praying for a Husband -- Prudery and Penises -- Trouble with the Government Bread -- The Village of Love -- No Smoke! -- Who are these Taliban? -- Burnt Macaroni -- Wandering Navels -- Drunk Chickens -- Where are the Dollars? -- Grabbing the Goat -- Women's Voices Should Not Be Heard.

ISBN

095405833X (pbk.)

LCCN

^^2002391644

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library