Khul-Khaal

Five contemporary Egyptian women, ranging in age from early twenties to mid-sixties, members of Cairo’s impoverished middle to lower classes, told their life stories to Nayra Atiya over a period of many months. Their stories are fresh and vivid, recording the various roles of being co-wife in a polygamous marriage, the complications of divorce, the rituals of female circumcision and marriage, the loss of children, life-long hate and its source, the position of witchcraft and superstition in their daily lives, primitive health practices, and managing a family’s meager resources, including gold or silver khul-khaal anklets worn by married women.
These self-portraits are fascinating reading and a mine of information for anyone interested in understanding contemporary Egyptian life. A foreword by anthropologist Andrea Rugh and many photographs by Asma el-Bakry are included.