To her surprise, she found that the women were by no means meekly submissive or unaware of their situation. Intrigued by fleeting glimpses of women swathed from head to foot in the burqa like 'dark, wingless, sightless bird', the author eventually adopted the veil and took the daunting step across the threshold of the segregated world of purdah. They made their home in Herat, an ancient city on the traditional crossroads between Iran, the northern steppes and the Indian sub-continent.
Picturesque, mountainous and underdeveloped, this mysterious land was emerging from its obscure past but retained a traditional Islamic way of life all of its own.
This event is part of Muslim Women's Voices at Wesleyan.Veronica Doubleday first went to Afghanistan in the mid-1970s (the last year before the Soviet invasion) with her husband who was researching Central Asian music. Doubleday is the author of the narrative ethnography Three Women of Herat (1988) and I Cried on the Mountain Top (2010), a book containing her translations of traditional Persian-language folk poetry, as well as a number of articles and book chapters.
She will examine the themes of romantic and familial love, religious devotion, humor, protest, and celebration, with particular reference to Persian-language songs. She also makes reference to the findings of researchers, performers, poets, and film-makers with women in other areas of the country. Doubleday draws mainly on her research in the western city of Herat, where she worked with amateur and professional performers, including her principal teacher, vocalist Zainab Herawi. In her colloquium, she will consider the emotional impact of songs and dance performances, looking especially at domestic and wedding music. Veronica Doubleday, Visiting Fellow at Goldsmiths, London University, is an expert on the music of women in Afghanistan. Veronica Doubleday Talk: Emotional Expression in Women’s Music-Making in AfghanistanĬlick here to view photos from this event.
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