List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xxix
Chapter I P Aleppo 1
“Prayer is better than sleep” 1
Imad’s Japanese Girlfriend 7
Farce 11
“I would rather have children than fly” 13
“Once you love deeply, you never forget” 21
“My father says he saves for me” 23
“As long as she gets along with me, she will have no
problems with my mother” 26
“Do you desire your mother?” 29
Traffic, or the Normal Order of Things 31
Preparing to Teach 42
Administrative Pleasantries 43
“But we are homophobic!” 52
“So, what do you think of Muslims?” 62
“I’d like to be the next president” 68
“The religious people see this and hate it, but they
cannot turn it off” 74
“God will tell us when we have to do something” 84
“Kiss Daddy! Kiss Daddy!” 88
Chapter II P The Souk 96
“Come into my shop and let me take you” 96
“Do you have a brother?” 100
“Ossi oder NorMAL?” 103
The Souk’s Logic of Exchange 107
Fathers, Sons, Brothers, and Inheritance 112
Dream Collector 115
Dream of the Mistress 117
“How great is my disappointment when I see my
dreams breaking down” 119
“Every woman thinks I only want to sleep with her” 123
Cell Phone, Cassettes, String Underwear 127
“That is fieldwork!” 128
“A father, perhaps a brother” 130
Fathers and Sons 145
“It is a blessing” 149
The Rumor 153
Chapter III P Syria 156
“These are my children” 156
Aleppian Food, in Public 162
Obtaining an Exit Visa 166
The Ba’ath Party 169
Student Radicals 175
Teaching Anthropology and American Culture 178
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 187
Wild Dog Attack 190
Chapter IV P Reflections on Teaching
and Learning in Syria 192
Pedagogy 192
Lectures 194
Films 196
Coda: January 2006 200
Further Reading 225
Index 233
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