"As a window into women's lives it must be unparalleled. A ready-made classic." - Tim Mackintosh-Smith
About the Book
An engaging travel narrative, Bread & Henna (2023, Journey Books) provides an intimate portrait of Yemeni life through insights into the cuisine, practices, and traditions of an ordinary town in the mountains, between 1981-83. After a gruelling road journey, the anthropologist couple are initially taken in by a family who provide support and hospitality – but charge extortionate rent. In turn, the couple set up on their own, struggling with isolation and practicalities as the author begins to integrate herself into a new community, forming connections with the women living nearby along the way.
This memoir will enthral lovers of travel writing, people interested in the workings of different societies and the lives of women, and those who have travelled to Yemen – or have yearned to do so.
About the Author
Ianthe Mary Maclagan was born in 1952. In 1981, she spent eighteen months living in the small Yemeni town of Safaqayn in Jebel Hufash. Her experiences formed a key component of her social anthropology fieldwork, completed as part of her PhD from the University of London. In the years that followed, Ianthe made several trips to Yemen before the outbreak of war made further travel impossible.
She is also the author of "Food and Gender in a Yemeni Highland Community" in Culinary Cultures of the Middle East, eds. Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, 1993. I. B. Tauris.
"As a window into women's lives it must be unparalleled. A ready-made classic." - Tim Mackintosh-Smith
About the Book
An engaging travel narrative, Bread & Henna (2023, Journey Books) provides an intimate portrait of Yemeni life through insights into the cuisine, practices, and traditions of an ordinary town in the mountains, between 1981-83. After a gruelling road journey, the anthropologist couple are initially taken in by a family who provide support and hospitality – but charge extortionate rent. In turn, the couple set up on their own, struggling with isolation and practicalities as the author begins to integrate herself into a new community, forming connections with the women living nearby along the way.
This memoir will enthral lovers of travel writing, people interested in the workings of different societies and the lives of women, and those who have travelled to Yemen – or have yearned to do so.
About the Author
Ianthe Mary Maclagan was born in 1952. In 1981, she spent eighteen months living in the small Yemeni town of Safaqayn in Jebel Hufash. Her experiences formed a key component of her social anthropology fieldwork, completed as part of her PhD from the University of London. In the years that followed, Ianthe made several trips to Yemen before the outbreak of war made further travel impossible.
She is also the author of "Food and Gender in a Yemeni Highland Community" in Culinary Cultures of the Middle East, eds. Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, 1993. I. B. Tauris.