I would propose including a more detailed outline of the themes that each chapter of the ethnography covers, that way a prospective audience can gain a sense of which chapters might be relevant to them and their work. While it is good to know that each chapter has a distinctive story that is connected to broader histories/practices, I would like to gain a better sense of what that actually looks like in the text. I would also expand a bit more on how the author connects the local stories to the broader discussions of gender politics in Muslim countries: how does patriarchy work across national lines? Which nations are examined in the text? How does the author manage to make these connections without grouping women under the broad categories of "Muslim woman," "Arab woman," and so on? In order to re-relay this ethnography, I would also provide a bit more detail about the specific theories/theorists brought up in the text, such that audiences get a sense of the theoretical genealogy from which Inhorn's text has drawn.
The sketch strives to relay the ethnography beyond the monograph by proposing potential forms of circulation, drawing together certain important themes and how they might be generalizable for different interested parties, and effective manners for conveying the information via alternative modalities. By drawing together various theorists and themes mentioned in the text to audiences such as anthropologists, academics, Middle Eastern studies, and feminists, the sketch provides an opportunity for readers to determine manners in which they might apply this text to their own work. Through her assertion that the text is generalizable, audiences can gain a sense of how the cultural constructions of motherhood and women from different socio-geographic standpoints might be written about in locations other than Egypt, and include women across the borders of the nation-state and/or do not identify with a nation-state, rendering an opportunity to decolonize the literature. The proposal for other modes of expression provides an opportunity to examine more in-depth the biological aspects of the text, drawing on medical anthropology to comprehend the remedies and medicines being used to treat infertility. I appreciated this proposal, but would have liked to learn more about how Western biomedicine is brought up in the text and what the author's view is of its impact on Egyptian women. I would also be curious to learn a bit more about the actual responses of women, even if it is just a sampling, so I can get a sense of what the women themselves think of the pressures being placed on their bodies by patriarchal understandings of womanhood. Finally, I would like to know at least some of the specific theory that is being brought up in the text, as this might inform whether the audience would want to engage with this text if it fits within their interests/research projects.
The brief metion of the manners in which religion both aids and hurts infertile women drew my attention, and left me wanting more, particularly the manner in which patriarchy informs the place of women within their religious institution. In addition, I was drawn to the sketch's discussion of the new knowledge the text brings into circulation. I appreciated that there is an escape from essentialist conceptions of what it means to be a Middle Eastern woman and the manner in which infertile women resist social pressures. Finally, I appreciate the focus on individual women's stories, and how their experiences fit within the larger historical and social processes of womanhood in Egypt.
The cover on the book is of three women smiling at the photographer, with a relatively barren wall behind them, save for what appears to be a corkboard, outlet, and long wire. The photo is in a sepia tone, rendering it with the appearance of an old photograph. The women are wearing head covers. Based on the description of the text, I would guess that one of the author's interviewees is present in the photo, and that this is a display of several generations of women from an Egyptian family. I like that it is a relatively simple photo, focused on the women themselves as opposed to the women and their surrounding environment, as many photos of a colonial gaze opt towards. I find that it can be a sufficient photograph given the themes of the text, but I would prefer some form of imagery that pushes the boundaries of the typical position ascribed women and their need to be fertile, as the text itself seeks to achieve. This photo captures the notion of family, but not so much the underlying patriarchy informing the cultural politics in which the women are embedded.
The text is designed such that the stories of the Egyptian women the author interviewed are central and portrayed as being outside the scope of essentialist conceptions. The author begins most chapters with photos of the women and their stories, then proceeds to make broader points that are grounded in the stories. Psychosocial and feminist theory is outlined in the beginning of the text, serving as the base for the stories to rest on. By using less theory and focusing more on stories and how they fit within the historical context of Egypt and patriarchy in the Middle East, she humanizes those whom she worked with.
The text is about examining the compexities and paradoxes urban, Eyptian women face when deemed infertile, particularly in light of the Egyptian patriarchy during the 1980s-1990s. The author seeks to dismantle binaries of infertile versus fertile and mother versus non-mother, engaging in a feminist analysis of identity, community, family, and the political forces involved with the introduction of Western biomedicine and psychology. She engages with Egyptian women at the micro-level via interviews, and at the macro level with the history of gender relations and politics in the Middle East and in Muslim countries. She also utilizes photos of Egyptian women as ethnographic material for understanding gender politics, ultimately striving to comprehend what happens when certain notions of "motherhood" are not fulfilled or break down in a patriarchal society.