Mashallah. Journeying Among Women in Pakistan
Storhaug, Hege: Mashallah. En reise blant kvinner i PakistanWith great energy and commitment the freelance journalist, Hege Storhaug, takes us on a journey through the lives of Pakistani women. While the author has crisscrossed this Islamic republic on her earlier travels; this time she is focusing on the Punjab, the most populous of the provinces.
Hege Storhaug has seen Pakistani society from the inside and experienced women?s dramatic and brutal reality at first hand. Through in-depth interviews with a number of Pakistani women, the author seeks to arrive at an understanding of women?s and men?s attitudes to marriage, love and sexuality, always set against the conflict between Islam and Pakistani culture and traditions. Do Pakistanis live in accordance with Islam? Is the scourge of Pakistani women?s lives, placing them at the bottom of the social hierarchy, religion or tradition?
MASHALLAH is an important book for everyone wanting to understand Pakistani society and the views and attitudes they have to the European way of life. The author gives a thought-provoking portrayal of a way of life that is widely unknown, but still impinges on the way we encounter Pakistani culture in our daily lives. This is a stimulating book that engenders an interest in meeting and communicating with Pakistani culture, and a book that adds to an understanding of the values and attitudes that form part of Pakistani lives.
About the author: Hege Storhaug is a freelance journalist and has previously published a book called Når følelser blir til mat (FOOD AS A CONDUIT FOR EMOTIONS).
Publisher: H. Aschehoug & Co.1996
ISBN: 82-03-26115-9
251 pages, hardback
