Women in Saudi Arabia
A recent article in The New York Times, "Love on Girls' Side of the Saudi Divide", examines the lives of young Saudi women under the strict Islamic laws of their country. With attitudes ranging from rebellious pranks such as dressing as men to venture outside, to an outspoken admiration for their devout brothers and the religious police, these young women offer an interesting portrait of women's place in Saudi society and the effects of the segregation between male and female populations. In SAUDI SOLUTIONS, filmmaker Bregtje van der Haak, the first Western filmmaker ever granted permission to film the lives of Saudi women, takes us inside this closed society where fewer than five percent of women work. She profiles several women with professional careers and asks them to explain what it means to be a modern woman in a fundamentalist Islamic society.Labels: anthropology, Islam, Middle East, women's issues
And the Pursuit of Happiness...
In its April issue, The New York Review of Books examines the latest (and numerous) books on happiness as well as articles and essays on the subject.
In HOW HAPPY CAN YOU BE?, filmmaker Line Hatland, who admits to not being as happy as she'd like to be, seeks answers to this question by interviewing and showing the work of some of the world's leading researchers on happiness, or "objective well being," including psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and neuroscientists. Labels: anthropology, happiness, health, philosophy, psychology, science