Hello. I am an applied social anthropologist specializing in the Middle East. I am currently co-developing a possible MERC-USAID project on the employment of Bedouins, including women, in South Sinai Egypt, Negev Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. Improved infrastructure, education, and health care are all part of the goals.
My current writing project is the rewrite of my dissertation WOMEN AND CHANGING RELATIONS IN A SOUTH SINAI BEDOUIN COMMUNITY (1994) into a popular press book that will be of interest to a wide audience; academic, applied development, and, especially, to the general public, who often know little about life in the Middle East. My study is on Bedouin women and changing gender relations before and after sedentarization, regional development, and wide-scale tourism. I also address informal behavior such as humor and gossip. I started this project in 1978 as an undergraduate student at The Jerusalem Center of Friends World College. I continued the project during my two year post-BA study of Arabic at The American University in Cairo, and during and after my Ph.D. and MA studies in anthropology at The University of Texas at Austin.
My email address is AnnGardner@aol.com. I have a home page; http://www.sherryart.com/women/bedouin.html You will find occasional articles by myself on Sinai Bedouin women posted here as well as links to sites of related interest. There is also a link to a transcript from an online question/answer "chat" that I did for America Online.