CHILDREN OF THE JINN: In Search of the Kurds and Their Country

by Margaret Kahn ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 17, 1980

Like other magical principalities in the mist of mountains, Kurdistan has a way of appearing and disappearing, opening up to an outsider and then disconcertingly shutting itself in her face."" There's more here on pre-Khomeini Iran than on Kurdistan per se, but for that Kahn is hardly to blame. Like another American writer out to meet Muslim women (Elizabeth Fernea, A Street in Marrakech), linguist Kahn faces trouble from the word go. The Kurds, whose kingdom actually straddles Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and the Soviet Union, mistrust her motives and suspect her of connections to Savak, the Iranian secret police. The Persians, on the other hand, can't imagine what she would want with these people they consider murderers and marauders. Yet in time she does meet a family of aristocrats whose women appear in ""long flowing dresses, layers of gowns and pantaloons and hand-knitted socks."" They take her to their hearts and in time to their village where as their guest she is treated like royalty. A far different experience follows in another village where she encounters a Kurdistan ""stripped of illusions,"" where dire poverty prevails and the only riches are those in fairy tales of dragons and princesses told with ""ribaldry, exaggeration, and golden fancy."" Kahn ends up preferring the Kurds to the Persians for their greater openness and disregard for ta'arof--the exaggerated courtesy that makes every offer or invitation suspect. She contrasts the Kurdish demand for cultural freedom and the near-total disregard given that demand in the West to the attention accorded the Palestinian cause. Because of this lack of response, the Kurdish proverb ""Kurds have no friends"" is now changing to ""Kurds need no friends."" But they have found one here. An engaging description of a cultural encounter, if not of a culture itself.

Pub Date: April 17, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Seaview--dist. by Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION