{"id":60416,"date":"2012-12-05T16:07:49","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T21:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=60416"},"modified":"2017-11-03T14:27:46","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T18:27:46","slug":"in-letter-to-new-york-times-danforth-takes-issue-with-saudi-book-characterizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2012\/12\/05\/in-letter-to-new-york-times-danforth-takes-issue-with-saudi-book-characterizations\/","title":{"rendered":"In letter to New York Times, Danforth takes issue with Saudi book, characterizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his letter to The New York Times<\/em>, Dana Professor of Anthropology Loring Danforth takes issue with comments journalist Karen Elliott House makes in her book O<\/em>n Saudi Arabia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Anthropology major Devin Tatro ’14 talks with Saudi men at a desert farm in the Eastern Province during a Short Term trip last spring to Saudi Arabia led by Dana Professor of Anthropology Loring Danforth. This was a rare moment in Saudi society: women talking with men publicly, and not asked to wear the abaya. Photo: Ana Bisaillon \u201912.<\/p><\/div>\n

Danforth’s letter is in response to a review by Michael J. Totten<\/a><\/strong> of On Saudi Arabia<\/em> published in the Times.<\/em> Danforth takes issue with Totten’s review for not criticizing “House’s portrayal of Saudis as passive, somnolent, undereducated, docile and unquestioningly obedient. These generalizations oversimplify what is in fact a very complex, diverse and rapidly changing society.”<\/p>\n