Abu-Rabia-Queder, S. (2007). Coping with ‘forbidden love’ and loveless marriage: Educated Bedouin women from the Negev. Ethnography, 8(3), 297–323. doi:10.1177/1466138107081026

The author discusses how the matters of love and marriage, and Bedouin women’s subjective experiences are considered taboo topics in Israel’s Bedouin population. The article addresses the challenges of love connections with men from ‘forbidden tribes,’ as well as other tough marital scenarios arising from their education and work options.

The author presents the stories of Bedouin women who were the first in their communities to study at higher education institutions. The author called these women “matchless women,” “tragic heroines,” and “women ahead of their time.” They all experienced the same unifying issues in their lives. They had to sacrifice their emotions for their freedom. The author describes these processes on two levels: consciousness and behavior. These were the struggles they experienced in terms of dividing processes that move between attachment and detachment of body-mind, reason-emotion, and public-private domains.

Abu-Rabia-Queder, S. (2007). Coping with ‘forbidden love’ and loveless marriage: Educated Bedouin women from the Negev. Ethnography, 8(3), 297–323. doi:10.1177/1466138107081026