My Life as I Lived It: Memories of a Saudi Woman from Unaizah to California

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This enjoyable book brings together memories of the eventful and unconventional life of Dr. Thuraya bint Mohammed Al-Sulaiman Al-Ibrahim Al-Turki, the first Saudi woman to specialize in anthropology, and one of the first Saudi women to obtain a doctorate.
The author says: “I have never encountered anything in my life that received such unanimous support from my friends and colleagues as the insistence that I write down my life experience, which they saw – thankfully – as something worth telling, in the hope that it might inspire new generations of women in the Arabian Peninsula. My generation and I fought battle after battle for rights that are now considered self-evident, against a societal culture that relies on certain interpretations of religious texts, which stood as an insurmountable barrier to women’s education, work, and participation in public life in their society.”
I presented what happened in my life as it happened, in areas that I believe others would have thought twice before venturing into, and I strove to be as frank as possible in this book. I presented myself as I am, without embellishment or retouching. Perhaps the secret behind this relative frankness is that I am a scholar, and the idea of ​​objectivity always compels me, even against myself, whenever possible. Although the experience is personal, it intersects with the social changes in the Kingdom through my own person, my family, and perhaps my entire generation.

About the author
Dr. Thuraya bint Mohammed Al-Sulaiman Al-Ibrahim Al-Turki is the first Saudi woman to specialize in anthropology, and one of the first Saudi women to obtain a doctorate.
The scholar – who always takes pride in being a daughter of Najd and Hejaz and is proud of her Arab identity – has many important and scholarly studies. She has also taught at Harvard, California, Georgetown, Pennsylvania, King Abdulaziz University, Riyadh University, and the American University in Cairo.