My life as I lived it

Memories of a Saudi Woman from Unaizah to California

Author's name: Thuraya Al-Turki

This engaging book brings together the colorful and unconventional life of Dr. Thuraya bint Muhammad Al-Sulaiman Al-Ibrahim Al-Turki, the first Saudi woman to specialize in anthropology and one of the first Saudi women to earn a doctorate.

The author says: “I have never encountered anything in my life that was so unanimously shared by my friends and colleagues that they urged me to document my life experience. They saw in it, thankfully, something worth telling, hoping it would inspire new generations of women in the Arabian Peninsula. I and other women of my generation fought battle after battle for rights that are now taken for granted, against a societal culture that relies on certain interpretations of religious texts, which has stood as a formidable barrier to women’s education, work, and engagement in public life in their community.

I presented what happened in my life as it happened, and in areas that I claim others would have thought dozens of times before venturing into. I strove to maintain the highest level of candor in this book. I presented myself as I am, without embellishment or retouching. Perhaps the secret behind this relative candor is that I am a scholar, and the idea of ​​objectivity always urges me, even against myself, whenever I am able to do so. Although the experience is personal, it intertwines with social change in the Kingdom through me, my family, and perhaps my entire generation.

About the author

Dr. Thuraya bint Muhammad 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 has always been proud of being a daughter of Najd and Hejaz and of her Arab identity, has authored numerous important, solid studies. She has also taught at Harvard, California, Georgetown, Pennsylvania, King Abdulaziz University, Riyadh University, and the American University in Cairo.