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A review by alundeberg
Glory in a Camel's Eye: A Perilous Trek Through the Greatest African Desert by Jeffrey Tayler
3.0
I was close to chucking this book into the Goodwill pile after the few pages. Tayler introduces himself as a former Harvard student who goes off to the Peace Corps in Morocco and goes into detail his way with the Moroccan ladies and his sexual exploits with them. It is unnecessary information, only included to show us how cool and worldly he is. He then launches into how Wilfred Thesiger's book Arabian Sands inspired him to want to make a long trek through perilous desert terrain so he can become like the desert tribes and made a white man as "Other", unfit for Western "civilized" life. This smacked of pretension. Unlike Tayler, Thesiger was born as "Other" by dint of being born to British parents in Ethiopia, where he adapted to two worlds, and by moving with his parents back to England where he differed from his school mates by not having a proper British upbringing. Thesiger's voyage through Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter took years and he had to acclimate to the Bedouins and their way of life. Tayler's journey through the Dràa in southern Morocco was planned by a guide, three months long, and had a definitive end date. The idea that this would make him like Thesiger was absurd. It also didn't help that Tayler describes the people he meets as caricatures, which seemed the antithesis of becoming "one" with them.
I continued reading mostly because I wanted to see what other arguments I could engage with him. How ridiculous could he get?
Fortunately, his view becomes more realistic. After he and his guide Nourredine, who drives him crazy as he espouses Islam day and night, experience a moment of commonality, Tayler finally sees his guide in a humane and compassionate light, realizing the challenges a poor man with a large family faces in a poor, mostly uneducated country. His caricatures cease and his descriptions become more well-rounded. Tayler also provides a detailed look into Morocco's complicated history of Berber, Jewish, and Islamic beliefs and tribes and its colonization by both France and Spain (who had the Western Sahara). He details the impact of climate change on the nomadic and herding culture and how those tribes are forced to move northward into cities and dire poverty. In his journeys he sees the effects of a lack of education and their devout religious beliefs keep them in squalor. If Allah provides and takes away, then what is the purpose of learning and using preventative measures like washing their hands with soap? (A third of infants die of diarrhea due to contamination.)
While he never says this outright, he does realize that he is "Other". The people he meets call him "Nasrani"-- white man or Christian. This chafes him as he has secular beliefs and is both chastised for being a Christian and continually persuaded to accept Islam. Compounded with the harsh terrain, extreme weather, and his sensitive bowels, he realizes the divide between them is too great. He can learn about the people of Morocco and stay with them, but he will never be one of them.
I continued reading mostly because I wanted to see what other arguments I could engage with him. How ridiculous could he get?
Fortunately, his view becomes more realistic. After he and his guide Nourredine, who drives him crazy as he espouses Islam day and night, experience a moment of commonality, Tayler finally sees his guide in a humane and compassionate light, realizing the challenges a poor man with a large family faces in a poor, mostly uneducated country. His caricatures cease and his descriptions become more well-rounded. Tayler also provides a detailed look into Morocco's complicated history of Berber, Jewish, and Islamic beliefs and tribes and its colonization by both France and Spain (who had the Western Sahara). He details the impact of climate change on the nomadic and herding culture and how those tribes are forced to move northward into cities and dire poverty. In his journeys he sees the effects of a lack of education and their devout religious beliefs keep them in squalor. If Allah provides and takes away, then what is the purpose of learning and using preventative measures like washing their hands with soap? (A third of infants die of diarrhea due to contamination.)
While he never says this outright, he does realize that he is "Other". The people he meets call him "Nasrani"-- white man or Christian. This chafes him as he has secular beliefs and is both chastised for being a Christian and continually persuaded to accept Islam. Compounded with the harsh terrain, extreme weather, and his sensitive bowels, he realizes the divide between them is too great. He can learn about the people of Morocco and stay with them, but he will never be one of them.