By Dr. Delores M. Walters
Director, ALANA Cultural Center, Colgate University

"Murshidat" is a documentary which tells the story of twenty women who have revolutionized health care and social relations in a coastal plains community in Yemen.  The video is the culmination of recent collaborations with female primary health care workers called murshidat, as well as the continuation of ethnographic research which began with my doctoral dissertation field research conducted in the early 1980's.

The video highlights the murshidat's home visits and their daily routines in the Maternal and Child Health Center which has become a thriving center for an entire community largely as a result of these women's activism.  Furthermore, the murshidat's outreach includes those African-identified outcasts and former slaves who are the most marginal members of Yemeni society.  In the film, the murshidat also speak out on their changing roles, identities and aspirations as Muslem women.  They thereby dispel prevalent misperceptions of women in Islamic societies.

"Murshidat" was originally intended for the women themselves to share their experiences, skills and accomplishments with their peers and potential recruits.

Technical Specifications: