Lady Ethel Stefana Drower’s Books about Iraq

AL - HA K I M F O U N D AT I O N ANGLO-IRAQI STUDIES CENTRE (AISC) JANUARY 2017 NEWSLETTER
AISC January 2017 Newsletter Page 6

Lady Ethel Stefana Drower (nee Stevens) (1879-1972) was a British cultural anthropologist, well known for her travels in the Middle East and her many books about this part of the world. She spent 25 years living in Iraq, from 1921 to 1946. Lady Drower’s lifelong interest in Iraq
and the Middle East began when she accompanied her husband, Sir Edwin
 Drower, to Iraq in 1921, where he was advisor to the Justice Minister from 1921 to 1946.

During her 25 years living in Iraq, Lady Drower produced many books.Titles she published during this time included By Tigris & Euphrates (1923), Sophy: A Tale of Baghdad(1924), Ishtar (1927), Folktales of Iraq (1931), The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran (1937) and Peacock Angel(1941), about the Yazidi people of Iraq.

Lady Drower was well known for her studies of the religions and beliefs in Iraq and the Middle East. She was considered a specialist on the Mandaeans, an ancient religious minority living in Iraq and Iran. Her 1937 publication, The Mandaeans of Iraq & Iran, gives an insight into their religion, culture and ways of life. She translated their holy book, the Q’Olada, and collected many Mandaean manuscripts during her lifetime.

In addition, she collected and gathered folk tales of Iraq, which she published in 1931 in a book titled Folktales of Iraq.