godfrey lienhardt - Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology ...

Ahmed Al-Shahi 95
household. He was respected and trusted. Fayyad had a cousin who ran a taxi
which Godfrey used whenever he needed to traveL
Godfrey used to frequent the Brazilian coffee-house and the Swiss cafe,
located on AI-Rashid Street, which is the main street in Baghdad. The Brazilian
coffee-house was a fashionable place to frequent and attracted artists, academics,
writers, poets, journalists, expatriates etc. It served excellent coffee, ice-cream,
cakes and other forms of patisserie, which were brought from the Swiss cafe
located next door. Godfrey, like those who went there regularly, liked the Brazilian
coffee-house because it was tastefully decorated, peaceful, with no radio or
television, and it had foreign newspapers and magazines as well as local ones. It
became a meeting-place for friends and colleagues. One used to see Godfrey
there, and if there was nobody with him, then those students who knew him and
happened to be there used to join him. The purpose was social and he and his
expatriate friends did not mind the broken English of the students. As always,
Godfrey was very sociable and showed interest in following events in the country,
in the background of the students, their interests, and their reaction to learning
anthropology. He always showed patience, kindness, and consideration to his
students and was generous with both his time and his hospitality.
Another place Godfrey used to frequent was the Zia Hotel and Restaurant, a
popular place located on the right bank of the River Tigris and frequented by the
expatriate community as well as by well-to-do local people. He invariably
remarked to me how much he enjoyed the views from the terrace of the hotel, the
food, and having drinks with friends.
Soon Godfrey found an additional social circle which gave him an entry into
the social circles of artists, writers, politicians, high-ranking civil servants, and
expatriates. He used to join them at their regular meetings to discuss literary
works, arts in general, cultural issues etc. Participation in these meeting was by
invitation, and he informed me that he enjoyed these meetings and that they were
instructive in that they were a good venue for understanding the thinking and
attitudes of the educated class in Iraq as well as for dialogue between Iraqis and
Europeans.
Godfrey was always an independent person and he had a sense of adventure:
he took pleasure in a car journey (preferably off any motorway or major road) and
there was a constant sense of exploration. Once he visited the Marsh Arabs in
southern Iraq, travelling there in Fayyad's cousin's taxi. There were no hotels or
restaurants in the Marshes and Godfrey had to take things as they came. By
chance he met the resident doctor for the eastern Marshes and he stayed with him
for a few days. He rented a small canoe and explored some parts of the Marshes
and was entertained by the local tribal chiefs. He enjoyed his time there and often
spoke with affection to me about some of the people whom he met. He also
visited some archaeological sites and in particular Babylon; contrary to the romantic
image of this civilization portrayed in books, he found it rather disappointing-a
heap of rubble with a few high walls, as he described it.