ms. donahue, what made you write this book slave of allah and why was it important for you to write as an anthropologist. >> i was in france in 9/11 and in the '90s off and on for about 10 years did a field of work nearby where he grew up. this was in the east of france and in october of 2001, i read an article about somebody who had been picked before 9/11 of in minnesota and i realized that he had grown up in this area which i was quite familiar with. he had a background that i knew something about. he is the son of moroccans who had moved to france before he was born so had difficulty growing up in an area of france which was not always totally receptive to north africans. >> and what was your relationship, you know, with the people who were involved in his trial? how did you go about covering the trial? what was that process? >> well, curiously, i was the only academic who went to this to this trial. i had a friend from graduate school who had a connection to the trial and i learned quickly that anyone was able to go. and a person could go to the trial as long as there's space for you

ms. donahue, what made you write this book, slave of allah, and why was it important to write it as an anthropologist was that process? >> curiously, i was the only academic to think of going to this trial. i have a friend from graduate school who had told me she had a connection to the trial. i learned quickly that anyone was able to go, any person could go to the trial as long as there's space for you in the courtroom, so i thought, okay, i think i need to go there and the trial actually was in alexandria, virginia, in the eastern district court. that site was chosen actually because the pentagon was in that district and they were trying to have the trial somewhere in the same area where one of the attacks had happened. and i got to be at the trial. i was actually the initial jury drawing and then at the two different phases of the trial so i got to know the members of the press. there were no other people who were there as academics attending the trial. i really acting good eyesight into what the -- insight into the way in which the press was writing about this person. >> and what role did the med

ms. donahue, but maybe you write this book and why was it important for you to write this as an anthropologist >> i've done field work in france before 9/11 in fact in the 90's off and on for about ten years and i did field work in an area nearby where he grew up this was over in the east france, and in october of 2001i wrote an article about somebody picked up before 9/11 of flight school and realized he had grown up in this area quite familiar with and have a background something about. he was the son of moroccans before he was born and had difficulty growing up in areas of france which was not only totally receptive to north africa. >> what was your relationship with the people involved in this trial, how did you go about covering the trial, what was that process? >> i was the only academic to think of going to this trial. i had a friend from grout school who told me she had a connection to the trial and new quickly anybody was able to go in a person could go to the trials as long as there was space in the courtroom so okay i need to go there. it was in alexandria virginia in the eastern di