Fernea was born October 21, 1927 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her father was a mining engineer and was eventually sent to Flin Flon in Manitoba, Canada by his firm. Instead of forcing his family to live on the firm’s compound, he opted to live in town with ordinary people. This choice might have sparked a later interest in anthropology because, as an American, Fernea was marginalized by her fellow Canadian students. Since it was the Depression, the other children on the street did not take kindly to Americans so this was her first taste of being an “outsider”. During an interview with Fayza Hassan, Fernea stated that the other kids would yell at her window saying “It’s not that we hate you, it’s just that you’re American,”. In addition to being an outsider while growing up, Fernea learned from her mother that it is the norm to follow your husband where his job takes him. These two lessons could possibly be the reason why she was so willing to go with her husband Robert to Iraq and why she was able to eventually fit in with the women there.