Bedouin

Bedouin
Beduinphoto.jpg
Traditional Bedouin in Southern Jordan
Total population
 ?
Regions with significant populations
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia  ?
Jordan Jordan 776,000 [1]
 Egypt- mainly in Sinai 380,000 (2007) [2]
 Israel 170,000 (1999) [3]
Languages

Arabic dialects:  Najdi • Hassānīya • Bedawi
Religion

majority adhere to Sunni Islam; small numbers adhere to Shia Islam and other religions
Related ethnic groups

Arabs

The Bedouin (from the Arabic badawī (بدوي), pl. badw) are a part of the predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group, where Arab Ethnicity is divided into three lifestyles, of the Urban, rural and Nomad people.

Contents

Traditional Bedouin cultures

Bedouin woman in Jerusalem, ca. 1900

A widely quoted Bedouin saying is "Me against my brother, My brothers and I against my cousins, then my cousins and I against strangers". This saying signifies a hierarchy of loyalties based on closeness of kinship that runs from the nuclear family through the lineage, the tribe, and even, in principle at least, to an entire ethnic or linguistic group (which is perceived to have a kinship basis). Disputes are settled, interests are pursued, and justice and order are maintained by means of this organizational framework, according to an ethic of self-help and collective responsibility (Andersen 14). The individual family unit (known as a tent or bayt) typically consisted of three or four adults (a married couple plus siblings or parents) and any number of children.

When resources were plentiful, several tents would travel together as a goum. These groups were sometimes linked by patriarchal lineage, but were just as likely linked by marriage (new wives were especially likely to have male relatives join them), acquaintance or even no clearly defined relation but a simple shared membership in the tribe.

The next scale of interactions inside tribal groups was the ibn 'amm (cousin) or descent group, commonly of three to five generations. These were often linked to goums, but where a goum would generally consist of people all with the same herd type, descent groups were frequently split up over several economic activities, thus allowing a degree of 'risk management'; should one group of members of a descent group suffer economically, the other members of the descent group would be able to support them. Whilst the phrase "descent group" suggests purely a lineage-based arrangement, in reality these groups were fluid and adapted their genealogies to take in new members.

The largest scale of tribal interactions is of course the tribe as a whole, led by a Sheikh (Arabic: شيخ, literally, "elder"). The tribe often claims descent from one common ancestor—as mentioned above. This appears patrimonial but in reality new groups could have genealogies invented to tie them in to this ancestor. The tribal level is the level that mediated between the Bedouin and the outside governments and organizations.

Bedouins traditionally had strong honor codes, and traditional systems of justice dispensation in Bedouin society typically revolved around such codes. The bisha'a, or ordeal by fire, is a well-known Bedouin practice of lie detection. See also: Honor codes of the Bedouin, Bedouin systems of justice

Bedouins are well known for practicing folk music, folk dance and folk poetry. See also: Bedouin music, Ardha, Ghinnawa.[4]

A Bedouin man in Sinai Peninsula
Traditional Bedouin camel race in the northern Negev near Arad, Israel, November 2005

Changing ways of life

Bustan Archives: Goats grazing beneath disused garbage bins in the Bedouin township of Tel Sheva.

Starting in the late 19th century, many Bedouins under British rule began to transition to a semi-nomadic lifestyle. In the 1950s and 1960s, large numbers of Bedouin throughout the Middle East started to leave the traditional, nomadic life to settle in the cities of the Middle East, especially as hot ranges have shrunk and population levels have grown. For example, in Syria the Bedouin way of life effectively ended during a severe drought from 1958 to 1961, which forced many Bedouin to give up herding for standard jobs. Similarly, government policies in Egypt and Israel, oil production in the Persian Gulf, as well as a desire for improved standards of living, effectively led most Bedouin to become settled citizens of various nations, rather than stateless nomadic herders.

Government policies pressuring the Bedouin have in some cases been executed in an attempt to provide services (schools, health care, law enforcement and so on—see Chatty 1986 for examples), but in others have been based on the desire to seize land traditionally roved and controlled by the Bedouin.

In recent years, the Bedouin have adopted the pastime of raising and breeding white doves.

Partial list of Bedouin tribes and populations

Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, late president of the United Arab Emirates, during Bedouin life.
A Bedouin man lighting a camp fire in Wadi Rum, Jordan

There are a number of Bedouin tribes, but the total population is often difficult to determine, especially as many Bedouin have ceased to lead nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyles (see above) and joined the general population. Below is a partial list of Bedouin tribes and their historic place of origin (the list does not include tribes of the Negev Bedouins in Israel.

References

  1. ↑ http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38209
  2. ↑ http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38209
  3. ↑ The Bedouin in Israel: Demography Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1999-07-01
  4. ↑ More in-depth discussions on these topics can be found in Chatty (1996) and Lancaster (1997)
  5. ↑ Info on Tuba from Flags of the World Website
Strong tribe played big role in history of Jordan

Further reading

External links

Wikisource has the text of The New Student's Reference Work article Bedouins.