How did the era of colonial divide-and-rule in the Arab East—the creation of the new mandates of Great Britain and France—appear to the Bedouin communities who lived through it? This article examines this important period of change from the perspective of a prominent Bedouin sheikh, Fahd Ibn Hadhdhāl of the ʿAmārāt (ʿAnaza). Moving between the southern and western frontiers of Iraq, the ʿAmārāt have seldom been the focus of historical enquiry, but their attempts to navigate the disturbed interwar landscape offer a window onto the changing prospects for Bedouin groups across the Arab East. Building on a close reading of colonial sources, the article reveals how important social, economic, and political dynamics of Bedouin life persisted to shape relations within the new mandates, as the ʿAmārāt, their sheikh, and the young colonial state all jostled for influence and authority.
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Abdul-Jabar Faleh & Dawod Hosham Tribes and Power: Nationalism and Ethnicity in the Middle East 2003 London Saqi Books
Alon Yoav Singer Amy , Neumann Christoph K. & Somel Selçuk Akşin Silent Voices within the Elites: The Social Biography of a Modern Shaykh Untold Histories of the Middle East: Recovering Voices from the 19th and 20th Centuries 2011 Abingdon Routledge 91 105
Ashkenazi Touvia The ʿAnazah Tribes Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 1948 4 222 239
Batatu Hanna The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq: A Study of Iraq’s Old Landed and Commercial Classes and of Its Communists, Baʿthists, and Free Officers 1978 Princeton NJ Princeton University Press
Bell Gertrude The Desert and the Sown 1907 New York E.P. Dutton
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Büssow Johann Negotiating the Future of a Bedouin Polity in Mandatory Syria: Political Dynamics of the Sbaʿa-ʿAbada during the 1930s Nomadic Peoples 2011 15 70 95
Büssow Johann Prager. Münster Laila Bedouin Historiography in the Making: An Indigenous History of the Hasana Tribe in Syria Repräsentationen von Nomaden und Sesshaften in der “Alten Welt,” 2011 Lit-Verlag 160 183
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Toth Anthony Conflict and a Pastoral Economy: The Costs of Akhwan Attacks on Tribes in Iraq, 1922-1929 Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies 2002 11 201 227
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J.B. Glubb, Arabian Adventures: Ten Years of Joyful Service (London: Cassell, 1983): 198-199.
T. Dodge, Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003): 83-100.
K. Franz, “The Bedouin in History or Bedouin History?” Nomadic Peoples 15 (2011). For scholarly collections exploring these phenomena in various parts of the Arab East, see Nomadic Societies in the Middle East and North Africa: Entering the 21st Century, ed. D. Chatty (Leiden: Brill, 2006); The Transformation of Nomadic Society in the Arab East, ed. M. Mundy and B. Musallam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000); Village, Steppe and State: The Social Origins of Modern Jordan, ed. E. Rogan and T. Tell (London: British Academic Press, 1994).
W. Lancaster, The Rwala Bedouin Today (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981): 120; A. Shryock, “Writing Oral History in Tribal Jordan: Developments on the Margins of Literature Culture.” Anthropology Today 11 (1995); J. Büssow, “Bedouin Historiography in the Making: An Indigenous History of the Hasana Tribe in Syria.” In Repräsentationen von Nomaden und Sesshaften in der “Alten Welt,” ed. L. Prager (Münster: Lit, 2011): 160-183.
G.E. Leachman, “A Journey through Central Arabia.” The Geographical Journal 43 (1914): 504.
G.E. Leachman, “A Journey in North-Eastern Arabia.” The Geographical Journal 37 (1911): 267. See also Bray, Paladin of Arabia: 144, 153.
D.G. Hogarth, “Northern Desert: Jauf el-Amr from East and West.” Arab Bulletin 33 (1916): 503; K. Cornwallis (ed.), “The Desert. Movements in East and Centre.” Arab Bulletin 44 (1917): 118-9; G.L. Bell, “Mesopotamia. Ismail Bey.” Arab Bulletin 45 (1917): 133.
Anon., “Notes. Mesopotamia News.” Arab Bulletin 79 (1918): 56.
A.T. Wilson, Mesopotamia, 1917-1920: A Clash of Loyalties; a Personal and Historical Record (London: Oxford University Press, 1931): 3-4.
D.G. Hogarth, “Obituary: Lieut.-Colonel G.E. Leachman.” The Geographical Journal 56 (1920): 326; Wilson and Bell, Review: 41.
For example: K. Cornwallis (ed.), “Notes. News of Anazeh Tribes.” Arab Bulletin 65 (1917): 407-408.
G.L. Bell, “Mesopotamia. The Situation in Hail.” Arab Bulletin 57 (1917): 314-316.
K. Cornwallis (ed.), “Mesopotamia. The Najaf-Kerbala district.” Arab Bulletin 62 (1917): 373-375.
G. Bell, “Arabia. North-Eastern Desert, Tribal Fights in the Shamiyah.” Arab Bulletin 43 (1917): 87-95.
K. Cornwallis (ed.), “Notes. Damascus-Hail Caravan Traffic.” Arab Bulletin 102 (1918): 308.
K. Cornwallis (ed.), “Notes. Koweit Supplies.” Arab Bulletin 70 (1917): 468.
K. Cornwallis (ed.), “Notes. News of Anazeh Tribes.” Arab Bulletin 65 (1917): 407-8. See also Wilson and Bell, Review: 41.
H.St.J.B. Philby, The Heart of Arabia: A Record of Travel and Exploration (London: Constable, 1922): 256; K. Cornwallis (ed.), “Ramadi and the Tribes.” Arab Bulletin 70 (1917): 459-60; K. Cornwallis (ed.), “Mesopotamian Chiefs and King Husein.” Arab Bulletin 93 (1918): 211-2.
M.F. Jamali, The New Iraq: Its Problem of Bedouin Education (New York: Teachers College, Columbia, 1934): 65.
A.B. Toth, “Conflict and a Pastoral Economy: The Costs of Akhwan Attacks on Tribes in Iraq, 1922-1929.” Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies 11 (2002): 201-227.
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How did the era of colonial divide-and-rule in the Arab East—the creation of the new mandates of Great Britain and France—appear to the Bedouin communities who lived through it? This article examines this important period of change from the perspective of a prominent Bedouin sheikh, Fahd Ibn Hadhdhāl of the ʿAmārāt (ʿAnaza). Moving between the southern and western frontiers of Iraq, the ʿAmārāt have seldom been the focus of historical enquiry, but their attempts to navigate the disturbed interwar landscape offer a window onto the changing prospects for Bedouin groups across the Arab East. Building on a close reading of colonial sources, the article reveals how important social, economic, and political dynamics of Bedouin life persisted to shape relations within the new mandates, as the ʿAmārāt, their sheikh, and the young colonial state all jostled for influence and authority.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 757 | 143 | 11 |
Full Text Views | 226 | 7 | 1 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 60 | 17 | 2 |