Bedouins of the Empty Quarter
Regular price
€64.99
A01=Donald Powell Cole
Abd Al Aziz Ibn
Abd Al Wahhab
Al Hasa Oasis
Ancient Claim
Arabian ethnography
Author_Donald Powell Cole
Camel Nomads
Category=JBSL
Category=JHM
Close Symbiotic Relationship
Contemporary Saudi Arabia
desert ecology adaptation
Donald Powell Cole
Eastern Saudi Arabia
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Father's Brother's Sons
Father’s Brother’s Sons
Herding Year
Holy Man
Islamic Holy Law
Middle Eastern anthropology
Natal Household
Nomadic Pastoralism
Northeastern Arabia
pastoral nomadism research
Reserve National Guard
resource management arid zones
Sanusi Brotherhood
Saudi Arabian National Guard
Saudi Arabian Society
Sedentary Folk
Segmentary Lineage System
Suq Al Khamis
traditional Bedouin social organization
Tribal Amir
tribal kinship systems
Winter Pastures
Young Men
Product details
- ISBN 9780202363578
- Weight: 360g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 30 Mar 2010
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Inc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
This volume describes Bedouins, a tribal pastoral people in eastern Saudia Arabia. This volume documents changes in their way of life, beginning in the 1930s and continuing to the 1960s, when this book originally appeared. The Empty Quarter described here is a place inhabited by a people so thoroughly devoted to their pastoral pursuits that they are referred to as nomads of the nomads. To the Al Murrah and other camel-keeping pastoralists, theirs is a rich and rewarding life. For either to survive, men and camels must live in close symbiosis. The camels provide food, fiber, and transport; man provides knowledge of available resources, of which the most precious are water and the grasses that grow where rains have fallen. In this work, Donald Powell Cole shows us that this existence more complex and intricate. There is the complex knowledge of the desert itself, its varieties, moods, and resources. Next, there is the knowledge of the camels, their needs, capacities, and the peculiarities of each animal. These different kinds of knowledge must be brought together to fully use, yet carefully conserve, scarce resources. As important is the structuring of social life. The tribesmen must have a flexible social system that enables the individual household to operate alone when the environmental situation requires. This necessitates a pattern of independence and equality. The Al Murrah live according to ancient traditions, but life is not unchanging. In 1932, Saudi Arabia became a nation and intertribal raiding and warfare was brought to an end. Cole highlights the adaptability of the Al Murrah as the desert became increasingly invaded by motor transport and oil rigs. He sees their experience as prototypical: man everywhere must attune his life to the requirements of his economy. In a place like the Arabian Desert these adjustments are most insistent. This work shows that even when these demands of the external world pervade behavior, life can remain rich and rewarding.
Donald Powell Cole is professor emeritus in the department of Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, and Egyptology at The American University in Cairo (Egypt). He is author or co-author of numerous works including Arabian Oasis City: The Transformation of 'Unayzah and Bedouin, Settlers, and Holiday-Makers: Egypt's Changing Northwest Coast
