Economic Change and Political Continuity in a Saharan Oasis Community

Abstract

This article will examine one aspect of the political structure of a rural Libyan Oasis community that is undergoing rapid social change. The population of the oasis community is divided between sedentary agriculturalists of Berber origin (sawaknah), and pastoral Arab tribesmen claiming descent from the Beni Hillal tribes who invaded north Africa in the eleventh century. This analysis will focus on the pastoral tribe, the Riah, and the accommodations that are taking place in its political structure as a result of rapid economic expansion in the oil-rich kingdom of Libya. Three major aspects of the tribal political structure will be discussed: i) The areas in which 'traditional' political leaders have managed to perpetuate their political controls. This aspect of the analysis deals with the articulation of the oasis community to a locally-staffed, national administrative structure. The resultant patronage system which is organised through this apparatus provides jobs and posts for many tribesmen. 2) The areas in which the resources from newlyexpanded entrepreneurial activities are used to challenge the traditional tribal leadership. 3) The political strengths and weaknesses of a newly-emergent group of young men who are organised through entrepreneurship and administrative activities. This article, therefore, attempts to account for factors both of continuity and change in the political organisation of the pastoral tribe which resides in Sawknah Oasis. The situation in Sawknah among the Riah is in some respects a reversal of that described by Bailey (I960). At village level, the tribal system has had a major impact on the organisation of bureaucracy and effectively regulates the options open to those who are able to exploit the new opportunities. In one sense traditional tribal institutions have been adapted to control these new resources. Sawknah Oasis is one of a cluster of three oasis communities located in the Al Jufrah depression of Fezzan Province, Libya (see fig. i). The three oases are geographically separated from one another by stretches of barren desert, Sawknah being the most southerly of the three. Hun, the second oasis, is situated seventeen miles to the northeast. Finally, twenty miles to the northeast of Hun lies Waddan. The villages of the Al Jufrah depression are separated from other settlements by great distances. The nearest village of Zilah lies over one hundred miles to the east of Al Jufrah, while over three hundred miles of open desert separate Al Jufrah from the more densely populated areas of Libya on the Mediterranean coast to the north. Thus, the Al Jufrah settlements are isolated from other populated areas of Libya, and in the past this insulated them from external interference. Each of the oasis communities has a self-sufficient agricultural economy based