Bedouin Research Articles

Cereal cultivation and storage by the Janabib Bedouin in the Negev Highlands, southern Israel (1917–1948)

This study focuses on the traditional methods used by the Janabib Bedouin tribe in the Negev Highlands to cultivate wheat and barley during the British Mandate period from 1917 to 1948. Despite the fact that this region receives only 90 mm of precipitation per year on average, and was located at a great distance from settlements and markets, the local Bedouin cultivated cereals by exploiting the ancient agricultural terraces from the Byzantine period which prevented runoff and distributed water over the agricultural plots. This research also found that the choice of which cereals to grow in different years, were determined by local climatic conditions. Thus, the Bedouin who lived in the Negev Highlands before 1948, developed specific adaptations in order to survive in these arid conditions.

Barakat, Nora Elizabeth. Bedouin Bureaucrats: Mobility and Property in the Ottoman Empire. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2023

This monograph examines the imperial nation-building process in the latter half of the nineteenth century, centering on tent-dwelling Bedouin tribes of inner Syria, predominantly in the Transjordan region. Investigating interactions among Bedouin chiefs, commercial-capitalists, urban elites, and Ottoman officials from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century, it illustrates the central role of Bedouin bureaucrats in fostering mutually beneficial relationships within or outside the state sphere.

The significance of Lakiya Negev Bedouin heritage weave – a way of knowing Israel's cultural costume

PurposeThis study aims to analyze how conventional Bedouin weaving techniques have changed through the history of Israel, offering knowledge on the craft’s cultural relevance and historical development among the Bedouin people and how their weaving and embroidery differ based on the three main geographic characteristics. It tries to comprehend the causes of the transition from organic to synthetic materials and the part played by the Lakiya Negev Bedouin Weaving women’s cooperative in maintaining this legacy.Design/methodology/approachThe main goal of this study is to trace the emergence of Bedouin weaving traditions in the Negev Desert using a qualitative research methodology that combines historical analysis and ethnographic investigation. A thorough grasp of the subject’s significance is provided through the data gathering, which consists of interviews, archival research and field observations.FindingsThrough the years, Bedouin weaving techniques have significantly shifted away from using traditional organic materials in favor of synthetic replacements, according to the research. It emphasizes the crucial part played by the Lakiya Negev Bedouin Weaving women’s organization in safeguarding this traditional legacy and giving Bedouin women access to economic prospects.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of the study includes its emphasis on the Negev region and the Israeli Bedouin community, which may not accurately reflect all Bedouin weaving techniques. Greater regional settings may be explored in future studies.Practical implicationsThe investigation emphasizes the value of investing in initiatives for cultural preservation and the empowerment of underprivileged groups through economic possibilities.Social implicationsBy preserving ancient weaving techniques, this research enables Bedouin women in the Negev Desert to maintain their cultural identity and socioeconomic well-being.Originality/valueBy emphasizing the socio-cultural dimensions and the organization’s role in preserving traditional craftsmanship in a changing socio-economic environment, this research presents a unique investigation of the evolution of Bedouin weaving techniques in Israel.

PASTORALISTS, CAMELS AND STATE-MAKING: THE BANU SAKHR AND GLUBB PASHA IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY JORDAN

The administrative documents produced in Transjordan during the first decades of the British Mandate concerning the Banu Sakhr Bedouin tribe offer a detailed case study of state-making and the consequent disruption of autonomous nomadic pastoralist society. In the late Ottoman period, the tribe remained largely self-sufficient and beyond the reach of the authorities by virtue of their flocks of camels. But the extension of state-making into the desert regions during the Mandate, associated above all with the activities of one British army officer, John Bagot Glubb, served to undermine Banu Sakhr camel husbandry and alter the power dynamics between tribe and state. Taxation, control of mobility, border regimes and an end to inter-tribal raiding, combined with drought and economic depression, forced the tribe to diversify away from camel pastoralism. This process altered the Banu Sakhr social system and solidified the encapsulation of the tribe within the nascent state. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .

The Sociolinguistics of Urban Personal Names in Jordan and Naming Differences between Urban and Bedouin Communities

This study is a sociolinguistic analysis of feminine personal names over three generations (grandmothers, mothers, and daughters) in an urban community in Jordan. It aims at pointing out the sociolinguistics of the names and differences in naming over time. Based on the findings of a previous work by the researchers, this study also aims at revealing the differences, if any, in naming conventions between Bedouin tribes and urban communities. For this reason, the researchers carried out an in-depth analysis of 300 students’ names in Amman, the capital alongside their mothers and grandmothers’ names. Findings indicated that though the majority of the urban names among the three categories differed in form and sound, their implications were roughly similar. While transparent discrepancies across the two communities are reported at the level of the elderly age (grandmothers) and middle-aged (mothers) categories, striking similarities were noticed at the level of the children’s categories (daughters). Keywords: Onomastics, Anthroponomy, Toponymy, Nomenclature, Naming conventions

Camel Ownership as a Passage to Adulthood in Omani Bedouin Culture

ABSTRACT The development of adolescent humans through child–pet interaction and attachment is the focus of the current study. The context is the Omani Bedouin culture, which is inseparably linked to camel culture. This culture promotes the importance of nurturing relationships between camels and their cameleers. We suggest that proximity to and contact with camels from an early age helps camel-owning Bedouin children to navigate their journey more smoothly from childhood to adulthood. The study is based on informal conversations, collected over 1 year, with Bedouin children and their parents who have all grown up with camels in Al Wahiba, a Bedouin people of the Sharqiyah, Oman. By analyzing such narratives, we aimed to demonstrate the depth of impact that this contact with camels has on the cognitive, emotional, and social development of Bedouin children. The data suggest that child cameleers experience emotional, social, and cognitive benefits from contact with and attachment to camels. The findings from the parents of these adolescents also suggest that the children demonstrate higher levels of cognitive and emotional maturity and seem to socialize and become integrated into the community more easily compared with their siblings who do not own camels. The novelty of the current study is that it sheds light on how the socio-cultural context embedded in the Bedouin culture affects the degree and nature of a child’s attachment to a pet camel and how that affects development in adolescence. The research took an inclusive approach by including both human and nonhuman agents (camels) in the analysis, and we discuss the findings in a post-colonial context.

Centre-periphery relations in the Ottoman Galilee: the case of Akil Agha al-Hasi, 1840-70

ABSTRACT Akil Agha al-Hasi, a son of a Bedouin family, immigrated into Palestine from Egypt at the start of the 19th century. He was a dominant factor in the history of Galilee from the 1830s to the end of 1860s. His official job was commander of irregular soldiers in the service of the Ottoman governor, although in fact, his job and his status exceeded much, a job in the service of the authorities. Akil Agha knew how to take advantage of the power bases which stood at his disposal: units of irregular soldiers, alliances with Bedouin tribes, villages and townsmen, and the weakness of the Ottoman government in general, and in the region, in particular, in order to become a center of power, indeed a local one, but also worrying at a national level. Sometimes he would overcome this attempt and sometimes he failed, and then he would run rampage against order and security in order to force the authorities to understand that only he was the key to order and security in the region. For the lack of an alternative, they were forced to return him to his job, but not for a long time, and he was again dismissed.

Mother-Child Relationship in Fadia Faqir’s The Cry of the Dove: A Fragile Landscape

British-Jordanian novelist Fadia Faqir’s The Cry of the Dove is a story of an Arabian girl from a Bedouin tribe in the Levant, who is punished by death for flouting social norms of the tribe. Her tribe believed that dishonour can only be wiped off with blood. Apart from a covert advocacy of feminist ideals and women’s emancipation, the novel offers a window to the strong mother-daughter relationship, which in itself is viewed by prominent feminist critics as a form of rejection of patriarchal oppression. In the present paper, mother-child relationship depicted in the novel has been explored through a character analysis of the leading as well as minor female roles in the book, such as the protagonist Salma, her mother Hajjeh Amina, and her friend Noura and Madam Lamaa. The study concludes that in the novel mothers are depicted to forge a strong relationship with their children, especially daughters, in a continuum of motherline.

Межплеменная изменчивость некоторых кефалометрических признаков у бедуинов Южного Синая и попытка ее визуализации методом обобщенного фотопортрета

Introduction. The article presents the results of the development data on kefalometry of the complex South Sinai anthropological expedition. The purpose was to study the variability of cephalometric traits in South Sinai Bedouins. Objectives: to identify possible phenotypic differences between the tribes, to assess the position of the Bedouin tribes against the background of the Middle Eastern and North African populations according to literary data; to create male composite photo portraits (CPP) from Bedouin tribes Awlad Said and Gebeliya. Materials and methods. Cephalometric data from three tribal samples were used: the tribes of Gebeliya, Muzeina and the combined group "other tribes", which includes data on the Awlad Said tribe. To identify intertribal differences, analysis of variance was applied. Literature data on Middle Eastern and North African samples were used for comparative analysis by the method of multidimensional scaling. To create composite photographic portraits (according to F. Galton´s method), an improved program "Face to face" by Syroezhkin-Maurer (by superposition of three points) was used. Full-face and profile individual Bedouins photographic images from the tribes of Gebeliya (N = 21), Awlad Said t (N=21) and Muzeina (N=19, only frontal) were selected for the work. Results. Statistically significant differences between the Bedouin tribal samples were revealed in such traits as: minimal forehead breadth and mandibular diameter, facial index, height of the lower facial segment and head circumference. Composite full-face and profile photo portraits of Bedouin men of the Awlad Said and Gebeliya tribes, full-face portraits of representatives of the Muzeina tribe were obtained. The results of biometric analysis on the latitudinal traits of the face partly coincide with the analysis of visual information on composite photo portraits. According to the measurement data of the face and head, it was revealed that Bedouin tribes form a compact cluster that differs from neighboring populations. Conclusion. In the male part of the combined Bedouin sample, for a number of cephalometric features, significant intertribal differences were revealed both by statistical methods and visually (when considering full-face and profile male composite photo portraits). It is shown that endogamous Bedouin tribes of the South Sinai Peninsula are very close to each other by a combination of cephalometric traits, and they significantly different from other neighboring populations. The South Sinai Bedouins form a kind of unique aggregation, whose peculiarity, probably, was formed under the influence of certain socio-historical and environmental factors. @ 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license

Genetic Diversity and Maternal Phylogenetic Relationships among Populations and Strains of Arabian Show Horses.

Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships within the Arabian show horse populations are of particular interest to breeders worldwide. Using the complete mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence (916 pb), this study aimed (i) to understand the genetic relationship between three populations, the Desert-Bred (DB), a subset of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain (BAH), the Straight Egyptian (EG) and the Polish bloodline (PL), and (ii) to assess the accuracy of the traditional strain classification system based on maternal lines, as stated by the Bedouin culture. To that end, we collected 211 hair samples from stud farms renowned for breeding Arabian show horses from Nejd KSA, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, Morocco, UAE, and Poland. The phylogenetic and network analyses of the whole mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence highlighted a great genetic diversity among the Arabian horse populations, in which about 75% of variance was assigned to populations and 25% to strains. The discriminant analysis of principal components illustrated a relative distinction between those populations. A clear subdivision between traditional strains was found in PL, in contrast to the situation of DB and EG populations. However, several Polish horse individuals could not be traced back to the Bedouin tribes by historical documentation and were shown to differ genetically from other studied Bedouin strains, hence motivating extended investigations.

The Sinai Bedouins and the Ottoman army in World War I

ABSTRACT Though forming having taken an active part in the Sinai and Palestine campaigns of the World War I, the Bedouin tribes are rarely mentioned. This is due in part to the scarcity of documentation, especially having none from the Bedouins themselves. This article seeks to fill in some of the gaps in the research on the war in the Sinai Peninsula and southern Palestine, and to examine the contribution of the Bedouin tribes in that area to the Ottoman military campaign. It argues that the Ottoman perception of the Bedouins as a fighting force changed during the war from being seen as force multiplier to being employed only in scout and reconnaissance roles.

Enigmatic Bones: A Few Archaeological, Bioanthropological, and Historical Considerations Regarding an Atypical Deposit of Skeletonized Human Remains Unearthed in Khirbat al-Dusaq (Southern Jordan)

Abstract This article presents the results of the archaeological, bioanthropological, and historical analysis of an atypical human bone deposit found at the medieval Islamic desert site of Khirbat al-Dusaq in southern present-day Jordan. This site has yielded several human remains deposits, most of which appear to be either ordinary or reorganised burials with a clearly identifiable sepulchral function. However, one particular deposit (labelled “Structure no 1 (Pièce 5)”) displays several atypical features which complicate its interpretation. As such, radiocarbon dating of this particular deposit indicates a chronological range extending from the second half of the seventeenth century CE to the end of the eighteenth century CE. In addition, the human bones contained within this deposit tend to show unusual osteological characteristics, such as possible cut marks resembling peri-mortem lesions inflicted upon the deceased by third parties armed with sharp objects. The precise historical contextualisation of this deposit enables us to discuss different scenarios that could explain the circumstances of its inception. In this sense, the spectrum of possible explanatory interpretations ranges from the conjecture that the remains under study represent one or several victims of an inter-tribal conflict, a brigandage or retaliation attack, a crushed popular uprising, or even individuals who died during one of the violent raids perpetrated by local Bedouin tribes against the Mecca pilgrimage caravans during the Ottoman period.

“Al-Raqqa, Namely Kalne” – Testimonies from the Cairo Geniza

Abstract The article concerns the medieval history of the strategic city al-Raqqa, situated at the junction of the Balīkh and Euphrates Rivers. After an overview of the city’s middle Islamic history, gathered from Islamic textual sources and archaeological finds, it focuses on the city’s history during the fifth/eleventh century, which is also its most obscure period, on which the textual sources are silent and archaeological finds are scanty. Eleventh century al Raqqa is revealed through several documents from the Cairo Geniza, which tell the story of the al- Lādhiqī family, whose members occupied leadership positions in the local Jewish community and around. Through the saga of the al-Lādhiqīs, some light is shed on the dimorphic rule exercised by the Bedouin tribe of Banū Numayr on the city and on the local Jewish community and the ways it integrated in the city and in the wider network of Jewish communities.

Modern Communication Techniques as Means of Breaking the Cultural Barrier of Arab-Bedouin Youth and Jewish Youth

New media have facilitated communication all over the world and we are able to maintain long-distance relationships. The purpose of this study was to investigate how young Arab Bedouin people engage with their friends online via social networking sites. The researchers employed 200 questionnaires to gather information from Jewish and Arab-Bedouin users of social networking sites. According to the findings, online interaction between Bedouin and Jewish teenagers in the Arab world helped them acquire social and emotional experiences. Additionally, many mentioned how communicating online has improved their perceptions of and relationships with Jews. This kind of communication is more important for exposing people to different cultures because it does not put their community membership at risk. The results of this study are an initial encouragement to modify the relations between young people in the country. It is also a golden opportunity for Arab Bedouin youth to get to know the Jewish community. Therefore, this study emphasizes the interaction between the two communities, which differ in religion, language and cultural heritage.

Bedouins, Not 'Egyptians': Characteristics and Features of the Bedouin Tribes of Sinai

Abstract The Bedouin tribes of Sinai have experienced a range of interventions in their way of life that have brought them into contention with different states and state agents. The self-identity of Bedouin tribes in Sinai has been drawn upon in struggles between Bedouin and governing authorities, which in recent history have included two empires and two nation-states. Even now, the Bedouin of Sinai exhibit minimal ties with the religious and political authorities of Egypt, a continuation of trends stretching back to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This article examines different facets of contemporary Sinai Bedouin life and explores the complexity of identity of the Sinai Bedouin through their traditional practices, including oral traditions that provide them with the counter-narratives by which they define themselves.

Potential Active Constituents from Opophytum forsskalii (Hochst. ex Boiss.) N.E.Br against Experimental Gastric Lesions in Rats.

Opophytum forsskalii (O. forsskalii) is a desert plant that belongs to the Aizoaceae family. Although it is a natural food source for Bedouin tribes in northern Saudi Arabia, there is little information on its active metabolites. Therefore, the secondary metabolites of the hydroalcoholic extract from the leaves of this species were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass chromatography (LC-MS). LC-MS identified a total of 30 secondary metabolites. These compounds represented two main categories among sixteen classes. Among them, flavonoids represented the largest proportion with eleven metabolites while fatty acids provided seven compounds. In addition, the extract was evaluated for its gastroprotective effect against gastric lesions induced by different models, such as indomethacin, stress, and necrotizing agents (80% ethanol, 0.2 mol/L NaOH, and 25% NaCl), in rats. For each method, group 1 was used as the control group while groups 2 and 3 received the leaf extract at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively. The ulcer index (UI) and intraluminal bleeding score (IBS) were measured for each method. In addition, gastric tissue from the ethanol method was used for the analysis of nonprotein sulfhydrates (NP-SH), malondialdehyde (MDA), total protein (TP), and histopathologic evaluation. Pretreatment with O. forsskalii significantly decreased UI (p < 0.01) and IBS (p < 0.01) at 400 mg/kg. Pretreatment with O. forsskalii significantly improved total protein levels (p < 0.01) and NP-SH (p < 0.001) compared to the ethanol ulcer groups. MDA levels increased from 0.5 to 5.8 nmol/g in the normal groups compared to the ethanol groups and decreased to 2.34 nmol/g in the O. forsskalii pretreatment. In addition to the gastroprotective markers, histopathological examination of gastric tissue confirmed the gastroprotective potential of O. forsskalii extract against ethanol.

Jerusalem and Masjid al-Aqsā Under the Rule of Turkish Dynasties Tulunids and Ihshidies

It can be said that the fact that Jerusalem, one of the ancient cities of the world, is a sacred religious center for the three heavenly religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, increases its importance a little more and also causes it to be exposed to many attacks and invasions. It should be noted that this city, which is also important with regard to human history, is handled by Muslim rulers, especially in the context of a potency and power struggle in terms of being the first qibla of Islam and one of the three sanctuaries where one can travel for worship after Mecca and Medina. After two and a half centuries under the rule of Hulafā-i Rāshidīn, Umayyads, and Abbasīds, it was ruled for about sixty years by dynasties based in Cairo, founded by Turkish governors who acted independently. After Ahmad b. Tulun's conquest of Palestine in 264/878, who established the Tulunids dynasty in Egypt during the weakening of the Abbasid power, the administration of Jerusalem and Masjid al-Aqsā, was remained under the administration of the Cairo-based states for about two centuries. Controlling Jerusalem ultimately brought two important things to both dynasties. Not only prepare the ground for the legitimacy of their power, but also it helped them to be accepted by the Abbasid caliphate. Apart from the struggles of political powers or religious authorities about Palestine and Jerusalem, this city also witnessed the power struggle between various Bedouin tribes, especially the Fatimids, the Qarmatians, and the Jarrahis. In this study, which was prepared by the method of literature review by using classical Islamic historical sources, it was aimed to analyze the political-administrative, religious, historical, and cultural developments for about a century during the rule of Tulunids and Ihshidies, which were established by Turkish governors in Jerusalem and Masjid al-Aqsā. Although many studies related to Jerusalem, it has been evaluated that the studies in these two dynasties are insufficient. This research has been prepared to contribute to the current studies in the field.

התיישבות הבדווים בערים ובכפרים ערביים בגליל, 1948-1918

The article reviews the historical events that prompted the Bedouin population to settle in existing Fellahin towns and villages in the Galilee during the British Mandate period, 1918-1948, in Palestine. The process began with the migration of Bedouin tribes from the Arabian Peninsula to Iraq and Syria, forcing local tribes to migrate west, and continued under the Ottoman rule with the laying of infrastructure for Bedouin to settle in the Arab towns and villages of the Galilee. This trend continued under the British Mandate which ended in 1948. The aim of the article is to analyze the dynamic circumstances that led to the migration of Bedouin communities into Fellahin towns and villages. It argues that Bedouin settlement during this period was affected by centralized government policy; by the influence of Zionist institutions on land acquisition; and by the ways in which local pressures on intra-tribal and rural relations played out. The study rests on archival sources, research literature, and seven in-depth interviews with Bedouin and Fellahin inhabitants of various Arab towns and villages in the Galilee, conducted between the years 2013-2015.

The Origin of The Emergence of Arabic Lexicology And Its Characters / Cikal Bakal Munculnya Leksikologi Arab dan Para Tokoh-Tokohnya

This article aims to examine the history of Arabic lexicology in the classical era and the figures who contributed to the field of Arabic lexicology. There are three questions that will be answered through this research, namely First, "How was the forerunner to the development of Arabic lexicology in the classical era?". Second, "Who played an important role in spreading and introducing Arabic lexicology?". Third, "what works have been produced by Arab lexicological scientists in the early days of their development?". This study uses a qualitative research method based on literature study related to Arabic lexicological literature. The results of this study are: First, the history of Arabic lexicology in the classical era began with the lahn event (language error), then the event gave rise to the idea of ​​scholars to record Arabic vocabulary through the Bedouin tribe, while the methods used in language codification were the sima' and qiyas methods. . Second, figures who are instrumental in Arabic lexicology include Khalil bin Ahmad Al-Farahidi, Abu Mansur Al-Azhari, Ibn Jinni, and Ibn Fariz. Third, the works produced by lexicological scientists from the classical era, namely: the al-ain dictionary by Khalil bin Ahmad Al-Farahidi, the tahdzib al-lughah dictionary by Abu Mansur al-Azhari, the book of al-khosois by Ibn Jinni, and maqoyis lughoh by Ibn Faris.

Russian Diplomacy in Hijaz and Najd in the Late 19th — Early 20th Century According to Russian Diplomatic and Military Intelligence Sources

This article aims to shed light on activities launched by Russian diplomats and military intelligence officers in the late 19th — early 20th centuries seeking to better ascertain the situation in the two regions of the Arabian Peninsula that were once incorporated into the Ottoman Empire — Hijaz (Western Arabia) and Najd (Central Arabia). It also tackles the highly entangled, and at times extremely tense relations between Turkish authorities and Arabs who lived in these two regions. A body of little-known documents stored in the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AFPRE) and Russian State Military-Historical Archive (RSMHA), as well as foreign archives, form the backbone of this article. The author demonstrates that within the period under review both Bedouin tribes and the urban notables more than once rebelled against the Ottoman stranglehold and each time were suppressed by military force. Turkish-Arab relations, especially in view of Ottoman military expeditions into the Arabian regions, drew the intense interest of Russian diplomacy and military intelligence, the latter especially given the likelihood of armed conflict between Russia and the Ottomans was high. This meant that diplomats in the Russian Consulate in Jeddah, who were entrusted with the task of gaining knowledge on how Ottoman authorities leveraged Muslim pilgrimage to influence Russian Muslims who had arrived in Hijaz, recognized that their lives and health were in danger. Russian diplomats were painfully aware that the policies pursued by the UK in those regions were a means to destabilize the situation, especially in light of the smuggling of arms destined for local tribes occurring under the noses of the Ottomans.