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Traditional MENA Social Structure

Traditional MENA Social Structure. Social Ecology of Family Relations and Psychological Development. Traditional MENA Social Org. Tribal? Segmentary lineages? Social classes? Feudal?. Traditional MENA Social Org. Symbiosis: Pastoralism Agriculture City-based crafts & merchants

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Traditional MENA Social Structure

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  1. Traditional MENA Social Structure Social Ecology of Family Relations and Psychological Development

  2. Traditional MENA Social Org • Tribal? • Segmentary lineages? • Social classes? • Feudal?

  3. Traditional MENA Social Org Symbiosis: • Pastoralism • Agriculture • City-based crafts & merchants + rulers & religious scholars

  4. Tribal Society? • Self-governing groups • Beyond reach of government • “Submit” to government & pay “tax” • Nomadic pastoralists – “bedouin” • Herd camels, sheep, goats • Have “client” groups of farmers & craftsmen • Transhumants • Agriculturalists

  5. Bedouin camp -- Arabia

  6. Bedouin camp -- Iran

  7. Bedouin camp

  8. Bedouin camp

  9. Berber nomads, Morocco 1985

  10. Berber nomads, Morocco 1985

  11. Herding camp, Morocco, 1987

  12. Herding camp, Morocco, 1987

  13. Herding camp, Morocco 1986

  14. Herding camp, Morocco 1986

  15. Herding campMorocco1987

  16. Tribes in Arab-Muslim Societies • Struggle between tribes and states • Still in Pakistan & Afghanistan • Contrast of urban & rural ways of life • Ibn Khaldun: “civilization” vs. “solidarity” • Raiding and feuding • Every man a warrior • Culture celebrating heroic deeds • Tribesmen migrated into cities

  17. Tribal Social Organization • “segmentary lineage system” • E. E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer, 1930s • Lineage: group of families descended from common ancestor • Patrilineage: traced through male line • Matrilineage: traced through female line  we have bilateral kindred system

  18. Segmentary Lineage System • Nuclear families nested within extended • Extended families nested within lineages • genealogical links sometimes traceable • Lineages nested within clans • genealogical links not traceable • Clans nested within tribe or tribal “fractions”

  19. Segmentary Lineage System • “Clan” • Lineage • Extended family • Nuclear family

  20. Evans-Pritchard Thesis Shifting balance of feuding and fusing segments  Order and stability without government

  21. Tamzrit: 75 households7 “lineages” 4 “clans”

  22. Tamzrit

  23. Tamzrit

  24. Arab / MENA Tribes:Segmentarybut not really segmentary!

  25. Michael Meeker: Magritte on the Bedouins

  26. Segmentary Lineages • Mental map of social structure • Ideology -- often distorts real relationships • Map & ideology: sketches potential relationships people can build, and claims they can make on each other

  27. Segmentary Lineages • Model only approximated • Not all kinsmen included • Some / many non-kin included: patron-client networks • Ties deliberately built across kin groups

  28. Segmentary Lineages 5. Model more likely actualized in absence of gov’t control “If there’s a crisis, you’ll see the lineages emerge.” • re-created by militia groups & in chaos: Lebanese, Algerian, Iraqi civil wars; Afghanistan, Libya? • can appear “tribal”

  29. Marriage & Familyin traditional MENA societies

  30. Marriages Arranged • Many pre-industrial societies arrange marriages (Especially agricultural Eurasia: Europe, MENA, India, China) • Marriage is relationship between families, not necessarily two young people in love • Most lineage-based societies practice lineage / clan exogamy

  31. Marriage Rules: Exogamy • Levi-Strauss: Men exchange & circulate women  Builds solidarity among lineages / clans • Cross-cousin (MBD or FSD) preferred or required; parallel cousin prohibited & viewed as “incest”

  32. Kinship Diagrams married male female children siblings

  33. Exogamous M.B.D. Marriage B M ego D Cross-cousins

  34. Endogamous F.B.D. Marriage ? B ? F ? ego D Parallel cousins

  35. Marriage Rules: MENA • “Close marriage” -- endogamous parallel cousin (FBD) preferred but not majority of marriages cross-cousin (MDB) O.K. 2nd or 3rd cousins O.K. • Patrilineal families / households also look matrilineal from the inside

  36. Patriliny and Matriliny ? B ? F ? ego D Parallel cousins

  37. Arranged Marriages • Traditionally: marriages arranged to create or cement relationships between families • Girls (and boys) may be forced to marry strangers or people they dislike • Men usually 5 – 10 years older Girls often 14 to 17

  38. Effects of Endogamy • Weaker cross-kin segment bonds? • Strengthens within-kin segment bonds  greater fission & feuding? • Creates matrilineal kinship network within patrilineal  strengthens hsld women’s solidarity?

  39. Traditional Marriage Strategies • Marry up in wealth & status • Marry close – conserve property & status • Endogamous parallel cousin FBD preferred • Children may prefer these • Alliance marriages: link distant families • Result: officially patrilineal, but matrifocal

  40. Traditional Marriage Strategies • Father / patriarch may choose and has final say • Mother acts as family agent & scouts behind scenes • May consult with son or daughter • Kids may prefer cousins or kin they know • High status & wealthy families follow rules more closely

  41. What of romantic love? • Recognized & celebrated in tragic literature and folktales • Seen as fickle, undependable • Different from love that grows from years of marriage • “heart” love vs. “liver” love

  42. Divorce • Frequent in many areas • Failure to have child within 2 years • Mistreatment by husband or in-laws • Women “leave” inheritance with brothers, in case she’s divorced • 2nd marriages less formal; woman may have greater say

  43. Family / Kin group:“Patronymic Association” • “People of…” • “Descendents of…” • “House of…”  big extended family  little lineage

  44. Patronymic Association • Basic unit of traditional social organization • pastoralist camping group • adjoining households in village • neighborhood or alley in urban quarter • Lineage-like, but… • Does NOT include many families & members • DOES include “clients” treated as if family • Fuzzy, fluid, & shifting boundaries

  45. Patronymic Association • Kin terms, etiquettes, and feelings extended to non-kin patrons and clients • Family-kin relationships not fixed by genealogy, but negotiated – as if patron-client relationships • Key to traditional MENA social org: networks of face-to-face kin-based and kin-like patron-client relationships

  46. Patron-Client Relations • Reciprocity system: • gift & counter-gift – shifting imbalance maintains mutual indebtedness • Family / kin idiom & etiquettes: • Patron – like father or uncle -- dominates, protects & may promote • Client – like son or nephew – subordinates self, receives protection, maybe promotion

  47. Patron-Client Relations • Exchanges of gifts & favors: Traditional reciprocity system? or: Corruption?

  48. MENA Social Organization • Segmentary – but not lineages (Magritte’s pipe !) • Family-based – but not just nuclear (or even extended) families: patronymic association • Strategy -- build strong entourage of kin & clients • Family gender & age hierarchy extended to patron-client relations

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