| Society-LIBYAN-BEDOUIN The Libyan Bedouin consist of the nomadic and partially sedentarized Bedouin living in the Libyan Desert, specifically within the Cyrenaica region of Libya and the Western Desert of Egypt. Groups living within the Siwa Oasis in northwestern Egypt and within the southern oases (e.g., Kharga) are not included in this cultural unit. The Bedouin are descendants of Arab invaders and the native North African Berber population. The first Arab invasion of North Africa was in A.D. 643, but complete Arabization did not occur until the Hilalian invasions in ca. A.D. 1050. The Bani Hilal pressed westward from Egypt into Tunisia and Tripolitania. The Bani Sulaim settled mostly in Cyrenaica. The descendants of the Bani Sulaim and the native Berbers are known as the Sa'adi Bedouin. There are two branches of Sa'adi Bedouin in Cyrenaica, the Jibarna and the Harabi. The Awlad Ali live in the Egyptian Western Desert, from al-Sallum to Alexandria. They are related to the Harabi, but were forced to migrate to Egypt in the nineteenth century, because of pressure from the Harabi (Evans-Pritchard 1949: 48-49). There are considerable differences between the Cyrenaican and the Egyptian Bedouin as a result of their separation and the policies of their respective national governments. Generally speaking, the Bedouin of the Western Desert of Egypt are more sedentarized than their Cyrenaican relatives. Population figures are difficult to determine. In the early 1940s, Evans-Pritchard (1949) estimated that there were approximately 200,000 people in all of Cyrenaica, three-fourths of whom were Bedouin. According to Obermeyer, (1969), the 1960 population of the whole Western Desert of Egypt was 98,000, most of whom were Bedouin. According to Smith et al. (1970), the estimate for the Western Desert was 50,000 in the late 1960s. Mohsen (1971) states that the total population of the Awlad Ali in 1965 was about 100,000. Murdock (1958) estimated that the Cyrenaican Bedouin numbered about 150,000. Combining these figures, there could be from 200,000 to 250,000 Bedouin in Cyrenaica and the Western Desert. The Bedouin speak dialects of Arabic. According to Evans-Pritchard, "their language is that of the Hilalian invasion of the eleventh century and no foreign language competes with it" (1949: 47). Among the Cyrenaican Bedouin, there are very few true nomads, while semi-nomads are quite numerous. The true nomads herd only camels, and they wander freely. The semi-nomads cultivate crops on the plateau, primarily barley and wheat. They then graze their flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle to the south and return to the plateau to water their flocks in the dry season. Evans-Pritchard emphasized that even though Bedouin think of themselves as pastoralists, with herding as their most important economic activity, they all cultivate crops to some extent as well (1949: 37). In the Western Desert of Egypt, there is apparently great variation in both subsistence and settlement patterns. The Bedouin studied by Mohsen led a life very similar to that of the Cyrenaican Bedouin, i.e., pastorialism centered on sheep and goats, with some cultivation of barley. The community of al-Qasr, however, studied by Obermeyer (1969) is more settled, with increasing concentration on growing olives for a cash market. Barley is grown as the dietary staple in al-Qasr, and the vegetables grown there include onions, radishes, peppers, and mint. Some of the government-introduced crops are okra, squash, cucumber, tomato, spinach, and melon. In addition, most families keep a few sheep or goats. Obermeyer describes these people as a "sedentary Bedouin society which is not quite tribal and not quite peasant" (1969: 18). The Egyptian government has subdued the Bedouin and forced them to abandon nomadism and raise crops. (See Abou-Zeid (1959) for an account of some of the government programs designed to sedentarize the Bedouins.) While economic conditions in Egypt have forced the Bedouin to a dependency on the central government and a cash economy, in Cyrenaica the Bedouin and the townspeople are quite distinct. Although there is some amount of economic interdependence between them, according to Evans-Pritchard, the townspeople have never been able to dominate the land as they have in other Arab countries (1949: 43-44). According to more recent accounts, however, since World War II more Bedouin have migrated to the towns, although they still maintain ties with their native social groups. As stated earlier, the Sa'adis are descendants of the Bani Sulaim and the native Berbers. They hold the land by "right of conquest." The non-Sa'adis are called Marabtin. They are believed to be the descendants of the pre-eleventh century Arab invaders and native Berbers. They are known as "occupiers by sufferance" or clients. Families of these "client tribes" pay a fee to a Sa'adi "tribe" and in return receive protection. The clients are expected to join the Sa'adi in any conflict. Members of a "tribe" are believed to have descended patrilineally from a common eponymous ancestor. Each "tribe" owns territory, has water rights, and has its own camel-brand. A "tribe" is divided into several "primary" divisions, and each of the primary divisions is further subdivided into smaller and smaller divisions, down to the extended family. "Each of the smaller divisions is a replica of the larger ones and has the same preferential and exclusive rights" (Evans-Pritchard 1949: 55). At every level of the sociopolitical structure, from the extended family to the "tribe" itself, there is a Shaikh. The Shaikhs are wealthy and influential men, but they should not be thought of as rulers. The Bedouin are Muslims of the Sanusiya sect. This order was founded in 1843 by the Grand Sanusi in Cyrenaica. It was a religio-political movement of a conservative nature, whose ideology was based on anti-Turkish and anti-Western sentiments. Sanusi lodges (zawiyas) were established at the request of "tribal" segments. These zawiyas served as monastaries and lodges for travelers and became centers of social and political activity. Through the establishment of zawiyas, the Sanusi movement spread quickly throughout North Africa. As a result, the Bedouin achieved a political organization which they had not previously attained. Culture summary by Marlene M. Martin Abou-Zeid, Ahmad M. The sedentarization of nomads in the Western Desert of Egypt. International Social Science Journal, 11 (1959): 550-558. Evans-Pritchard, Edward Evan. The Sanusi of Cyrenaica. Oxford, At the Clarendon Press, 1949. 8, 240 p. illus., maps. Mohsen, Safia K. The quest for order among Awlad Ali of the Western Desert of Egypt. Ann Arbor, University Microfilms, 1971 [1974 copy.] 6, 3, 196 l. map. (University Microfilms Publications, no. 71-31,226). Dissertation (Anthropology) Michigan State University, 1970. Murdock, George P. Libyan Bedouin. In his African Cultural Summaries. New Haven, HRAF, 1958. Obermeyer, Gerald Joseph. Structure and authority in a Bedouin tribe; the 'Aishaibat of the Western Desert of Egypt. Ann Arbor, University Microfilms, 1969 [1973 copy]. 3, 13, 344 l. illus., tables. (University Microfilms Publications, no. 69-10,572) Dissertation (Anthropology) Indiana University, 1968. Smith, Harvey H. Area handbook for the United Arab Republic (Egypt). By Harvey H. Smith et al. Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970. 7858 | |
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