Bedouin Society
Introduction
The Bedouins, a nomadic people of the Middle East, are an indigenous people just as any other indigenous people around the world, striving for economical, political, and cultural autonomy. Even living in the harsh environment that the Middle East is, with the political and religious clashes between countries and even the deadly environment, which the Middle East is known for, the Bedouin people still continue to live with so much diversity surrounding them. Unfortunately since the 1970's, the Bedouin people are in a clash with the Israeli government concerning land rights and the assimilation of the Bedouin people into the Israeli society. Nonetheless, the Bedouin people still strive for the self-sufficiency and self-determination, so that they can continue to live in their own traditional ways. This way of life, the traditional way of life, without surrounding societies controlling their (the Bedouin) everyday lives, is what the Bedouin people want, and it is what they deserve.
Economic Organization
Drought
The land our tribe pastures in hit us with drought,
Leaving there nothing to gain;
With her stick she beat us till we up and got out,
Concerned lest the strength of our swift camels wane.
(Bedouin Poetry: From Sinai and the Negev)
The primary subsistence and economic activity for the Bedouin people is "animal husbandry by natural graze and browse of sheep, goats, and camels" (Galy 43). Unlike most societies around the world, where the majority of the income of the people is through businesses, markets, and even the internet, the Bedouin people pursue a different course of economic business which is common in third-world countries and nomadic tribes around the world; pastoral nomadism. This economic way of life for the Bedouin people surrounds this idea of pastoral nomadism has been in existence for at least three millennia. The root of pastoral nomadism encompasses the basic idea of migration, which is "the pattern of which is
The Bedouins, a nomadic people of the Middle East, are an indigenous people just as any other indigenous people around the world, striving for economical, political, and cultural autonomy. Even living in the harsh environment that the Middle East is, with the political and religious clashes between countries and even the deadly environment, which the Middle East is known for, the Bedouin people still continue to live with so much diversity surrounding them. Unfortunately since the 1970's, the Bedouin people are in a clash with the Israeli government concerning land rights and the assimilation of the Bedouin people into the Israeli society. Nonetheless, the Bedouin people still strive for the self-sufficiency and self-determination, so that they can continue to live in their own traditional ways. This way of life, the traditional way of life, without surrounding societies controlling their (the Bedouin) everyday lives, is what the Bedouin people want, and it is what they deserve.
Economic Organization
Drought
The land our tribe pastures in hit us with drought,
Leaving there nothing to gain;
With her stick she beat us till we up and got out,
Concerned lest the strength of our swift camels wane.
(Bedouin Poetry: From Sinai and the Negev)
The primary subsistence and economic activity for the Bedouin people is "animal husbandry by natural graze and browse of sheep, goats, and camels" (Galy 43). Unlike most societies around the world, where the majority of the income of the people is through businesses, markets, and even the internet, the Bedouin people pursue a different course of economic business which is common in third-world countries and nomadic tribes around the world; pastoral nomadism. This economic way of life for the Bedouin people surrounds this idea of pastoral nomadism has been in existence for at least three millennia. The root of pastoral nomadism encompasses the basic idea of migration, which is "the pattern of which is