The Basseri of Iran - Coursework Example

The Basseri of Iran Cindy L. Robinson ANT 101 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Sean McCoy I. Who are the Basseri? a. Culture (Nomadic Pastoralists) b. Where they live c. How they live a. Beliefs and Values b. Social Changes II. Kinship a. Patrilineal Emphasis b. Marriage c. Control of Women d. Divorce e. Consequences III. Economy and Resources a. Property (Pastures and Land) b. Animals and their function c. Trade goods IV. The Chief (Pastoral Chiefdom) a. Who is Chief b. Why is the Chief, Chief? c. The Chief’s authority d. Political organization beyond the Chief V. Summary The Basseri is a native pastoralist tribe located in Iran. The tribe is pastoralist because they have pastures to graze cattle, sheep and goats and they depend on the animals for food. Everything that the Basseri do is central to the animals that they own. The following pages will discuss the Basseri and their culture and living arrangements, the kinship system, economy, and the pastoral chiefdom that is their leader. In a pastoral culture, all things evolve around the ability to successfully execute economic transactions with the animals that are owned. This goes for marriage as well; however, in the Basseri culture women are controlled and they are forced to cover their faces in public. More about the control of women will be discussed later in this paper. First, the pastoral culture of the Basseri needs to be explained to understand how rest of the culture works fits. a. Culture of Basseri Culture can be defined as everything around us, everything we do, make, think or say. Culture is constantly changing and is influenced by many things. The Basseri are nomadic pastoralist tribe from the Fars region of present-day Iran. They descended from the Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Gypsy ancestors and are involved in rearing sheep, donkeys, horses, camels, dogs and goats. The donkeys are used to carry women and children while men ride in horses. The camels on the other hand, are used to carry heavy loads especially during migration (Salzman et al. 1995). The "tent” or family group is the basic unit of social organization among the Basseri. All tents have a recognized head that deals with the formal officers of the tribe, villagers, and other strangers (Nowak & Laird, 2010). They speak the Farsi dialect. b. Where they live Khanam (2005) gives details of where the Basseri live. The Basseri live in the Iranian province of Fars and migrate along the steppes and mountains near the town of Shiraz. Their population was 16, 000 in the 1950s but more recent estimates have not been widely published. Unlike other tribes, they are defined by political rather than ethnic or geographic criteria due to their livelihood. The area they inhabit of 18, 000 to 21, 000 square kilometers spans a large ecological range. There are deserts in the south, mountains in the North. The mountain precipitation provides support for vegetation while the southern lowland runoff and summer droughts limit vegetation to hardy desert scrubs. In the rainy season of winter, there is temporary grass cover (p. 121). c. How they Live The subsistence mode influences the way people live. As such, the Basseri migrate from place to place in search of pasture during winter and settle during summer. According to Nowak and Laird (2010), they move every three to four days with their animals and during this time, tents become their dwellings. Small tents are established for nuclear family at this time but while they settle for a longer time during summer, larger tents are utilized. During the summer period, the Basseri are involved in some farming especially the growing of wheat. This involvement in agriculture can be seen as abandoning their culture of pastoralism. However, it is only carried out during summer along the tribal route before the Basseri migrate to other areas (Marx, 1977).The reason why Basseri migrate is due to depletion of natural resources for the animals to eat. They therefore, have to move to other places to look for food for the animals. Culture also entails the beliefs and values held by a community or group of people. Basseri people are not so much into religious beliefs but they follow much of the Islamic religion. The lack of deep religious beliefs is due to the nature of their livelihood (Marx, 1977). They are always on the move thus making it difficult to establish temples for worship or to have enough time to worship. They are not keen on observing customs even the important ones such as the fast of Ramadhan. Another strong belief of the Basseri is that sex before marriage is a sin thus it is forbidden. Rituals are connected with lifecycle of birth, marriage and death than Islamic traditions (Khanam, 2005 p 123). Circumcision rituals are held at birth or at the age of six depending on their movement patterns. The social organization of Basseri depends on their livelihood thus it is flexible and mobile. Various social changes occur within this group due to its nomadic pastoralist culture. The Basseri are divided into tirehs and each tireh is divided into Oulads whose descent can be traced through males (Nowak & Laird, 2010). Since they do not stay in one place for long, they do not own land but share it with other surrounding tribes. Family units are headed by the males and consist of the nuclear family during winter and larger families during summer. The second largest unit in Basseri society is the herding unit which is formed by 2-5 households who pasture their flock together under a single shepherd (Lindolm, 1986). Marriage and family are negotiated by kin groups and women do not transmit tribal rights to their offspring’s. II. Kinship a. Patrilineal Emphasis Kinship ties are very important in the Basseri community. The Basseri unlike other societies do not have a state but are pre-state societies organized through tribal kinship relations. These kinship relations may comprise thousands of persons. Due to their pastoralist nature and lack of organized society, their descent is traced through patrilineal or the male rather than through matrilineal (Lindolm, 1986). The son of a Basseri is therefore, a Basseri even though the mother may be from another tribe. What matters is the origin of the father. In this community, women do not transmit rights in tribe to their offspring hence if they marry outside; the offspring is not a Basseri (Salzman et al. 1995). The kinship is divided into thirteen tirehs and each tireh is divided into oulads. The membership in the oulad is determined by descent through patrilineal or male lineage. Inheritance is thus given from father to the son. The tireh connections are also established through descent in male line. This is contrary to horticulturalists whose kinship ties are established through matrilineal lines. The authority of the headmen is thus derived from agnatic kinship in a ramifying descent system and it is this kinship that deals with succession matters (Lindolm, 1986). However, there is strong matrikin between mother and child. b. Marriage Marriage in the Basseri community is a community affair. As such, it is negotiated between kin groups constituting whole households and not the contracting spouses (Marx, 1977). The head of household has authority to make marriage contracts and thereafter a man can arrange subsequent marriage for himself. The dowry is paid to the father of the bride for the bride and the household items she brings with her. This is contrary to other tribes where bride price is paid by the bride’s family. The bride price is paid in form of milk due to the nature of the subsistence living of the Basseri. They do not engage in agriculture but in herding therefore, can only pay bride price in terms of their products which are daily products. Sex before marriage is forbidden and marriage is performed by a holy man (Saltzman et al. 1995). This tribe does not own property hence cannot pay bride price in form of property. The only form of exchange is in form of barter trade whereby the Basseri exchange dairy products for agricultural products such as wheat to supplement their meals otherwise, most of the time they feed on dairy products such as milk, cheese, and meat (Bradburd, 1997). c. Control of Women In the Basseri society, all women are under the authority of marriage guardian and the head of household who is a male makes all the decisions. Women position is inferior to men; they are supposed to obey the decisions made by the males such as migration. They also do not own property unlike men who own the herds of cattle (Khanam, 2005). d. Divorce Divorce is rare for this tribe. The divorce or widow’s insurance is prearranged and is a share of husband’s estate (Marx, 1977). It is payable upon divorce or in event of his death. e. Consequences The Basseri society is predominantly controlled by men. Women have no place in society in decision making concerning their lives. The marriage and divorce are influenced by the pastoralist mode of production whereby newly married couple is given inheritance for survival. It also determines the dowry to be paid. III. Economy and Resources a. Property Since the Basseri tribe is nomadic in nature, no one owns land. The land available is shared with the other tribes and is used collectively. The Basseri move along a tribal route every three to four days with their herds and tents hence it is difficult to settle in one area and own a piece of land (Khanam, 2005). This is mostly possible in agricultural communities who settle in one place to cultivate land. The most important property for the Basseri is the herd of sheep, goats, donkeys, camels and horses. Settling in one place to do agricultural activities is against their culture. According to Bradburd (1997), the Basseri have a cultural pattern of ascribing animals to individual men as property. Pasture is allocated to herding units which comprise of 2-5 households by the chief. Pastures are utilized in succession by different Basseri groups. The IL-rah which refers to tribal route and schedule gives the Basseri right to pass over cultivated lands, and to pasture flock outside cultivated land. b. Animals and their Functions Animals are very important to the Basseri. They are the source of livelihood for this community through provision of dairy products such as meat and milk for consumption. Other animal products such as lambskins and wool also have various economic uses. The woven goat hair is used to make tents which are waterproof and very essential due to their nomadic life. These tents define family groups and herding units (Salzman et al. 1995). The hides of animals are used to carry belongings during migration. The animals are also very useful as a means of transport during migration. The donkeys are used to carry women and children, horses carry men while camels carry the heavy loads such as tents, beddings and other household items. c. Trade Goods The Basseri as noted earlier do not engage in agricultural production for their subsistence but rather depend on animal products. However, they require agricultural products to survive thus use whatever they have to acquire whatever they do not have. In this case, they trade such items like milk, cheese, wool and occasionally animals with products such as wheat for making unleavened bread (Bradburd, 1997). They also receive sugar, fruits and vegetables. IV. The Chief (Pastoral Chiefdom) a. Who is Chief The Basseri were a pre-state society but they also have a fairly centralized political system, with a Khan acting as the central, autocratic leader of the entire Basseri tribe (Salzman, 2000; Lindolm, 1986). The Khan is the chief of the Basseri. They all pay common allegiance to the chief thus being united despite their ancestral origins. The chief derives power and authority from tribesmen but does not delegate it. Each society whether agricultural or pastoralist has a ruler and the chief in this case was the head of the political organization of the Basseri society. b. Why is the Chief, Chief? The chief for the Basseri was the chief since he had the right to command the people. He is entrusted with the responsibility of allocating pasture and coordinating tribal migration, settling disputes and representing the tribe to outsiders, including the government (Saltzman, et al. 1995). These responsibilities are very crucial to the integration cohesion and survival of the pastoral community hence the chiefs are chief in the tribe. Due to the pastoral life, conflicts are abound regarding pasture and hence allocation and settling of disputes is central in the political organization of the Basseri. There are also interactions with other communities and the chief is essential in dealing with such negotiations. c. The chief’s Authority The chief had a lot of autocratic authority. Because of the mode of production of the Basseri, the chief does not have monopoly of leadership over his tribesmen (Lindolm, 1986). The chiefdom was kin-based hence he did not have coercive power. He derived power from the kinsmen through consensus; power is derived from agnatic kinship. Furthermore, the tribesmen were at liberty to leave the chiefdom and join another chiefdom which was well managed. There was a lot of competition among chiefs which made them to control their power. Though, they had power and authority they were constrained by such factors. The headmen are leaders of different camps and are representatives of the chiefs and in their absence the Riz Safid act as representatives. d. Political Organization beyond the Chief Though the chief had monopoly over the Basseri, the political structure was influenced by other tribes. As stated earlier, the Basseri were free to join other chiefdoms or mix with other tribes and form a new tribe to escape excessive powers of the chief. The interactions with other tribes who had states influenced the political structure of Basseri. It was thus an egalitarian political organization rather than a hierarchical structure as in most agricultural societies (Saltzman, 2000). V. Summary The Basseri are a nomadic tent dwelling people from the Iranian province of Fars. They migrate every three to four days along steppes and mountains near the town of Shiraz following a tribal route. Anthropologists have long established a connection between primary mode of subsistence and aspects of culture such as kinship, social organization and political organization. As such, the pastoral mode of production of the Basseri has a great influence on culture. It determines what they eat, what they do, their beliefs and values and the way they live. Basseri’s depend on animal products for food, live in tents, and do not have strong religious beliefs due to constant migration. They are organized into family units or kinships based on Patrilineal descent. They do not own land due to the mode of production; they only own livestock which is used for economic purposes. They have an egalitarian political structure and the chief is the head of the organization. Marriage and divorce are also determined by the means of subsistence; bride price is paid using animal products. The subsistence mode of production thus affects every life aspect. VI. References Bradburd, D. (1997). Nomads and Their Trade Partners: Historical Context and Trade Relations in Southwest Iran, 1840-1975. American Ethnologist, 24(4), 895-909. Retrieved September 18, 2012, from JSTOR database. Khanam, R (ed) (2005). Encyclopaedic Ethnography of Middle-East and Central Asia. New Delhi: Global Vision Publishing House. Lindolm, C. (1986). Kinship Structure and Political Authority: The Middle East and Central Asia. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 28(2), 334-355. Retrieved September 18, 2012, from JSTOR database. Marx, E. (1977). The Tribe as a Unit of Subsistence: Nomadic Pastoralism in the Middle East. American Anthropologist, 79(2), 343-363. Retrieved September 18, 2012, from JSTOR database. Nowak, B. & Laird, P. (2010). Cultural Anthropology. (Ashford University Discovery Series). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. Salzman, C., Street, B., & Wright, S. (1995). Understanding Tribes in Iran and Beyond.The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1(2), 399-406. Retrieved September 18, 2012, from JSTOR database. Salzman, P. C. (2000). Hierarchical Image and Reality: The Construction of a Tribal Chiefship. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 42(1), 49-66. Read More