Nomads of South Persia - Research Paper Example

Nomads of South Persia ABSTRACT This research paper is dedicated to the analysis of the pastoral tribe of the Basseri. This tribe represents a unique example of a countrified nomadic society. The whole household of the Basseri is based on herding. The essay describes the economic, political and social organization of the tribe. Moreover, it deducts how the fact that the Basseri society is a pastoral one influences all elements of the tribe life. Having studied the culture of the Basseri, the small population living in Iran, it is possible to come to the conclusion that this minority group belongs to such type of subsistence mode as a pastoral one. To begin with, it is necessary to outline the peculiar features of the pastoral subsistence mode. The term “mode of subsistence” implies a definite type of agricultural or industrial management. This can include – the cultivation of fruit and vegetables, the cultivation of crops, animal husbandry, industry dominance, and others. Pastoral societies evolved for about 12,000-14,000 years ago. Because of the type of management they arose on the most fertile lands, that are situated either in the valleys of the mountains or in tropical regions with high precipitations. It is explained by the beneficial conditions such areas have for animal husbandry and plants cultivation. Tribes dwelling in North Africa, Middle East and partially in central Asia started breeding domestic animals such as: sheep, goats, cattle, birds and camels. The pastoral societies can be compared to horticulture on the stage of development but it does not advance in anyway. Pastoralists usually migrate with their cattle in search of better grasslands. It always happens once a season and it is especially difficult to find fertile grasslands in cold time of the year. One of the particular features of the pastoral culture is that they easily and quickly reproduce themselves. The more members a family has, the easier it will be for them to cope with the household. As in every society the pastoral one has social inequalities that are brought about by the amount of herds and the dominant position in choosing fertile grasslands. On the other hand the gender inequality is rather moderate, and it is not typical to the societies of the geographical regions where they are situated. The pastoral societies have developed three types of religion: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This helps explain many passages in the Bible, such as “ the Lord is my shepherd ” and why the word “pastor” is used to refer to certain religious leaders ( Barth, 1961). The pastoralists usually inhabit they territories where they first appeared, and it is clearly explained by the reasonable choice of ancestry of the fertile lands. However, these days, the climate changes make the pastorals migrate more actively in order to find more convenient places to breed animals. Moreover, the modern world of high technologies and standards of living greatly limits such primitive societies. In other words, the pastorals have not only to survive in the severe nature conditions but also to struggle the constant attempts of “volunteers” to interfere into their life. Two vivid examples of the pastoral societies are the Basseri of Southern Iran and the Karimojong,who live in Uganda (Barth, 1961). As mentioned above pastoral societies (the second title is herding societies) give the dominant position to the domestication and breeding of cattle. As a rule all pastoral societies have the little mixture with either horticultural or agricultural societies. It can be explained by the fact that plants cultivation has always been considered the generic solution of how to get food. While men are involved in cattle migration, digging the wells (because the main problem in such societies is to supply water for animals), protect the herds, women raise plants, fruit and vegetables. The pure pastoral societies are really difficult to find nowadays. The size of pastoral communities is rather small – it usually ammounts to 70 people and such communities are joined into the society with population а about 6000 people. These societies have the nomadic way of life, when water comes to an end at one place they set off to look for another water hole. This fact is especially true in deserts and dry territories. The basic institution is family that sometimes is much extended. The hereditary rights are of great importance in these societies and thus the slavery on the basis of hereditary is widely spread in this type of society. The economy rests on male work and the things that are appreciated here is the strength and endurance. As a rule there is no common social budget – each family fends for itself. The standard of living allows the cases of prosperity in contrast to Hunting and Gathering societies. Although, the privilege of owning the fertile land usually is the issue for fights. Speaking about education, it must be pointed out that it is informal and in most cases men can count and read. Women are not educated at all – there sphere is considered to be cooking, gathering and children upbringing. It can be deducted that these societies are patriarchal – women do not have any rights at all. Females are considered as the way to reproduce males. The newlyweds are bond to live with a husband’s family. The Basseri are the typical pastoral tribe that dwells on the South of Iran (province Fars) and travels among the mountains and valleys near the village of Shīrāz. This group is limited by geographical criteria rather than by political or ethnical ones. In the 50-s of XX century the Basseri amounted to 16,000 though today its population has reduced greatly. The political situation in the region has always been very hot, that being a barrier to study the Basseri in details. Because of the constant military fights, the representatives of the tribe are afraid of cooperating with people, who do not belong to their culture. Kinship and social organization In the Basseri tribe the main social unit is the group of people who live in one tent. “The Basseri keep a count of their numbers and describe their camp groups in terms of tents (sing, khune, "house")” ( Magee, 1995). Usually a tent is inhabited by a separate nuclear family, which keeps its own household. Tents are headed by a male representative and this right is inherited on the male line. In trade tents play the role of production and consumption units. These units can even operate as separate political units when a family is striving for some legal or political aims. Tents have all property rights in the hands of its head. In order to make herding more efficient several tents unite together in order to be able to migrate with cattle. The more people are involved in this process, the easier it is to cope with herds. Such small tent units rest not on the relative ties but rather on the principle of expediency. In winter several tents make a unit where the tents are situated close to one another, that makes it less dangerous to live in the deserted areas. Such tent groups are usually located at a 3 or 4 km distance. During other seasons the camps are bigger, as a rule amounting to ten-forty tents. Such camps from very small to the bigger ones constitute another, a bigger one, community unit in the Basseri society. The relationships among the representative of one camp are quite close. People take their neighbors as their relatives because only their unity can save the camp in tough weather conditions of the dry climate. However, the relations with the representatives of other camps or even other societies are accidental, undesirable and short-term. “The maintenance of a camp as a social unit requires daily unanimous agreement on questions of migration, the selection of campsites, and all other economically vital considerations” (Magee, 1995). Such kind of cooperation can be achieved in several ways: when a camp has a powerful leader, who is respected by all members of the community, or when the whole community gathers together and takes some important decisions: such as -When to migrate? -Where to migrate? - How to solve the problem with water supply. The prosperity of a camp greatly depends on the consensus among its representatives. Surely, each group has to be headed by a male representative in order to participate in the tribe meetings and even to solve some legal or financial problems with buyers or politicians. “Leaders of different camps may be of two kinds: headmen (sing, katkhoda ), who are formally recognized by the Basseri chief, and, where no headman resides in camp, informal leaders (sing, riz safid ; lit., "white beard")” (Beck, 1986 ). A white beard performs the same functions as a headman does but without legal confirmation, i.e. without the consent of the tribe chief. Thus a riz safis reports to a headman of another camp. The Basseri chief possesses a pervasive power over all camps in the tribe. He is in charge of the economic, moral and migration issues of the Basseri community. In his communication with the headmen a chief of the tribe may present the gifts of his approval in the form of riding horses, weapon, or even camels. It must be noticed that camels are considered to be the greatest value in the world. The life of Basseri depends on these animals. They are very durable and can migrate long distances without losses. Despite the demonstration of his approval, the tribe chief will never delegate even the part of his responsibilities and duties to headmen. In other words, the political power that a headman has is rather insignificant and he cannot take any important decisions that are in the duties of a chief man. However, a headman can either intensify or slow down some issues that he has a personal interest in. A headman is the only way a camp communicates with their leader. There is no chance for an ordinary Basseri member to see the chief. “The authority of headmen is derived from agnatic kinship in a ramifying descent system, as well as from multilateral and affiant relations” ( Magee, 1995 ). The relatives of the agnatic line have dominance over the umbilical ones. A son born from the Basseri father is considered to be a member of the tribe even if his mother is the member of the other tribe or even village. The agnatic line rights are believed to be stable and beneficial. A man in the tribe can have several marriages in succession. It is explained by the necessity for the family to have as many children as possible. Moreover, for one woman it would be difficult to cope with such a big household, though several wives can easily handle it. The marriage is carried out in the presence of so-called “holy man” or a nontribal ritual specialist, who confirms the marriage contract. The latter in its turn resembles somehow the marriage contracts of a civilized world. It notes the payment for a bride and the equipment or dowry that she contributes to the future family. Moreover, the contract foresees the case of the diverse or the death of one of the spouse. It stipulates the part of the property that a wife gets in case of the divorce or death of her husband. “When a household was established by marriage, the groom's father gave the new household an "anticipatory inheritance"—the groom received from his father's herd the arithmetic fraction that he would receive as an heir if his father were to die at that moment” (Beck, 1986). A family always starts with its own herd and household; if a man fails to maintain the prosperity he has no second allowance from his father. Economy Since the Basseri are a pastoral society the main type of household is based on pastures. This predetermines the economy system of the tribe. The weather conditions in winter allow pasturing the flocks, though the grasslands are meager and there are only a few of them in the South of the country. In spring the grasslands are really fertile, though in May already a tribe faces the problem of water lack and droughts. “Usable pastures are available in the summer in areas above 6,000 feet, but the grasses dry up in the latter part of the summer” (Beck, 1986 ). The pastoral type of life sets its rules in the society. The Bassery have the routs of migration and even the schedule of it. There is a fair distribution of pastures in different mountain heights. Such schedule of migration for all camps is called il-rah. This thing is considered by the chief of the tribe to be the most valuable property of the tribe. Cattle migration stipulates several rights and duties: the Bassey have the right to take water everywhere except from private wells, to pasture flocks on any lands except on cultivated ones. These legal rights are confirmed by local government and authorities. Though, the Basseri breed many kinds of domesticated animals the most precious besides camels are goats, because they are perfectly adopted for the mountainous area. Donkeys are used for transportation, horses for speedy travel (by men, while women and children travel on donkeys), dogs for guarding the camps. Moreover, the Basseri have paltry in their camps. It is bred as a source of meat but not eggs. Cattle migrate only in flocks because the mountainous lands do not allow big herds to travel simultaneously. One more source of income for the Basseri is wool that is taken from goats and camels. These products are sold or consumed at once. Values and beliefs The dominant beliefs are connected with flocks and animals in general. It is explained by the fact that the whole life of Basseri is dedicated to animal breeding, in other words, it is the logical consequence of being a pastoral society. Most striking is the taboo on association of important animals in certain situations: thus a horse must not be permitted to approach the sheep while they are being sheared, or milked, while lambs, kids and foals should not enter a tent in which there is a new-born infant (Barth, 1994 ). Another example may include a belief that a man, who has just ridden the horse, cannot enter a tent with a baby, as well as a woman having yellow or golden necklace on. Though, if a baby is taken out from the tent to greet those people, then they can both enter it. One more belief is connected with an evil eye. The members of the tribe strongly belief that some people have stronger mental power than others. Especially it is true in reference to people who have blue eyes. According to the Basseri they can easily bewitch an animal or a child. Adults are not the aim for a witch. In order to protect children and animals women use the blue bead necklaces or the chain made of broken pottery pieces. They are tied around the leg or neck of a potential victim. These amulets are called taviz – translated as strong amulets. Speaking about religion it is necessary to notice that the Basseri are Muslims that is they follow the rules of Islam, provided they are aware of them. However, the Basseri do not know Islam customs, beliefs and ceremonies. “There is some confusion among the Basseri with respect to the divisions and events of the Muslim year, even though they are continually reminded of them through their contacts with sedentary villages” (Barth, 1994 ). Sometimes they purposely avoid sticking to the Islam rules, since religion is not of the main importance in the tribe. It can be exemplified by the fact that Islamic holidays are celebrated quite seldom in the Basseri tribe. Such great feasts as Ramadan and Moharram are followed only by several Basseries. Because of the primitive standards of living the majority of ceremonies are connected with the life processes (such as death, birth, and wedding) rather than with religion. Healing and sicknesses Since the Basseri are a pastoral tribe the way they heal their members is also connected with animals and plants. The majority of medicines are made of herbs. Knowledge about the healing power of some herbs is conveyed from mother to her daughter. In other words healing is the female job in the tribe. Despite living in tents, the level of hygiene is quite high in the tribe and people have few viral diseases. As a rule the diseases are overheat, cancer, heart problems etc. A very interesting fact is that herbs can be used as the means of birth control. But it is allowed only when a woman has many children. The situation with the children healing is rather poor, since the main rule that works here is “only the strongest survive”. Language and Origin The language that the Basseri employ is called Farsi that is actually a dialect. The most members of the tribe speak only the Basseri dialect but some people speak also Turkish and Arabic. Many people who live in the south of Iran claim to be Basseries by origin. “There are also other nomadic groups—namely the Yazd-e-Khast, the Bugard-Basseri, and the Basseri near Semnan east of Tehran—who are believed to be genetically connected with the Basseri of Fārs” (Beck, 1986 ). Social changes In 1950 the percentage of Basseri compared to the whole population of Iran made up 12%. With the toughened weather and climate conditions this percentage decreased to 2 percent in 2000 and to only 1 % by 2010. People from the tribe are striving to move to the towns or even small villages in order to escape from dry lands and backbreaking difficult way of life. It is becoming more and more difficult to breed animals because of the lack of water wells and the lack of male force in order to migrate with the flocks. To sum up everything mentioned above, it is necessary to mention that the population of the Basseri is decreasing day by day. The pastoral society, that the Basseri are, has influenced all aspects of the tribe life. The focal point is that everything is based on animals. Without animals the tribe will not survive. That is why even beliefs are based on the protection of animals from an evil eye. The dominant position in the Basseri tribe belongs to men, since they can handle the flocks, extract water and bring food. Animals are not even killed for the purpose of meat – for this the tribe breeds poultry. The pastoral economy is also based on herding, that underlies the processes of trading in the society. Wool and milk are the main goods for trading. Animals are considered to be the best payment for a bride as well as the best dowry. A man is allowed to have as many wives as he is able to provide. It is also explained by the great necessity to have more assistants in the family. All in all according to scientists the difficult weather conditions will force Basseri either to move to another part of the country or even continent or they will just assimilate with the nearest villages. As it can be deducted from the essay the pastoral mode of subsistence really demands man power, durability and strong health. Bibliography 1. Barth, F. (1961). Nomads of South Persia. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 2. Barth, F (1994). Capital, Investment, and the Social Structure of a Pastoral Nomad Group in South Persia. Capital, Saving, and Credit in Peasant Societies, edited by R. Firth and B.S. Yamey, 69-81. Chicago: Aldine. 3. Beck, Lois (1986). The Qashqa'i of Iran, New Haven: Yale University Press. 4. Magee, Lt. G. F. (1995). The Tribes of Fars. Government of India, Political and Secret Records: Persia: Internal. 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