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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Faulty models of North African and Middle Eastern tribal structures
Author:Hart, David M.ISNI
Year:1993
Periodical:Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée
Issue:68-69
Pages:225-238
Language:English
Geographic term:Maghreb
Subjects:ethnicity
anthropology
Abstract:It can be argued that many of the available anthropological models, far from constituting an aid to understanding how given societies work, remain in fact a considerable barrier to such understanding simply because they were devised a priori and then upheld by their defenders in the face of contradictory evidence from the field. Often these models also fail to take into account the historical dimension of a given society. This article discusses some models of North African and Middle Eastern tribal structures. It shows the persistence of outdated anthropological concepts, which is illustrated by the lasting influence of the 'Masmuda-Sinhaja-Zanata' classification of the tribes of the Maghreb. It goes on to discuss the usefulness of segmentary lineage theory for the study of the evolution of tribal societies, arguing that this theory works poorly in the Middle Eastern/North African tribal context, because it is an idealized construct which in fact masks very different socioeconomic or sociopolitical realities. Given the fact that so few of the available models work, the author suggests to describe and analyse each individual case on its own merits, taking as many as possible of the social facts of the group concerned into account. Bibliogr.
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