ANTH 106 Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East
Spring 2010

READING ASSIGNMENT GUIDE (RAG) #1

Email Prof. Varisco

last update 2/26/10

This is a guide to all of the assigned readings and some of the films. Each student must take notes on these questions and hand in the RAG the day of each exam for credit. The notes can be taken in any written format, as long as your name is on what you hand in. If you type your notes, you may copy and paste the questions here directly into your word processing program. Yes, this is a lot of work, but these notes provide both a study guide for the exams and a guide to facilitate class discussion. Please work on the RAG before class so you can raise questions about what you read. All of the short answers on the midterm and final will come from questions in this study guide. Each RAG is worth 12 points, for a total of 24 points. The grading criteria (2 points) for each RAG are as follows:

a. Responds to every question
b. Comprehensive responses to most questions (more than a phrase or simple gist)
c. Recognizes key issues involved
d. Raises specific questions about what is read
e. Provides personal views and opinions (you will not be graded on what you say, but you must make an effort to state how the course material affects your understanding of the material)
f. Overall level of effort and engagement with material

2/2 Young (2002:1-67)
• What three main issues does Young concentrate on in his ethnography? (p. 1) Why do you think these are important?
• What activities did Suluum do in the morning before the camp was moved? (pp. 6-9) What does this tell you about gender roles in this nomadic society?
• How did the Rashaayda define “men’s space”? (p. 14). How did it differ from women’s space in Bill’s experience?
• What is the gender significance of “fast” and “slow” among the Rashaayda? (pp. 15-16) Think of the examples given. Is there any comparison in our society?
• Was it “criminal” for the Rashaayda to take the water from the pipe built by the Italian workers? (pp. 24-25) Think about the broader issue of survival in the desert. Think about the people left behind in New Orleans with the recent hurricane there.
• What does Bill distinguish as the two main things that set apart Rashaayda from other groups? (pp. 28-29) Why do you think these markers are distinctive of cultural identity?
• What defines a household among the Rashaayda? (p. 33) What makes it extended?
• What is the sexual division of labor among the Rashaayda? (pp. 48-54) The best way to illustrate this is by making a chart. Also consider what chores are done by young boys and girls.
• What is the concept of “hishma” about among the Rashaayda? (pp. 56-57)
• Why is it difficult for a nomadic pastoralist to get wealthy by having larger herds? (pp. 58-59)
• What is the concept of hasad? (pp. 60-61). Is there anything like this in our society?

2/4 Young (2002:69-100
• What clues did Bill have to know which tent to approach and how to approach it when he visited Suluum’s brother? (pp. 69-70)
• What is the symbolic difference between the right hand and the left hand among the Rashaayda? (p. 72)
• What separates “women’s space” from “men’s space” among the Rashaayda? (p. 79-80) What specific rituals reinforce this division?
• What is the significance of the three kinds of names among the Rashaayda? (p. 83)
• Why was Bill told by an informant that there were four tribal branches of the Rashaayda tribe? (pp. 88-89) What was Suluum’s view of this?
• How is wealth distributed through inheritance? And why do married sons obey their father as senior male of a camp? (pp. 89-90)
• What is the advantage for a Rashaayda woman to marry a relative rather than a stranger? (p. 92)
• Read the case of the second marriage, which was an exchange marriage, between Ubeyd and Salma? (pp. 93-94) What is your reaction? Why do you think several of the Sudanese approved of this? In your view, is such marriage less “moral” than the actual practice in our own country?
• How is justice perceived locally by the Rashaayda in the case of the intruder and potential infidelity? (pp. 97-98).

2/9 The Middle East Poster
There is no written assignment for the map, but look it over and bring questions you have to class.
Side 1 (regional map and country information)
• Start by looking at the general satellite photo map of the region in the center of the page. See how many countries you can distinguish before looking at the key to the upper left. On the left in the middle is the key to the country information. Take a quick look at this and then check out some fo the more familiar countries. To the upper right you can get an idea about oil production. Know which countries have the most oil.
Side 2
• Look over the information and pay particular attention to the map and information about Iraq. Note the distribution of religious and ethnic groups. What questions do you have?

2/11 Wikipedia article for background (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_(1925_film)
• Read this short descriptive piece for background on the film before you see it in class.

2/18 Young (2002:101-139)
• What historical event allowed the Rashaayda to return to Sudan after 1900 and practice camel nomadism? (p. 105)
• Why did Abdallah not welcome the Hadendowi visitor, much to Bill’s surprise? (p. 107)
• Why is the term ‘abiid (literally, “slave”) insulting in Sudan? (p. 108) Why does Bill suggest it is not a racist usage by the Rashaayda?
• Who are the “muwaalid” among the Rashaayda? (pp. 114-115)
• How is the Arabic kinship term ‘amm used among the Rashaayda? (pp. 117-118)
• What factors lead to prestige for a Rashaayda woman? (p. 119)
• What is the social purpose of the men’s camel race at a wedding celebration? (p. 121)
• What is the social purpose of women’s dancing at a wedding celebration? (pp. 122-123)
• What was Bill’s reaction on first arriving back in the states after three years? (p. 136)
• What distinguished Bill’s three years in Sudan as an anthropologist from tourism or just taking a trip somewhere? (pp. 138-139)

2/23-2/25 Adra (1997) “Dance and Glance...” [pdf available at http://www.najwaadra.net/dance.html]
• What is the main argument of Najwa Adra’s paper? (pp. 58-59)
• What does Najwa mean when she says her first impressions of Yemen were “primarily visual”? (pp. 59-60)
• What were the main differences between the three kinds of social status groups in Yemen’s northern highlands? How did they regard each other? (pp. 61-62)
• In what ways do the clothing of Yemeni men act as social markers? (pp. 66-69)
• Why do Yemeni women wear the black sharshaf? (pp. 70-71)
• What is the role of the poetic genre of zamil in Yemen? (p. 76-78)
• What are the main features of the “dance” called bara‘ in Yemen? Why is bara‘ not classified as raqs, the Arabic word for dancing? (pp. 78-82)
• What are the main features of the dance called lu‘b in Yemen? (pp. 82-85)
• What are the main features of the tribal honor code? Specifically, what is qabyala? (pp. 86-88)
• What do rural tribesmen think of urban Yemenis? (pp. 88-89)
• How does the dance form bara‘ represent the tribe and tribal honor in Yemen? (pp. 93-94)
• What does Najwa Adra mean in the last sentence of her article: “In the end, the message is that tribalism is good, but not exactly…” (pp. 95-96)

3/2 Lunde and Mandaville (1973:2-7) “Wine of Arabia” [http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/197305/wine.in.arabia.1.htm and http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/197305/wine.of.arabia.2.htm]
• What were the fears about coffee houses in Istanbul?
• What is the first acount of coffee by a European and how did he describe the drink?
• What is the story behind the first coffee house (in Vienna) in Europe?
• Why did the Islamic judges in the Mecca commission of 1511 ban coffee for Muslims?

Varisco (2007) “Turning Over a New Leaf" [Blackboard site under "Course materials"]
• From the poem by al-Nimari on p. 239 in praise of qat, what do you learn about the affects of chewing the leaves?
• Why do you think qat is a good crop to grow from a farmer's point of view? List at least three things you find mentioned from pp. 240-242)
• What are the problems with Raman Revri's hypothesis that the qat plant is native to Yemen and was taken to Ethiopia before it came back to Yemen for use in chewing? (p. 243)
• What is the correct etymology for the Arabic term "qat," as I argue on p. 244.
• Why is it not the case that qat production has been at the expense of coffee production in Yemen? (pp. 247-248)
•What is the impact on the body from chewing qat leaves? (pp. 251-252)
• Your opinion: do you think qat is more like the "devil's poison" or does it have positive cultural value? (especially p 253, but reflecting on the whole article). Explain why you think the way you do.

Midterm Exam: March 9 in class (This RAG #1 due at time of exam.)

Rag #2 to follow