Traditional MENA Social Structure

Social Ecology of

Family Relations and Psychological Development

Traditional MENA Social Org

• Tribal?

• Segmentary lineages?

• Social classes?

• Feudal?

Traditional MENA Social Org

Symbiosis:

• Pastoralism

• Agriculture

• City-based crafts & merchants

+ rulers & religious scholars

Tribal Society?• Self-governing groups

– Beyond reach of government– “Submit” to government & pay “tax”

• Nomadic pastoralists – “bedouin”– Herd camels, sheep, goats– Have “client” groups of farmers & craftsmen

• Transhumants

• Agriculturalists

Bedouin camp -- Arabia

Bedouin camp -- Iran

Bedouin camp

Bedouin camp

Berber nomads, Morocco 1985

Berber nomads, Morocco 1985

Herding camp, Morocco, 1987

Herding camp, Morocco, 1987

Herding camp, Morocco 1986

Herding camp, Morocco 1986

Herding campMorocco

1987

Tribes in Arab-Muslim Societies

• Struggle between tribes and states– Still in Pakistan & Afghanistan

• Contrast of urban & rural ways of life

– Ibn Khaldun: “civilization” vs. “solidarity”

• Raiding and feuding– Every man a warrior– Culture celebrating heroic deeds

• Tribesmen migrated into cities

Tribal Social Organization• “segmentary lineage system”

– E. E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer, 1930s

• Lineage: group of families descended from common ancestor– Patrilineage: traced through male line– Matrilineage: traced through female line

we have bilateral kindred system

Segmentary Lineage System

• Nuclear families nested within extended

• Extended families nested within lineages– genealogical links sometimes traceable

• Lineages nested within clans– genealogical links not traceable

• Clans nested within tribe or tribal “fractions”

Segmentary Lineage System

“Clan”

Lineage

Extended family

Nuclear family

Evans-Pritchard Thesis

Shifting balance of feuding and fusing segments

Order and stability without government

Tamzrit: 75 households7 “lineages” 4 “clans”

Tamzrit

Tamzrit

Arab / MENA Tribes:

Segmentary

but not really segmentary!

Michael Meeker: Magritte on the Bedouins

Segmentary Lineages

1. Mental map of social structure

2. Ideology -- often distorts real relationships

3. Map & ideology: sketches potential relationships people can build, and claims they can make on each other

Segmentary Lineages

1. Model only approximated

2. Not all kinsmen included

3. Some / many non-kin included: patron-client networks

4. Ties deliberately built across kin groups

Segmentary Lineages5. Model more likely actualized in absence

of gov’t control“If there’s a crisis, you’ll see

the lineages emerge.”

re-created by militia groups & in chaos: Lebanese, Algerian, Iraqi civil wars; Afghanistan, Libya?

can appear “tribal”

Marriage & Family

in traditional MENA societies

Marriages Arranged

• Many pre-industrial societies arrange marriages (Especially agricultural Eurasia: Europe, MENA, India, China)

• Marriage is relationship between families, not necessarily two young people in love

• Most lineage-based societies practice lineage / clan exogamy

Marriage Rules: Exogamy

• Levi-Strauss: Men exchange & circulate women

Builds solidarity among lineages / clans

• Cross-cousin (MBD or FSD) preferred or required; parallel cousin prohibited & viewed as “incest”

Kinship Diagrams

married

children

male female

siblings

Exogamous M.B.D. Marriage

ego

M B

D

Cross-cousins

Endogamous F.B.D. Marriage

ego

B ?

?

Parallel cousins

F ?

D

Marriage Rules: MENA

• “Close marriage” -- endogamous

parallel cousin (FBD) preferred

but not majority of marriages

cross-cousin (MDB) O.K.

2nd or 3rd cousins O.K.

Patrilineal families / households also look matrilineal from the inside

Patriliny and Matriliny

ego

B ?

?

Parallel cousins

F ?

D

Arranged Marriages

• Traditionally: marriages arranged to create or cement relationships between families

• Girls (and boys) may be forced to marry strangers or people they dislike

• Men usually 5 – 10 years older

Girls often 14 to 17

Effects of Endogamy

• Weaker cross-kin segment bonds?

• Strengthens within-kin segment bonds

greater fission & feuding?

• Creates matrilineal kinship network within patrilineal

strengthens hsld women’s solidarity?

Traditional Marriage Strategies• Marry up in wealth & status

• Marry close – conserve property & status

– Endogamous parallel cousin FBD preferred

– Children may prefer these

• Alliance marriages: link distant families

• Result: officially patrilineal, but matrifocal

Traditional Marriage Strategies• Father / patriarch may choose and has

final say

• Mother acts as family agent & scouts behind scenes– May consult with son or daughter– Kids may prefer cousins or kin they know

• High status & wealthy families follow rules more closely

What of romantic love?

• Recognized & celebrated in tragic literature and folktales

• Seen as fickle, undependable

• Different from love that grows from years of marriage

– “heart” love vs. “liver” love

Divorce• Frequent in many areas

– Failure to have child within 2 years– Mistreatment by husband or in-laws

• Women “leave” inheritance with brothers, in case she’s divorced

• 2nd marriages less formal; woman may have greater say

Family / Kin group:“Patronymic Association”

• “People of…”

• “Descendents of…”

• “House of…”

big extended family

little lineage

Patronymic Association

• Basic unit of traditional social organization– pastoralist camping group

– adjoining households in village

– neighborhood or alley in urban quarter

• Lineage-like, but…– Does NOT include many families & members

– DOES include “clients” treated as if family

– Fuzzy, fluid, & shifting boundaries

Patronymic Association• Kin terms, etiquettes, and feelings

extended to non-kin patrons and clients

• Family-kin relationships not fixed by genealogy, but negotiated – as if patron-client relationships

• Key to traditional MENA social org:

networks of face-to-face kin-based and kin-like patron-client relationships

Patron-Client Relations

• Reciprocity system:– gift & counter-gift – shifting imbalance

maintains mutual indebtedness

• Family / kin idiom & etiquettes:– Patron – like father or uncle -- dominates,

protects & may promote– Client – like son or nephew – subordinates

self, receives protection, maybe promotion

Patron-Client Relations

• Exchanges of gifts & favors:

Traditional reciprocity system?

or:

Corruption?

MENA Social Organization• Segmentary – but not lineages (Magritte’s

pipe !)

• Family-based – but not just nuclear (or even extended) families: patronymic association

• Strategy -- build strong entourage of kin & clients

• Family gender & age hierarchy extended to patron-client relations

Traditional MENA Social Org

Fuad Khuri:

• “tents” rather than “pyramids”

• leader / entourage segments

• competition to be “first among equals”

“Modern” Social Organization

• Bureaucracies– Schools, companies, gov’t ministries

• Social classes– Elite, “populaire” & slum-dweller lifestyles

• State control– Monarchies, military dictatorships, one-party

“presidencies”– Political parties & movements– Mukhabbarat -- secret police

“Modern” Social Organization

• Nuclear Families

• Fewer children

• Gender equality

• Individual choice of…– Spouse– Vocation– Lifestyle– Religiosity

“Modern” social organization

“Modernity”

Underdevelopment

( H. Sharabi:

“neo-patriarchy” )

Tradition

“Modern” Social Organization

Modernization

&

Underdevelopment

+

Cultural Dualities

Landmarks in Marrakech

Ramadanshoppingin Alexandria

at theMarilyn Monroeboutique