Traditional MENA Social Structure

Traditional MENA Social Structure

Social Ecology of

Family Relations and Psychological Development

Traditional MENA Social Org

• Tribal?

• Segmentary lineages?

• Social classes?

• Feudal?


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

Berber nomads, Morocco 1985

Herding camp, Morocco, 1987

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

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


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


• Nuclear Families

• Fewer children

• Gender equality

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

“Modern” social organization

“Modernity”

Underdevelopment

( H. Sharabi:

“neo-patriarchy” )

Tradition


Modernization

&

Underdevelopment

+

Cultural Dualities

Landmarks in Marrakech

Ramadanshoppingin Alexandria

at theMarilyn Monroeboutique

Traditional MENA Social Structure

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