Description
Book SynopsisThe Naqab Bedouins represents the first attempt to chronicle Bedouin history and politics across the last century, including the Ottoman era, the British Mandate, Israeli military rule, and the contemporary schema, and document its broader relevance to understanding state-minority relations in the region and beyond.
Trade ReviewIn
The Naqab Bedouins, Nasasra uncovers marvelous material that illuminates the history of the Bedouins of southern Palestine and challenges prevailing understandings of their politics and social experiences. The long historical perspective that takes us from Ottoman times to the present relies on Nasasra's prodigious original research and superb documentation to present a comprehensive and detailed picture of this Bedouin community struggling against state power. -- Lila Abu-Lughod, Joseph L. Buttenweiser Professor of Social Science, Columbia University
What makes Nasasra's study of the Bedouins in Israel especially interesting is the close parallel with the experience of Bedouin communities throughout the Middle East. Refreshingly, he avoids romanticizing the Bedouins while focusing on their resistance as an indigenous people to policies that are, in effect, if not always in design, anti-nomadic. His comparative, historicized approach, moreover, offers an intriguing entry to wider debates about different forms of nationalism and identity in Arab societies. -- Yezid Sayigh, senior fellow, Carnegie Middle East Center
A book like no other. Nasasra tells the riveting story of the Palestinian Bedouins of the Naqab and Bi?r al-Saba? from the late Ottoman era until today, opening up a new vista for understanding the place of indigeneity in the Middle East and highlighting resistance and power relations that shadow the lives of the Naqab Bedouins. Particularly strong is his discussion on indigeneity scholarship in reference to international law. Nasasra has not just written a book on Bedouins—he has given a voice to the most marginalized among the Palestinians in Israel. -- Larbi Sadiki, Qatar University
Historically and analytically rich. . . . Adds considerably to scholarly understanding of the Bedouin both in Mandate-era Palestine and the state of Israel. -- Kristian Coates Ulrichsen * International Affairs *
An important contribution [that] provide[s] a comprehensive account, temporally and thematically, of the Bedouin communities of the Naqab area. . . . I strongly recommend this book. -- Ahmad Amara * International Journal of Middle East Studies *
Readable and well-sourced. . . . Nasasra shows that the Bedouin community has constantly challenged power. -- Dina Matar * LSE Middle East Centre Blog *
This is the most comprehensive existing survey of the Bedouin Arab tribes of the Naqab desert in southern Palestine over the last century...[A] must read for anyone eager to look beyond the usual stereotypes and socio-political assumptions concerning the medium of colonial and post-colonial resistance. -- Abdullah Drury * The Muslim World Book Review *
A welcome challenge to the conventional wisdom that the Bedouin in southern Palestine were passive victims under Israeli military rule. . . . Recommended. * Choice *
The Naqab Bedouins is a well-documented ethnohistory that provides an overview of the past events and people that have come to define popular Bedouin history in the twenty-first century. -- Emilie Le Febvre * Anthropos *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations and Tables
Notes on Transliteration
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Understanding the State Project: Power, Resistance, and Indigeneity
2. Ruling the Desert: Ottoman Policies Toward the Frontiers
3. British Colonial Policies for the Southern Palestine and Transjordan Bedouin, 1917–1948
4. Envisioning the Jewish State Project
5. The Emergence of Military Rule, 1949–1950
6. Reshaping the Tribes' Historical Order, 1950–1952: Border Issues, Land Rights, IDPs, and UN Intervention
7. Traditional Leadership, Border Economy, Resistance, and Survival, 1952–1956
8. The Second Phase of Military Rule, 1956–1963
9. The End of Military Rule and Resistance to Urbanization Plans, 1962–1967
10. Postmilitary Rule, the Oslo Era, and the Contemporary Prawer Debate
11. The Ongoing Denial of Bedouin Rights and Their Nonviolent Resistance
Notes
References
Index
