Bedouin Blues

Poignant Iytie J1OO1rI8 punctuate the intimate conversations 6f the Awlad 'Ali

Text and photographs by Lila Abu- Lughod

Safia, a middle-aged Egyptian Bedouin woman, talked about her divorce from the man she'd been .1llarried to for almost twenty years. The events.he described had aceufied a year .beroft my. arrival in the camp where J was to spend nearly two yearS doing fielBwoJlk Sb.ee~plamed! ''My youngest daughter was nursing in my arms when he leftme. I was sick and tired, The man carne up to me one afternoon as I sat by the oven, baking. He said, 'Yeu're divorced .. ' I said, ''Thanks, thafs' just-fine. by me.' 1 didn't want him. I don't want anything from him except to build me a house to live in with my son, I didn't care when he divorced me. I never likedhim,"

Her tone of aggressive nonchalance did not surprise me. It was consistent with the way many people talked about their marriages; even when uncomplicated by problems such as divorce. Yet, twe days later, as we were chatting With several other women in her househ01d during a lull in the round of domestic activities, conversation turned to the whereabouts of her exhusband, who was away on a trip. Safia suddenly began. to recite-a short and sad poem that conveyed a very different set of sentiments.

Memories stirred of the beloved should I release, I'm flooded by them

I remember that she had also volun-

teered to recite some poems when 1 had first shown.her my tape recorder a couple of monthsearlfee These included the following:

Oheyes be stJ;Qng

you cherish people and then

they're gone

There was no doubt in the minds of allthe women who su.'bsequently heard the tape that this poem, which hints at the effort it takes to keep frem crying, was about her ex-husband,

The incongruity between what Safia said in Qrdiruiry conversation and the sentiments she expressed in poetry, was, striking. But her case was not -um.que. I found that many people I get to know in this Bedouin community in. BgYJ!lt's Western Desert conveyed feelings of vulnerability andattachment in the short, poems that

24 NATURAL HISTORY 7/87

.Bedouin· women rest moment4"Uyin the dooI'Wa}, of their house. The young, unmarfiedgirl (left) covers her head with (kflowered kerchi:efas a sign of modesty, while 1'II.e trJ;prri:ed wbman (f;ight):,wea;rs,a b/'Q(:Jk 'head cloth that can be used as a vei] wheilnece.rs«!y, Married women veil' their Jaces. a sign ofrespect, tn the prese1'l!:e~of

older menlsr.u;hrJs uncles, male i~laws,or strangers.

punctuated t;beir intiraate conversaticms-feelings that they ordinarily denied. To understand this discrepancy; and the meaning of these often poigrtant lyric poems, I had to learn some important things about Bedouin persenal ideals and slandards 'Of momlity.

I had not come tQ Bgypt to study poetry, When I arrived in the fall of 1978, I was interested in. e~amirnng tile :patter.TIS and meaning of iilterpcisonal relationships especially those between men and wQ.men,.in a Bedouin. society, Long fascinating to' Westerners, Bedouins, the Arabicsspeaking pastoral nomads of the MiddIe East, have been ,diescribed in scholarly and popularaccounts in terms of the publie world of politics, feudS, heroic p0etry;

26 NATURA:L HISTORY 7/87

and nomadism. Hardly anyone had paid attention to the intimate 'world of personal and family life or to the world of women. This was the realm I wanted toexplore,

I ended uj;lliving in a small community of rec:ently settled Bedouins belo.nging to the ~bes known 1\5 the Awlad 'All (!Il)DS of 'Ali), whose traditional territory extends along a coastal desert strip from Alexandria to Libya. Although many Awlad 'Ali have become sedentary since the nineteenth century, until thirty-five years ago those who rerdalned nomadic made a living in the Western Desert by herding sheep and planting barl~y"Before the railroads were built, the AwJad 'J\1i also organized came"] caravans to transport dates from the. .major desert oases to the Nile

Valley. New they are involved mal!] sorts of activities, from the old One of raising sheep to the newer ones of tending groves of olive and fig trees arid speeU.lati.qg in real estate. Many profit from smuggling and otifer. mare legal entrepreneurial activities. The Aw:lad 'Ali used 10 live in ten ts. Now, although most liVe in houses, they still pitch tents next to their houses and prefer sitting in them because they are peaceful and nonconfining. They used to ride on horses; camels, and. donkeys; DOW t.hey prefer Toyota trucks.

I was welcomed intc the large houselteld dE a wealthy, eharismatic tribalmsdiator asa sort of adopted daughter. I coUld occupy this position because I was not only a young, unmarried woman but also

Det;aIl8e of "thetway I had6een illtroduced tp the family. ~ an a'!ltl:i!iopol~gy graduate studtmtbravel;y ~et1it\g. off todo researc:h, I was greatly e1nbaJ1l'assed when my father insisted0fi coming with me from. thelanited States fi;) intlioduce. me.]it t~kme<a lc;lIIgtimeto fully gra,$p hiJ> teasp,ns; Becaufe he was of .A:na.b .bl:Uil.lt~ grQund,although. not a Bedouin, he was aWa!Ee that lin thlS\ cultu,tea young, unaecempanied willman t!:!;lveiing,gn uneertain business would "be all anom,aly, I, ~f 'COilll'St\ knew, cor tb~ negative' iinag~ of Westem Women aa imag!1l fed by rumors, fill1)l:s, and the -f~eqJlent i~Il~j;tjvity ot W~reF1l women to'il~lstand:Vd$ ofmo.. rality and ;a~p:tablc;:; seeial bebp.vaor .. B:ut I bad assumed r would bealble to over-

Today's preferred meOI)$ ojtronsport(ltionior Bedouins is tthe Toy,Qt(l t.ruok, lielow. These roomy tl'Uqk$' allrxw entire1am#ies'-'hysband. c(rwive~, dalfgh!ers-in-l¢W;, and h~meI'Qt1S chil(!re,~tb travel (qgl!lhel'. Phe .t-hJ:eehp:r:semen~ te/{.lfife.ilt(J cel~brate a Muslimfestiii~l, hark· back.toa.n eadjer time when wealthy afulpower/1J.I·men nm'e horses, Exceptjbr certain cer~moniaJ;o71casions., Bedbuins.1I0 longer ti.de horses .. The jalnlEngli;yIi.I'etter-ing esross. the top ojthMellt flap is an indica.tl'wn ojthe'tenl maJ:eri:ats origi~ttudapb.q~.that have been c.ut apart tJtJii feas.sembledmtQjabric.

com~ people's suspicions, first byplayipg up the",~rab balf ·of !my; identity andnot identifr,ing. with Westerners;. and second

by oohayin~ propetly.. .

:w:rutt I 'Wad not oo!1$idered was that rdlpectabilit~was reCkoned not just in terms of one's actions butalso in terms of Ollle's I'e]ationsbip to the larger social wf)rld. J had failed' to, anticip.ale that'theBedeuinS, .for w,HQjJI, oetc:mgiDg to a tabe and family. l~pal1DI1oqn:t. wou]dassume that a woman. alone must haze so alienated her famll5( that they Ralenger'ca:r¢d aoouJ her. WO~ yet, perbap$. sbe. had dope SOlJl.~tlilng SO immomJ tb~t they had ostrabmID her .. An. umnanioogirl valued ibyner family woutd. nev.e.r bepe11Jl.itted to .trav,:el alone" unprote€ted .anii at the·mercY ,of anyone. who wiShed 'to tab advantage of bel'. ByaccomRall~gn;le o,llmy. tint ~lt to these'. familiftS. my 'fa.t:her laid to rest llnY$uspicions about rtly r~pe;eta:bility. Th~~ eQuId see I w.asfrem a good fimllIy tha,t eared .aoout me. This belped tihelfi,lx;rceive lJle as au Arab and '3. Muslim, despite. my poor AmbiG~. rgy Ameti.~ can. mether, and ·my unfamiliarity with thii1'l waY$, andenable;tl; them 10' accept

me. rrjore e~ily;as a (f:a:u:g'Qte(. .

By>p(ltt~g!lle under the p,rotecfjpi\'Qfia .p!I!rticular family, In~ father Ihad: assured

my.sarety. But-the :f'lipside of p'I'oteclieu is restriction, .: and I found that myd:a.ughteily role bad seme drawbacks. For' the fust fel,\" l1}pnths I cha{ed againstssme of the'subilewayspeqple restriotcid myaetiv~ [ties, I was e~cted to li:ve In the,w~men's ·s0Cial werldaad bOuid only gptG! households where the women in my famUy Went, More ;jm~nt:; I was expected to liv,e ip their menil comm1llu'ty. Th.is '(lut tr¢'m~ndo1JS pres.sure PD me to lea:fIl the appropri,ate behavior fOr young women, t$}\fecially concerning mooesty. .

At tint I tbought 'I should maye back and forth. bet:we'enth~ W9meu'~· wprht::l"ud the n1ell.'"s, btlt'.tb:en I realizM tJtaf in lord.er tob!:::itrusted'in eithe~'I had. to declare my loyalties 1l:rmh~; By. aec¢pting the women's world, wmch was more lively, reJaxed, and i:r.Itimat~. I ftnaUybegan tQ reap tneunanticipa\ed beIlefj~ of mg s.tatu~ as an adopted daughter.; 1 began to enjQy th,e. personalpleasures .of close companionship and a sense of belonging. My researehslse benefited. Because I participated in tbeir every,.d!ty li_v~'aridoou1d nct.foree !:hePJ, to answer questions Or talk about what did. not interest them, Lcould learn bOW"'th.ese Bedouins viewed their lives,

My first clue that poetry might bea tichsomrce ofu-dfltanatitln 011 the relatien-

Milking, below, is considered women's work-'whtther the animals are sheep. goats. or for th:e very few/amities that have'thern, cows. In some areas, desert land is being redqimed. an4arop& that co~ befedlo cattle. aych asaJjaifa and

corn. are now bei~ggrown. Adolescfnt girls. right. help their-mother prep.are breadfor baking. a doily activity 'in a Bedouin hOU8(!h_old.

ships I wished to study came one day when a shepherd's wife, helping out by baking bread in our makeshift oven, suddenly recited a poem after a minor disappointment. I insisted she repeat it so I could write it down. That evening as I talked with my host about what I had seen and heard (hat day, aSpnghim 'questioDsand getting'explana tiens; I read bim the poem. His kindly. and pedagogi~1 manner suddenly changed. .Agitated, he demanded to know who had recited it. Lhesitated, suspecting tbat I had unwittingly betrayed something important; but when I finally confessed that it was the wife of one of his hired shepherds, he was palpably relieved. He explained that the poem had to do with de:spair in.love; the '\VoQlan sang it because she had. lost one husband and ber present. husband. was old and about to die. I then understoed that he. had feared that one of his wives had recited the poem.

My.host's reaetjtm suggested to me that people took poetry seriously; as a very personal communication ef feelings. From my host's wif() I gathered that the poems were somewhat confidential. She scolded me for my indiscretion i.n sharing this poem with her husband and warned me never to show women's poems to men.

EveryQne seemed keenly Inteeested in

28 NATURAL HISTORY 7.j87

and moved by this type of personal poetry. Like Japanese haiku in their brevity and condensation of imagery, poems like the following were reminiscent of the American blues in emotional tone:

.1 wonder, is despair

a ~ssing shadew 0)' my companion

for life

I began to write or tape-recordsuch poems wheneserindividuelsrecited them spontaneously in conversation or sang them. What was puzzling was that the sentiments expressed in the poems bote little relatiensbip to the sentiments of ordinary life. Bedouin men and women had a propensity to joke about or deny eoneem in personal matters and to express anger in diffi'cul( situations. Iinterpreteii tliis at firSt,as defensiveness and thought of the poems as revelations of "true" sentiments.

But sereral thi.ngs W~I:e wrong with my h~thesis. First, it failed to note that the poems through which Bedouins expressed what I thought of as their "true" feelings were higbIy stylized and conventional. Second, to label as defensive someoae who expressed cool indifference to a love relationship was toimpese Western. psycholegieal theories where the)' might not be .ap,propda:fel I had to consider what dlese

reactions meant to thti Bedouins themselves, which required understanding the place of romantic love in their society.

Americans expect romantic love to preoccupy youngpe.9ple, to be the basis for choosing a mate, and to remain the id~ of aU ad tilts in tibet! intimate relationships, The Awlad 'AU Bedouins view things quite differently. They are scandalized by what they perceive as the gross immoralizy of Europeans. They even feel superior to their Egyptian. peasant and urban neighbors whose laxness in matters of sexual segregation and emphas~ on. the closeness of married couples they find improper and embarrassing.

ALtholJgh ,3: theme of songs and stories, romantic Jove is for the Bedouins some-

what immoral. There are serious eense'QU6IJCOS for M, unmarried girl who is discovered to 'have a romantic attachment. And the pu blic display of the proof of her virginity at the wedding. ritual assures that she will be wary of romanticimpulses, Love is not supposed to be the basis for marriages, which are. arranged by families. This is not to deny that lpve can develop between husband. and wii'& 'or that many couples can become close over the years. Their affection, however, will never be demenstratsd publicly. For the Bedouins, tile deepest.kind of lave is expected to. be between family members=-siblings and parents and children.

'This attitude toward Jove and sexuality is at thecore of the Bedouin moral code of

honor, Semal modesty or propriety is essential to personal honor and respeetability in this. eommunity The honorable' woman or man maintains distance from members of the opposite sex except close relatives and denies il'lter:est in love orsesual matters. The set11iment associated with or thought to motivate this avoidanee is hasham, whichcan be translated as modesty. embarrassment, OT shame ..

.Modesty. for the Bedouins, refers to wha t we might think of as an internal state of shyness and embarrassment and to a set of behaviors" asS'ociaied with. these feel· ings, that conform to what could be caned a code of IlJ.odesty, The cultural repertoire of such behaviors includes not only sexual propriety but also requires modest de-

meaner and ~ (covering Ute hair, the arms to the wris~, and the legs to the .ankles) for bethseres; The modest person looks down,sits or stands formally, and does not eat, smoke, talk, laugh, or joke in certain types of soelal situations. For married 'Women, veiling in front of certain categories of men; such as older relatives and in-laws, is also a.markof modesty. 'To act mode.stty i~,amatter of pride because it is considered a sign of respect' for the social and moral ID'Stem.

An important goal of socializing cbildren, esp.ec~all!y girls. isto leach them to be modeSt. I onceheard a girl confide to her uncle's new wife, "To tell you the truth, r don'teven know what this love is. I hear about it in sOngs, but 1 don't know

29

what they' are feeling." The elder woman responded app.rQvingly, "T.bat's my giri." . If a:doleScentgi:r~ get carried away at a wedding, singing and clapping or hovering too near the bride, tbeir mothers taunt them, "What are yousciaterested in? Are you looking forward te your own wedding day?" A gi,rl is expe.cted to (fry when she hears that snmeone has come teask for her band in marrlage; to, be sad because she does not want to leaze her family The modest bride screams and tries to fight off the groom when he comes near her.

Even married women, to be respected, deny any interest in their husbands, not to mention other men. A woman rarely uses her husband's name" referring to him as "that one" or if affectionate, "the old man"; if she i$ belPS formal, she refers: to him po,ij,tely. as "tl,e master cif my house! tent." At least in ;front of pthers, women are formal and distant with husbands. Although quick to admit the u.biquity of jealousy, the Bedouins still do not respect a woman who shows resentment if her husband marries a second wife. To complain if he seems 10 prefer her co-Wife or spends more time with her indicates what Bedouins see as an excessive, desire for the husband.

By the saJll~ token, men do not spend mach time with their wi",.eg and [!irely talk .abeut them. Th~y areridisaled if the¥ show too much concern. When Rashid's 'new bride ran awa)\ he sulked and looked miserable. His relatives teased and even scolded him. They encouraged and supported his later and more socially appropriate response, which was an angry search foa someone to blame. He and his brother undertook an intensive. iJ;tyestigation of the events preeeding his bride's departure .. W.ben they had eliminated the possi.hility of some woman. or ~J1:ild in the household having upset her, they began considering sorcery as an explanation. Rashid became convinced that his senior wife must have been responsible. A visit to the local holy man to divine the reason behind the bride's act confirmed this suspicion. In the face of opposition from many of the camp's women, Rashid persisted in blaming.his first wife and refused to talk to or v.i$it her.

30 NATURAL HISTORY 7/87

After some negotiation and pressure from her family, Rashid's bride agreed to return. A day or so later, I was talking prirately wi.th him. J asked him how he felt, and. he was noncommital, But when r asked disJng~lluol.lsl.y if heeared to reoite some poems for my collection, beoffe-red the fonawing:

Cooking with a liquid of tears

at a funeral done for the beloved

Her bad deeds were wrongs that hurt yet 1 won't repay them, still dear the

beloved

Any doubts I harbored about whether these, poems. expressed Ra'shld's personal sentimenti' regardjlilgthe situation were put to rest a few~ys later. It was evenill~,

and he was sitting with his returned wife. He asked me to join them, requesting that I bring my notebook. "Read the talk of the other day,' he said. I realized that he meant the poems .. As J read them ,aloud, he seemed embarrassed alld acted almost as if he had never heard them before. He looked blank when I asked him te explain them. The next day his wife confided to me that these poems were about her.

This incident highlights the other crucial aspect of honor, which is a kind of proud personal independence. Rashid's initial signs of attachment to this woman bad nearly cost him his reputation, T~ be weak or dependent is, shameful for a Bedouin. I came til reaiize that it w.as i:n light of Bedouin attifudes abeut the impr0pri-

TWomarrled women are adjusting the e~nter pole oj a /(lJJge ceremonial tent; left.

Made D!pieces of material stitched tog~ther inpatahwerk stylt .. these tents .areiusedlor weddiflgsJeasts,funera/s. ot wherk!v.er large numbers. oJpeopie willbe together. A group of childre~. beio:w,.llsteniMli1hrapt attention to a e4Sse~te tape 9f Bed,buinpOelry. Cmsetoteplayers have become enormef!,sJ:y, popular in recent years, and tapes of so~gs ant), pDetrY'are passed ea~erl:yJrom harU;l to hpnd.

efy oHeelings of attachmeRt between men and women that Rashid's behavior. Safiats ccmmems- On h~r diyorce, ,altrl the nonpoetic responses of so many others I encountered. had tt!l be ~ndersiood. Rather . than being "defeasive" when th~y expressed stoic indilferen~ oreven anger, people were actua:lly just liYin_g up te the

persenalridealsof tlleir community. They. were showing how honorable they Were,how worthy of respect.

But why could they express the other side-of their feeMgs in poetry? And why don't they ruinthe~ reputations when they reveal these··~inunodest~· sentiments in their poems? The answers are complex,

but here are just dew-suggestions. First,'I think people are protected by the veiled and impersonal form of the poetry and the circumscribedcontexts in which they recite it: (they only recite' poems in £ront of people they.are close to). Second, by,. conftnilfg;. these feelings to the rigid. form of poetry. Bedouins demonstrate a kind of mastery, and any kj.ndof maStery is ad. rnirable, Third, it t1l~y be that people mitl(e t;heire:very.day wnformity t() the moral cede more impressive by showing what powerful (~liDgs they must master in order to live up to its ideals, Finally, reciting poetry seems to be. a way of sun. verting the code efhonoIi and.medesty By rebc;lIing, in this limited. way, against the demands of: the system, individuals. Qla¥ actually enhance their lionor because, defiance is th~ultiroa,te expression of[:~rsoJ1al freedom, And as we Saw earlier, personal independence is.a linchpin of henor, .

TIle place of poetry may be cbangmg. though. When r retl!:rned to the Bedouin community in December 1986, just over eight: years after I bad, first come to live wjththem,lnoticed many changes. There were man] more houses and some now had electticit,y .. And one change was particularlyinter~ting: the popu1arity of cass.ette players and tape~ (had ri§en drarnaticall . TQere had beena proliferation of C<mlimercial cassettes of Bedouin, SODgs and poetry, many Dot of high technical quality, some practically homemade. BouJ~ht in the townS by the YOllJlg men, they were passed eagerly from hand to hand, Listening to the .tapes, 'one notices something 0dd-almost no women's \(oiel::sar,e heard. Respect.l\ble wop:um would neither recire love poetry publicly nor would they dream of sitting with strange men to make a recording.

This is only .one instancein which the tradltionalmoobsty code, when appliad in new circumstances, has had a more restricting influem:e.on women's lives .. Sexual segregation has ossified with the move fmDl' tentS to houses. In the. tents., a blanket suspended in tlte middle of the tent separated the men's and women's domains whenmen other-than elese kia were present. The blanketS-ll.Itlike walls-were both tempol'ary 'and, permeable, al-

31

Tents allow for informal segregation; I1Jen on oire side and women on the ether, A blanket can be su,$peiU!eq in the middle oft he tent shoui d men other than close kinjoin the group.

lOWng the flow of conversation and information, Rooms don't allow that. Also, in thes:ettlements the likelihood that neighbors will befrom diffetent families is greater than it was in the isolated desert damps, where all the members were usually tied by family beads, The number of unrelated viSitors who come by to seethe men of the community is ~tso higher because men now have a wide range ef business contacts. This means that, to main-tain their honor, women have to be more vigilant'in keeping ont of sight; thus they, spend more time veiled and confined to the women's, sections of the household.

For men, coming under the authority of the Egrpt.\an state and shifting te a market economy has meant some erosion of personal and political jndependence. Yet most men try to take adraatage of new economic opportnnities, seheoling for their children, and medical care, while resisting the impoSitlon of governmental regulations, legal prooeilW'es. ,and taxes, Men have become mere oriented to the world outside theircemmunity and more mobile in these daY:1I of Toyotasand Mercedeses .: They now have cash, which is needed to buy most things •. including food. Worn.en, on the other hand, stay even closer to home. Their work has become Jess essential to the community's economic survival=demoted to a devalued domestic sphere. And they have become financially dependent.

Inthe living rooms of their newhouses, the men bang photographs of sheep and camel herds and Iavingly burnish their old .she~guns, now used only. to hunt the 0000.sienal wild bird. Women, On the other hand, are netremantieally DQstalgic.aoout the old days. They remember the hardshipsof herding, c-an;ying water, chopping firewood, milking sheep, weaving, and pitching tents, What they do rem frem the past is their passion for~uy. Yet with the arrival ofcemmercial cassettesof the Bedouin blues, even this is. changing, Women listen to ana appreciate the tapes but db not make them. Poetry was always cherished as the voice ofpe..sonal independence and the freedom toresist, Does its gradual takeover by mea-tell US what Bedouin women may be losing? D

32. NATURAL HISTORY 7/87

Copyright © 2003 E BSCO Publishing