Let Shepherding Endure: Applied Anthropology and the Preservation of a Cultural Tradition in Israel and the Middle East

234 Pages·2003·0.76 MB·English

by  Gideon M. Kressel

LET SHEPHERDING ENDURE
SUNY series in Anthropology and Judaic Studies
Walter P. Zenner, Editor
L S E
ET HEPHERDING NDURE
APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE
PRESERVATION OF A CULTURAL TRADITION
IN ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Gideon M. Kressel
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
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State University of New York Press, Albany
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Kressel, Gideon M., 1936–
Let shepherding endure : applied anthropology and the preservation of a cultural
tradition in Israel and the Middle East / Gideon M. Kressel.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in anthropology and Judaic studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-5805-9 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5806-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Shepherds—Middle East. 2. Shepherds—Israel. 3. Pastoral systems—Middle East. 4.
Pastoral systems—Israel. 5. Bedouins—Land tenure—Middle East. 6. Bedouins—Domestic
animals—Middle East. 7. Desert conservation—Middle East. 10. Applied
anthropology—Israel. 11. Middle East—Environmental aspects. 12. Israel—Environmental
aspects. I. Title. II. Series.
GN635.N42 K74 2003
306.3'6'0956—dc21 2002030978
10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
Introduction xiii
1 NOMADIC PASTORALISTS, AGRICULTURALISTS, AND THE STATE:
SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND DEPENDENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST 1
2 CHANGES IN LAND USAGE BY THE NEGEV BEDOUIN SINCE THE
MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY: THE INTRATRIBAL PERSPECTIVE 27
3 APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURAL SURVIVAL, AND NEW
DIRECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE NEGEV BEDOUIN 69
4 GOVERNMENTAL POLICIES TOWARD THE BEDOUIN 79
5 ENHANCING THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF SHEPHERDING 89
6 ARE SHEPHERDS’ VILLAGES VIABLE? 107
7 DESIGNING A SHEPHERD’S VILLAGE 137
8 “TEACH THE CHILDREN OF JUDAH SHEEP!:
THE CRISIS OF SMALL RUMINANTS BREEDING 145
9 TOWARD A BETTER PLAN OF ACTION 173
BIBLIOGRAPHY 191
NAME INDEX 203
SUBJECT INDEX 207
v

ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE 5.1 PRESENT PROPOSED URBAN CENTERS FOR THE
NEGEV BEDOUIN (1999). CIRCLES REPRESENT
PROPOSED CENTERS. (COURTESY OF E. ATSMON) 91
FIGURES 5.2 (A–D) PHASES IN THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW BEDOUIN
TOWN. (PHOTOS BY E. ATSMON) 94
FIGURE 5.2A A SPONTANEOUS SETTLEMENT. 94
FIGURE 5.2B BUILDING THE HOME, WHILE DWELLING IN
THE TENT. 94
FIGURE 5.2C SHACKS OF FAMILIES WHO ARE CONSTRUCTING
HOMES. 95
FIGURE 5.2D SPONTANEOUS SETTLEMENT ON THE OUTSKIRTS
OF A TOWNSHIP (WHICH CAN BE SEEN IN
THE DISTANCE). 95
FIGURE 6.1 (A–B) FIREWOOD (HATAB) GATHERED BY HAND. 121
• •
FIGURE 6.1A INDIGENOUS VEGETATION GATHERED FOR FIREWOOD. 121
FIGURE 6.1B HEAPS OF PINE BRANCHES PRUNED IN THE
YATEER FOREST TO BE USED FOR FIREWOOD. 122
FIGURE 7.1 DESIGN OF A RURAL SETTLEMENT FOR THE
TARABIN ES-SANE (BE≥ER-SHEVA VALLEY, ISRAEL).
(COURTESY OF A. LEVINE) 140
vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
M
y thanks go first to the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert
Research which, since my arrival in 1978, has financed numerous projects
over a period of twenty-five years relating to the nature and development
of Bedouin societies and, in particular, the Bedouin in the Negev and the
Ramle-Lod area of Israel.
In the course of fieldwork undertaken in the 1980s, I have worked
closely with Dr. Joseph Ben-David and Dr. Khalil Abu-Rabi≤a, who helped
me assemble data on a century of land use by the Negev Bedouin. I am
greatly in their debt for their collegial support and hard work. The results
of our joint study were published in Nomadic Peoples (28, 1991). I here
acknowledge with thanks the permission granted me by the editors of this
journal and of the Journal of Rural Cooperation (21, 1993), to use material
on the nature of contacts between nomadic pastoralists, agriculturalists
and the state.
I am most grateful to my colleague Dr. Hendrik J. Bruins, who has
collaborated with me in previous studies on the problems of sheep-rearing
in Kibbutz Sde-Boqer and goat-rearing in Moshav Ezuz, relating problems
of shepherding in the arid lands in Israel to those faced by the Massai and
the Turkana in Kenya. Our joint work in Kenya was financed by the
NIRP (Netherlands Israel Research Programme) which has earned our
ix