Download or read book Tribes Government and History in Yemen written by Paul Dresch and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1989 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dresch here combines ethnography with history to describe the system of sedentary tribes in South Arabia--a strategically sensitive part of the world--over the past thousand years. He examines the values and traditions the tribal people bring to the contemporary world of nation-states, and discusses the relation of the major tribes to pre-modern Islamic learning, the Zaydi Imamate, ideas of contemporary statehood, and the area as a whole.
Download or read book Tribes and Politics in Yemen written by Marieke Brandt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first rigorous history of the long-running Houthi rebellion and its impact on Yemen, now the victim of multi-national interventions as outside powers seek to determine the course of its ongoing civil war.
Download or read book A History of Modern Yemen written by Paul Dresch and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-12-07 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible and fast moving account of twentieth-century Yemeni history.
Download or read book A Tribal Order written by Shelagh Weir and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2009-08-17 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2008 — British-Kuwait Friendship Prize in Middle Eastern Studies – British Society for Middle Eastern Studies A Tribal Order describes the politico-legal system of Jabal Razih, a remote massif in northern Yemen inhabited by farmers and traders. Contrary to the popular image of Middle Eastern tribes as warlike, lawless, and invariably opposed to states, the tribes of Razih have stable structures of governance and elaborate laws and procedures for maintaining order and resolving conflicts with a minimum of physical violence. Razihi leaders also historically cooperated with states, provided the latter respected their customs, ideals, and interests. Weir considers this system in the context of the rugged environment and productive agricultural economy of Razih, and of centuries of continuous rule by Zaydi Muslim regimes and (latterly) the republican governments of Yemen. The book is based on Weir's extended anthropological fieldwork on Jabal Razih, and on her detailed study of hundreds of handwritten contracts and treaties among and between the tribes and rulers of Razih. These documents provide a fascinating insight into tribal politics and law, as well as state-tribe relations, from the early seventeenth to the late twentieth century. A Tribal Order is also enriched by case histories that vividly illuminate tribal practices. Overall, this unusually wide-ranging work provides an accessible account of a remarkable Arabian society through time.
Download or read book Yemen written by Victoria Clark and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2010-02-23 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Yemen is the dark horse of the Middle East. Every so often it enters the headlines for one alarming reason or another -- links with al-Qaeda, kidnapped Westerners, explosive population growth -- then sinks into obscurity again. But, as Victoria Clark argues in this riveting book, we ignore Yemen at our peril. The poorest state in the Arab world, it is still dominated by its tribal makeup and has become a perfect breeding ground for insurgent and terrorist movements. Clark returns to the country where she was born to discover a perilously fragile state that deserves more of our understanding and attention. On a series of visits to Yemen between 2004 and 2009, she meets politicians, influential tribesmen, oil workers and jihadists as well as ordinary Yemenis. Untangling Yemen's history before examining the country's role in both al-Qaeda and the wider jihadist movement today, Clark presents a lively, clear, and up-to-date account of a little-known state whose chronic instability is increasingly engaging the general reader"--Publisher description.
Download or read book The Yemen in Early Islam 9 233 630 847 written by Abd al-Muhsin Madʼaj M. Madʼaj and published by Garnet & Ithaca Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: - A historical account of Yemen
Download or read book Yemen written by Roby Barrett and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2011-05 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this sweeping study of Yemen, Dr. Barrett argues that while Yemen may be a failed state, it is not a failed society. Yemen is a complex society with power built on family, clan, and tribal relationships. It is not one nation-state, but rather a balance of multiple Yemens based on fundamental social, cultural, and sectarian differences. Within this context Dr. Barrett asserts that now is the time to reconsider U.S. approaches towards Yemen. We should not seek governmental transformation, but rather strive to reach beyond the central government and weak institutions to engage tribes and clans. Throughout history, political power has ebbed and flowed between central and decentralized local and regional authority. Yemen today is no more or less fragmented than it has ever been. Our goal should be to strive to achieve a balance among these multiple Yemens--groups that have coexisted, almost in continuous conflict, throughout history.
Download or read book Peaks of Yemen I Summon written by Steven C. Caton and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1990-12-11 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this first full-scale ethnographic study of Yemeni tribal poetry, Steven Caton reveals an astonishingly rich folkloric system where poetry is both a creation of art and a political and social act. Almost always spoken or chanted, Yemeni tribal poetry is cast in an idiom considered colloquial and "ungrammatical," yet admired for its wit and spontaneity. In Yemeni society, the poet has power over people. By eloquence the poet can stir or, if his poetic talents are truly outstanding, motivate an audience to do his bidding. Yemeni tribesmen think, in fact, that poetry's transformative effect is too essential not to use for pressing public issues. Drawing on his three years of field research in North Yemen, Caton illustrates the significance of poetry in Yemeni society by analyzing three verse genres and their use in weddings, war mediations, and political discourse on the state. Moreover, Caton provides the first anthropology of poetics. Challenging Western cultural assumptions that political poetry can rarely rise above doggerel, Caton develops a model of poetry as cultural practice. To compose a poem is to construct oneself as a peacemaker, as a warrior, as a Muslim. Thus the poet engages in constitutive social practice. Because of its highly interdisciplinary approach, this book will interest a wide range of readers including anthropologists, linguists, folklorists, literary critics, and scholars of Middle Eastern society, language, and culture.
Download or read book Yemen written by Roby C. Barrett and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-08-09 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Roby Barrett's sweeping study of Yemen's historical legacy and its current social, economic, and political systems is essential reading for all who would seek to understand the challenges to U.S. security interests in southern Arabia and reassess current U.S. strategy in light of recent turmoil there. Knowledge of the political, economic, social, and cultural context is fundamental to the development of a realistic counterinsurgency strategy based on the possible and affordable as opposed to the ideological or theoretical. Whatever the immediate or tactical outcome, Dr. Barrett argues that the ultimate outcome in Yemen is most likely not in doubt. The central theme of Dr. Barrett's monograph is that in Yemen, power is based on family, clan, and tribal relationships and not a national identity. Dr. Barrett builds the case that Yemen as a nation-state is a fiction that largely resides in the minds of Western bureaucrats and analysts. Central authority has been maintained only in balance with tribal, sectarian, and political groups that align with central leaders based on a system of patronage. He advises that throughout Yemen's history there always have been "multiple Yemens with fundamental social, cultural, and sectarian differences" and to view Yemen differently creates a "stumbling block" in the way of developing and executing coherent policy and strategy. Lines on a map do not constitute a nation-state. Whoever rules Yemen today faces significant challenges beyond maintaining power by political juggling. There is an insurgency in Sa'ada Governorate by Huthi rebels, who are Zaydi Shi'a upset with government policy, but a different Zaydi clan and tribe from that of the Hashid al-Ahmars and Saleh himself. Some Huthi are ideologically motivated, others are armed groups with financial motivations, and still others are motivated to defend their land and heritage. There is also an active protest movement in the south where coastal Sunni Shafais are upset with the governance of Saleh and his Shi'a Zaydis from the interior highlands.1 Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a threat in Yemen, leverages Yemen's loosely governed rural areas for its training and staging activities. But AQAP is viewed far more seriously by the United States and its Western allies than by many in Sana'a government, which has been able to live and come to terms with the AQAP presence for extended periods. In addition, Saudi Arabia views Yemen's instability as a x threat that requires a strategic in-depth defense. As a result, the Kingdom has played a strong role in Yemeni affairs, principally through the patronage of northern tribes, the Sunni tribes and factions in the south and east, and various Yemeni politicians. Although problematic at times, this involvement has by and large protected both Saudi and Western interests. From a Western perspective, the United States has an interest in countering and containing AQAP in Yemen. U.S. policy objectives toward Yemen are "to strengthen the Government of Yemen's ability to promote security and minimize the threat from violent extremists; and to bolster its capacity to provide basic services and good governance." 2 "Our ... strategy seeks to address the root causes of instability and improve governance." 3 But beyond U.S. concern for AQAP, Dr. Barrett points out that the Yemenis understand full well that U.S. strategic interests in Yemen are "tangential to other political and strategic interests." The insights provided in Yemen: A Different Political Paradigm In Context plus recent events in Yemen suggest that the time is ripe to reconsider U.S. approaches toward Yemen. Dr. Barrett suggests that Yemen cannot be transformed. Good governance, as Western nations would define it, is most likely unachievable. Our policy must deal with multiple Yemens with conflicting historical, political, economic, and cultural heritages.
Download or read book Yemen written by Roby Carol Barrett and published by Jsou Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this sweeping study of Yemen, Dr. Barrett argues that while Yemen may be a failed state, it is not a failed society. Yemen is a complex society with power built on family, clan, and tribal relationships. It is not one nation-state, but rather a balance of multiple Yemens based on fundamental social, cultural, and sectarian differences. Within this context Dr. Barrett asserts that now is the time to reconsider U.S. approaches towards Yemen. We should not seek governmental transformation, but rather strive to reach beyond the central government and weak institutions to engage tribes and clans. Throughout history, political power has ebbed and flowed between central and decentralized local and regional authority. Yemen today is no more or less fragmented than it has ever been. Our goal should be to strive to achieve a balance among these multiple Yemens -- groups that have coexisted, almost in continuous conflict, throughout history.
Download or read book The rules of Barat Tribal documents from Yemen written by Paul Dresch and published by Centre français de recherche de la péninsule Arabique. This book was released on 2016-01-06 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul Dresch Rules of Barat presents several eighteenth-century agreements among tribesmen from Jabal Barat, north-east of Yemen. These documents, previously unedited, shed new light on the history of customary law ('urf) in Yemen.
Download or read book Yemen Chronicle written by Steven Charles Caton and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2005 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1979, Steven C. Caton went to a remote area of Yemen to do fieldwork on the famous oral poetry of its tribes. Soon he was embroiled in a dangerous local conflict. This is Caton's touchingly candid account of the extraordinary events that ensued.
Download or read book Tribal Relations and Political History in Upper Yemen written by Paul Dresch and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Legalism Anthropology and History written by Paul Dresch and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-08-30 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Law and law-like institutions are visible in human societies very distant from each other in time and space. When it comes to observing and analysing such social constructs historians, anthropologists, and lawyers run into notorious difficulties in how to conceptualize them. Do they conform to a single category of 'law'? How are divergent understandings of the nature and purpose of law to be described and explained? Such questions reach to the heart of philosophical attempts to understand the nature of law, but arise whenever we are confronted by law-like practices and concepts in societies not our own. In this volume leading historians and anthropologists with an interest in law gather to analyse the nature and meaning of law in diverse societies. They start from the concept of legalism, taken from the anthropologist Lloyd Fallers, whose 1960s work on Africa engaged, unusually, with jurisprudence. The concept highlights appeal to categories and rules. The degree to which legalism in this sense informs people's lives varies within and between societies, and over time, but it can colour equally both 'simple' and 'complex' law. Breaking with recent emphases on 'practice', nine specialist contributors explore, in a wide-ranging set of cases, the place of legalism in the workings of social life. The essays make obvious the need to question our parochial common sense where ideals of moral order at other times and places differ from those of modern North Atlantic governance. State-centred law, for instance, is far from a 'central case'. Legalism may be 'aspirational', connecting people to wider visions of morality; duty may be as prominent a theme as rights; and rulers from thirteenth-century England to sixteenth-century Burma appropriate, as much they impose, a vision of justice as consistency. The use of explicit categories and rules does not reduce to simple questions of power. The cases explored range from ancient Asia Minor to classical India, and from medieval England and France to Saharan oases and southern Arabia. In each case they assume no knowledge of the society or legal system discussed. The volume will appeal not only to historians and anthropologists with an interest in law, but to students of law engaged in legal theory, for the light it sheds on the strengths and limitations of abstract legal philosophy.
Download or read book Yemen on the Brink written by Christopher Boucek and published by Carnegie Endowment. This book was released on 2010-08 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yemen is facing a unique confluence of crises. A civil war in the North, a secessionist movement in the South, and a resurgence of al Qaeda are unfolding against the background of economic collapse, insufficient state capacity, and governance and corruption issues. The security challenges are the most important in the short run, because economic and governance issues cannot be addressed without a minimum of stability. This volume brings together analyses of the critical problems that have dragged Yemen close to state failure. It provides an assessment of Yemen's major security challenges by recognized experts, and it broadens the discussion of the tools available to the international community to pull Yemen back from the brink. Separate chapters examine the resurgence of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the complex relationship between al Qaeda and the Yemini tribes, the Southern secessionist movement, and the civil war in Saada. Contents include • Yemen: Avoiding a Downward Spiral • What Comes Next in Yemen? Al-Qaeda, the Tribes, and State-Building • The Political Challenge of Yemen's Southern Movement • War in Saada: From Local Insurrection to National Challenge • Instrumentalizing Grievances: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Contributors include Sarah Phillips (Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney), Stephen Day (Rollins College), and Alistair Harris (RUSI and former diplomat and UN staff member).
Download or read book Arab Media Systems written by Carola Richter and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2021-03-03 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a comparative analysis of media systems in the Arab world, based on criteria informed by the historical, political, social, and economic factors influencing a country’s media. Reaching beyond classical western media system typologies, Arab Media Systems brings together contributions from experts in the field of media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to provide valuable insights into the heterogeneity of this region’s media systems. It focuses on trends in government stances towards media, media ownership models, technological innovation, and the role of transnational mobility in shaping media structure and practices. Each chapter in the volume traces a specific country’s media – from Lebanon to Morocco – and assesses its media system in terms of historical roots, political and legal frameworks, media economy and ownership patterns, technology and infrastructure, and social factors (including diversity and equality in gender, age, ethnicities, religions, and languages). This book is a welcome contribution to the field of media studies, constituting the only edited collection in recent years to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of Arab media systems. As such, it will be of great use to students and scholars in media, journalism and communication studies, as well as political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists with an interest in the MENA region.
Download or read book Waqf in Zayd Yemen written by Eirik Hovden and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-10-22 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islamic foundations (waqf, pl. awqāf) have been an integral part of Yemeni society both for managing private wealth and as a legal frame for charity and public infrastructure. This book focuses on four socially grounded fields of legal knowledge: fiqh, codification, individual waqf cases, and everyday waqf-related knowledge. It combines textual analysis with ethnography and seeks to understand how Islamic law is approached, used, produced, and validated in selected topics of waqf law where there are tensions between ideals and pragmatic rules. The study analyses central Zaydī fiqh works such as the Sharḥ al-azhār cluster, imamic decrees, fatwās, and waqf documents, mostly from Zaydī, northern Yemen. For the Arabic edition, please see here.
