Tribes, Government and History in Yemen

This book is complex and, at points, obscure. Yet it is also an exceptionally rich collection of information about trihal identity and ethos in Yemen and, for scholars with a special interest in Yemeni society, can be a valuable resource. The author orients much of his material toward two main ques...

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Autor principal: William C. Young
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Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 1997
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/19a24e5d9dab4094bc3e4f666741a42a
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:19a24e5d9dab4094bc3e4f666741a42a2021-12-02T17:26:08ZTribes, Government and History in Yemen10.35632/ajis.v14i3.22772690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/19a24e5d9dab4094bc3e4f666741a42a1997-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/2277https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 This book is complex and, at points, obscure. Yet it is also an exceptionally rich collection of information about trihal identity and ethos in Yemen and, for scholars with a special interest in Yemeni society, can be a valuable resource. The author orients much of his material toward two main questions, neither of which I formulated explicitly: How can tribal political organization and state legal institutions co-exist, not only for brief moments but for over 1,000 years? and How have the names and boundaries of tribal territories been preserved with little change for such a long time? The answer to the first question is on p. 165: " ... the hijrah [in Yemeni Arabic: a protected space or person] provided the point around which both states of the world turned: strong Imams fheads of state] and weak. It could do so because it meant different things to different people.” The first 150 pages of the book, especially chapters 2 (“The Language of Honour”), 3 (“Tribes and Collective Action”) and 4 (“Estates of Society within the Tribal Peace”), lead up to and persuaded us to accept the conclusion that the mutual recognition by the state and by the tribes of neutral zones and people in tribal territories facilitated trade, tribe-state communication, and contact between literate Islamic specialists and illiterate farmers and stock-breeders. Even when the interests of the tribes and the state were directly opposed (for instance, in controlling roads and determining rates of taxation), violent conflicts between tribe and state were kept partly in check by tribal custom, just as they were when tribe clashed with tribe (see pp. 267, 268, 379-387) ... William C. YoungInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 14, Iss 3 (1997)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
William C. Young
Tribes, Government and History in Yemen
description This book is complex and, at points, obscure. Yet it is also an exceptionally rich collection of information about trihal identity and ethos in Yemen and, for scholars with a special interest in Yemeni society, can be a valuable resource. The author orients much of his material toward two main questions, neither of which I formulated explicitly: How can tribal political organization and state legal institutions co-exist, not only for brief moments but for over 1,000 years? and How have the names and boundaries of tribal territories been preserved with little change for such a long time? The answer to the first question is on p. 165: " ... the hijrah [in Yemeni Arabic: a protected space or person] provided the point around which both states of the world turned: strong Imams fheads of state] and weak. It could do so because it meant different things to different people.” The first 150 pages of the book, especially chapters 2 (“The Language of Honour”), 3 (“Tribes and Collective Action”) and 4 (“Estates of Society within the Tribal Peace”), lead up to and persuaded us to accept the conclusion that the mutual recognition by the state and by the tribes of neutral zones and people in tribal territories facilitated trade, tribe-state communication, and contact between literate Islamic specialists and illiterate farmers and stock-breeders. Even when the interests of the tribes and the state were directly opposed (for instance, in controlling roads and determining rates of taxation), violent conflicts between tribe and state were kept partly in check by tribal custom, just as they were when tribe clashed with tribe (see pp. 267, 268, 379-387) ...
format article
author William C. Young
author_facet William C. Young
author_sort William C. Young
title Tribes, Government and History in Yemen
title_short Tribes, Government and History in Yemen
title_full Tribes, Government and History in Yemen
title_fullStr Tribes, Government and History in Yemen
title_full_unstemmed Tribes, Government and History in Yemen
title_sort tribes, government and history in yemen
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 1997
url https://doaj.org/article/19a24e5d9dab4094bc3e4f666741a42a
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