The Role of Indigenous People in National Development Processes: Participation and Marginalisation of Indigenous Bedouin in South Sinai Tourism Development Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des Akademischen Grades eines Dr. phil., vorgelegt dem Fachbereich 09 – Chemie, Pharmazie und Geowissenschaften der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz von Andrea von Sarnowski aus München 2010 2 Referent: Prof. Dr. Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Tag des Prüfungskolloquiums: 26.11.2010 3 “The colony of a civilized nation which takes possession either of a waste country, or of one so thinly inhabited, that the natives easily give place to new settlers, advances more rapidly to wealth and greatness than any other human society.” (Adam Smith) Researcher: “And you, are you Egyptian?” Bedouin: “What do you mean, inside, in my heart or on my ID? On the ID I am Egyptian, but inside I am a Bedouin. And what does the nationality mean anyway? We have already been Israelis, too. One has to have some nationality and one cannot have a Bedouin nationality. A Bedouin nationality does not exist, because we do not have a state.” (Mzaina, Dahab, male, 24) “Globalization is a fact; we must govern it to control its impact, first mitigating and then preventing any excesses. Let us not forget that the price is often paid by the weakest in our society, those excluded from globalization, those brutally marginalized by it, not those who are involved and enjoy its fruits.” (Romano Prodi) 4 Preface The idea for this dissertation was developed in 2001, when I was looking for a dissertation project in the Arab world that would be exciting intellectually as well as in other aspects and that would give me the opportunity to practice the Arab language that I had studied at uni- versity. After a respective Google-search, I called Prof. Dr. XXXXXXX from the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz and inquired whether there were any possibilities to do a Ph.D. research and thesis under his supervision. Prof. XXXXXX then presented three possible research topics to me: XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXX and the conflicts between local Bedouin and migrants in tourism development in South Sinai. At the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, I had already written an essay on pastoralism and felt a great affinity to now do empirical research with a (previously) pastoralist people – the Bedouin. So my preference was clear. It took another two years during which I worked for a GTZ project in Sri Lanka and prepared the Ph.D. project proposal, before I started my fieldwork for this research in Sinai in May 2003. This study could not have been completed without the help and support of many people to whom I express my sincere gratitude. I am particularly grateful to the following people who supported me during my fieldwork in South Sinai: • To all the respondents in Sinai who gave me their time, patience and trust and shared their knowledge and experiences with me. • To the Bedouin families1 who invited me to stay with them and participate in their lives in Wadi XXXl2, Nuwaiba and Dahab. I express my deepest gratitude to these families for their warm hospitality. • To the staff of XXX Camp in XXX for their friendship and support. • To XXX, consultant, who contributed important data and insights. For their support during the conceptual design and all the phases of drawing up this work, I would like to extend my thanks to the following people: • To Prof. Dr. XXX who has known South Sinai for many years and suggested to me to do research on the tourism development in South Sinai and the involvement of the Bedouin as early as 2001, who offered to supervise this thesis and whose experienced advice was 1 The names of these families are withheld in order to protect them from possible consequences that could follow if their support of the researcher became known. 2 The spelling of Arabic names and terms in this text is largely based on the common English transcription of standard Arabic. 5 of great help during the fieldwork as well as during the writing of this thesis. I am also very grateful for his patience and understanding in a very difficult phase of my life and his continous support and belief in my capabilities. • To Prof. Dr. XXX, the XXX XXX XXX XXX and professor during my studies for my first degree. The valuable knowledge that I gained in his absorbing lectures on tropical geography and developing countries built a foundation for the preparation of this thesis. • To the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes for their financial support in this project. • To Prof. Dr. XXX, most of all for her appreciation and encouragement as well as for her comments on a draft of this thesis. • To my good and long year friend XXX for viewing through a draft version of this thesis. • To XXX and XXX for providing a conducive working atmosphere when it was most needed. • To my husband, XXX, for his support, encouragement, patience and understanding. • To my parents for letting me grow to be who I am and helping me to do all my study and travel projects. To them, my family and all other friends for always being there for me. Andrea von Sarnowski August 2010 6 Table of Contents 6 List of Tables 10 List of Figures 10 List of Maps 10 List of Fotos 11 List of Abbreviations 11 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 13 1.1 Problems and Objectives 15 1.2 Outline of the Study 15 2. Indigenous People, Tourism Development and the Livelihood Systems Approach 19 2.1 The Indigenous Peoples’ Plight: Second Class Citizens of Nation States 19 2.2 International Support for Indigenous Peoples 21 2.3 Approaches to a Definition of “Indigenous People” 23 2.4 Tourism as a Chance For Development and its Impact on Indigenous Peoples 26 2.4.1 Benefits of Tourism Development 26 2.4.2 Costs of Tourism Development 27 2.4.3 Structures of Power and the Distribution of Benefits from Tourism 28 2.5 The Livelihood Systems Approach (LSA) 28 2.5.1 Context, Conditions and Trends 29 2.5.2 Livelihood Resources 31 2.5.3 Institutional Processes and Organizational Structures 31 2.5.4 Livelihood Strategies 32 2.5.5 Sustainable or Unsustainable Livelihood? 32 3. South Sinai Bedouin: Arabs, Ethnic Minority and Indigenous People? 35 3.1 Concepts of Ethnicity 36 3.1.1 The Primordial View 36 3.1.2 Situational or Instrumental Perspectives 36 3.1.3 Self-identification 36 3.2 The South Sinai Bedouin – Arabs or Arabs? 37 3.2.1 Genealogy 37 3.2.2 Arabhood and the Dynamic Concept of Ethnic Identity 37 3.2.3 Self-definition as the Decisive Argument/Factor 40 3.3 South Sinai Bedouin – an Indigenous People? 41 7 4. Methods of Data Collection and Analysis 45 4.1 The Selection of the Study Area 45 4.2 Material 47 4.3 Choice of Data Collection Method 48 4.3.1 Limited Existing Knowledge about the Situation in Sinai 48 4.3.2 Autocratic Regime and its Suspicion towards any Kind of Investigation 48 4.3.3 Bedouin Culture and Mentality 49 4.4 Qualitative Research through Semi-structured Interviews 50 4.4.1 Foundations of Qualitative Research 50 4.4.2 The Semi-structured or Problem-centered Interview 51 4.4.3 Development of Key Questions for the Interviews in this Research 52 4.5 Data Collection in Three Field Phases 52 4.5.1 First and Second Field Phase 52 4.5.2 Third Field Phase 53 4.5.3 Interview Strategy – Establishing Trust 54 4.5.4 Recording the Data 55 4.6 Data Processing 56 4.7 Data Analysis and Interpretation 57 4.8 Evaluation of the Applied Methods 57 4.8.1 Finding Respondents 58 4.8.2 The Interview Situation 59 4.8.3 Sensitive Issues 60 4.8.4 Understanding of Language and Culture 61 4.8.5 Quantification 63 4.8.6 Validation 63 4.9 Conclusion 65 5. Context, Conditions and Trends 67 5.1 Location and Physical Geography 67 5.2 Historical Overview 68 5.3 The Bedouin of South Sinai 71 5.3.1 Bedouin Social Organization 72 5.3.2 The Role of the Bedouin Shaikhs in the Rule of Sinai 75 5.3.3 Bedouin Socio-economy in the Past 77 5.4 Development of South Sinai since 1982 and Plans for the Future 82 5.4.1 Present Administration and Political System 82 5.4.2 Significance of South Sinai for Egypt and the “National Project for the Development of Sinai 1994-2017” 83 5.4.3 Consideration of Bedouin Interests in the “National Project for the Development of Sinai 1994-2017” and other Government Development Plans 84 5.4.4 Tourism Development in Sinai 85 8 5.4.5 Characteristics and Locations of South Sinai Tourism Development 87 5.4.6 The Impact of Violent Conflicts on the Tourism Industry 93 6. Livelihood Resources 99 6.1 Natural Capital 99 6.2 Physical Capital 100 6.2.1 Physical Capital Available for Use by the Public 100 6.2.2 Physical Capital Privately Owned by Households 101 6.3 Financial Capital 104 6.4 Human Capital 105 6.4.1 Formal Education 105 6.4.2 Informal Education 108 6.5 Social Capital 109 6.5.1 Formal Types of Social Capital 109 6.5.2 Informal Types of Social Capital 111 7. Institutional Processes and Organisational Structures 113 7.1 The Loss of Control over Land 114 7.1.1 Bedouin and their Land in the Past 114 7.1.2 Government Land Policy 116 7.1.3 Land under Bedouin Ownership 124 7.2 Barriers to Market Entry 131 7.2.1 Government Regulations 131 7.2.2 Competition and Uneven Bargaining Power 137 7.3 Discrimination by Government Authorities and Egyptian Migrants 140 7.4 Social Differentiation 149 8.