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Food, Family and Negotiating the Future: the Effects of Sedentarization and Urbanization on the Foodways of Bedouin Women in Northern Israel

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Food, Family and Negotiating the Future: the Effects of Sedentarization and Urbanization on the Foodways of Bedouin Women in Northern Israel Food, Family and Negotiating the Future: The Effects of Sedentarization and Urbanization on the Foodways of Bedouin Women in Northern Israel by TAMMY RAE DAVIES B.A., University of British Columbia Okanagan, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) November 2011 © Tammy Rae Davies 2011 Abstract The political framework in Israel discriminates against its Arab citizenry, affecting education, employment, and economy for this minority group. Included in the Arab minority are the Bedouin and a minority within this minority are the Bedouin women. On a state level and community level, Bedouin women struggle against a political and patriarchal system that does not normally support their advancement. Traditionally semi-nomadic pastoralists, the Mawasi Bedouin have become, in most cases, village dwellers and wage labourers. In this thesis I discuss my research on the foodways of Mawasi Bedouin women in Northern Israel and the role food plays in their lives. Operating in a patriarchal system, embedded in a foreign colonial culture, Mawasi Bedouin women have used, and continue to use, food as a source of identity, power and agency, as a means of communication, for reciprocal exchanges and informal economy, and as social control. Food is at the heart of women’s relationships and acts as a medium for building social ties, resistance in political and social arenas, and communication when spoken language is inappropriate or politically precarious. Women’s interactions with and uses of food have shifted throughout the process of sedentarization, and continue to be renegotiated in tandem with changes in their social roles within the family, the community and the greater world. This thesis is based on data collected using participant observation, food- centred in-depth life history interviews, informal interviews, and photo journaling during two periods of fieldwork (July to August 2007; July to September 2009) in Haifa, Shefar’am, Tamra and I’blin. ii Preface Ethics approval for this research was provided by the UBC Okanagan Behavioural Research and Ethics Board, certificate number: H09-00244. iii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Preface............................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Illustrations ......................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1— Introduction: Separation, Transition, and Incorporation ............................................ 1 Chapter 2 — Food, Can’t Live Without it: Food and Culture ........................................................ 8 Theories, Past and Present ........................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 3 — Beautiful Bones: Theory and Method ..................................................................... 21 Geopolitical Positioning ............................................................................................................ 26 The Method to my Madness ...................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 4 — Feast Your Eyes- Food Mapping ............................................................................ 40 Khazneh’s Food and Food Routes ............................................................................................. 41 Tamra: Food and Food Routes .................................................................................................. 50 Chapter 5 — Tents to Town: Historical Background ................................................................... 63 Chapter 6 — Where She Lives: Power, Society, and Economics ................................................ 71 Chapter 7 — Sense of Self- Food and Identity ............................................................................. 77 Fashion and Identity .................................................................................................................. 81 Food and Identity ....................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter 8 — Culinary Persuassions: Food and Gender ............................................................... 90 Sex and Sexuality ...................................................................................................................... 92 Education ................................................................................................................................. 101 Status ....................................................................................................................................... 104 Marriage ................................................................................................................................... 106 Hospitality ............................................................................................................................... 109 Reciprocity............................................................................................................................... 114 iv Informal Economy ................................................................................................................... 116 Gendered Space ....................................................................................................................... 117 Food as a Means of Resistance ................................................................................................ 122 Food and Body......................................................................................................................... 125 Chapter 9 —Talking with Your Mouth Full- Food as Language, Symbol, and Metaphor ......... 129 Chapter 10 — Conclusion: Grab Your Napkin, Loosen Your Belt ............................................ 135 End Notes .................................................................................................................................... 140 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 142 v List of Illustrations Figure 1: Khazneh at a family wedding. ......................................................................................... 5 Figure 2: Map of the research area in Israel. © Google Maps 2011 ............................................... 7 Figure 3: Road leading to the market in Haifa. ............................................................................. 42 Figure 4: Khazneh and her best friend. ......................................................................................... 43 Figure 5: Khazneh choosing squash at the market........................................................................ 43 Figure 6: Khazneh at the sundries store in the market. ................................................................. 44 Figure 7: A friend's store at the market. ........................................................................................ 44 Figure 8: Khazneh preparing lunch at her friend’s store .............................................................. 45 Figure 9: Dry foods store in the market. ....................................................................................... 45 Figure 10: Arab cake and pastry store. ......................................................................................... 46 Figure 11: Making lebneh, yogurt cheese, at Khazneh's house in Haifa. ..................................... 46 Figure 12: Khazneh’s Mahashee, ‘stuffed eggplant and squash’. ................................................ 47 Figure 13: Khazneh’s pickled betinjan, ‘eggplant with hot peppers.’ .......................................... 47 Figure 14: Deep frying bami, ‘okra,’ at Khazneh's house in Haifa. ............................................. 48 Figure 15: Khazneh’s Bami in tomato and garlic sauce. .............................................................. 48 Figure 16: Olive trees in Khazneh's garden in I'blin. .................................................................... 49 Figure 17: Dawali, grape leaves, eaten stuffed with rice and meat. ............................................. 49 Figure 18: Khazneh watering her new grape vines and citrus trees. ............................................ 50 Figure 19: View from the roof of agricultural fields in the village in Tamra. .............................. 51 Figure 20: Supermarket in Tamra. ................................................................................................ 52 Figure 21: Vegetables in the supermarket in Tamra. .................................................................... 53 Figure 22: Pita at the bakery in Tamra. ......................................................................................... 53 Figure 23: Specialty bread at the
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