forum for middle east research in antt~ropology

Volume IV, Number 3 Fall, 1980

ABOUT MERA FORUM

~lliRA Forum was initiated by a group of anthropologists in 1976, to foster increased communication among scholars conducting anthropological research on the Middle East and North Africa . It is intended to be a clearinghouse for information and thus depends on the participation of all ~vho receive it . Remember to send your announce­ ments and articles to the'editor who is responsible for the next issue .

The newsletter includes announcements and short articles of up to about two pages . These may be political or theoretical contributions, research reports , reports on scholarly conferences, book reviews, requests for collaboration, exchanges, debates, or whatever . If possible, please type all contributions in the fonnat used in this issue--single- spaced with 3/4 inch margins--so that they can be pasted up directly without retyping .

~lliRA Forum is published quarterly by four editors serving two year terms who take turns preparing issues . If you wish to receive and participate in ~ffiRA Forum, send $5 to cover printing and mailing costs to : Middle East Research Group in Anthropology, Roger Joseph, Treasurer, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Fullerton, California 92634 . Write your checks to MERGA . Persons living in countries where currency export is restricted may ask for courtesy subscriptions. There is an added fee for overseas airmail of $4 .

f::DITOI~ FOR Tllr~___l?_Sllfo:: I.;Jurcncc ~tichaL1k, Center fcH 1'-tidcllc E.1stcrn Srudics , 215 Mo s es llaLJ, University of C.1lifornio, lkrkel y, Cn l ifornin 94720, (415) 642-8208.

EDITOR FOR TilE \.JINTER ISSUE : Ursuln Ftmk , Deportment nf i\nthropology, SLanford University, SL

A NOTE FRm1 THIS fSSUE'S ElllTOR

For the MERA Forum, the set of twelve articles following the announcements section is something of an experiment in both form and focus . The form is that of s hort essays, up to about two pages in length, a challenge to brevity. And the focus of this particular issue is geographical: the Maghreb, from Morocco through Libya . The Maghreb is in a way an orphaned area for scholarship, at least in America . Middle East scholars commonly define the ~laghreb as outside of or only peripheral to the " real " Middle East, and Africanists, when North Africa is mentioned, hasten to specify that their area is actually "Africa south of the Sahara. " The Maghreb moreover tends to be relatively less familiar to English-speaking scholars because , until recently , it ]l;Js been an area the greater p.1rt of which has been dominated by the French, in scholarship as well as otherwise. In short, the Hnghrcb has with the exception of · a _few important works been an area relegated to secondary importance in English-speaking scholarship and, in focusing on it, ~e are engaging in a rite of reversal of sorts .

The topics addressed are familiar to anthropology, but among the twelve authors are two historians, a political scientist, a folklorist; and a rhetorician with a doctorat e in comparative literature . The first short article .(after the announcements) is by Fred Huxley (pp 5- 7), who has lived and studied in Tunisia and Lebanon . and wbo wr~tes on comparisons between the eastern and western wings of the ~fiddle East . An article follows by Lisa Anderson (pp 7-9) , possibly the only American to do research in Libya since the revolution there; those interested i n research conditions in Libya should also consult her article in the July 1980 ~SA Bulletin. Donald Holzinger (pp 9- 10) and Marian Gram (pp 10-12) have done research of different kinds and i n different part s of Algeria, and they offer complementary views on conditions of short- and long- term research in this huge country--the second largest i n Africa--which has been relatively neglected by American scholars. Sabra Webber (pp 12- 14) , who has lived and done research in North Africa at intervals over a period of 14 years, contributes a review of work by the French scholar of Algeria, Pierre Bourdieu . Conception del Castillo (pp 14- 16) describes her dissertation research in a Tunisian community near the Libyan border . Liesa Auerbach (pp 16-18) draws on her dissertation research in the Tunisian Sahel to suggest an approach to the study of women ' s status and power . Mira Zussman (pp 18- 21) also draws on her Tunisia research--on family farms and cooperatives in the Lower Medjerda--for an article about an aspect of r ural Tunisian world- view. Bridget Connelly (pp 21-23) reports on a recent conference on Bani Hillal tales, a topic she studied for her doct orate . Nancy Gallagher (pp 23-24) did her doctoral research on Maghrebi medical history and offers a review of two books on the subject . Elaine Combs - Schilling (pp 24 - 26), currently writing a thesis on shopkeepers in a Ce ntral Moroccan town, reviews Clifford Geertz' s recent publication on Horoccan mt1rkets . And llind Nassif (pp 26-27) summarizes her recent study on women in the labor force in Morocco .

Among the announcements ~.Jbich foJ low, we call your particular attention to the meeting of the ~IERGA group at the American Anthropology convention next month . This \.Jill be a particularly important meeting if the group aud the Forum are to continue, since some new editors will be chosen. I0 closing, I would like to acknowledge assistance on this issue of the Forum for printing and mailing by the Center for Hiddle Eastern Studies of the University of California at Berkeley . Thanks also to Jean Auka, Assistant at the Center , who retyped almost all the announcemen~s and manuscripts . __ Laurence Michalak - J-

AHERIC/\N ANTIIROPOLOC.ICI\L ASSOCIATION 1980 CONFEHENC:E

The 79th Annu;ll ~1ecting of the Amerlc:m Anthropology Associntlon wl.ll be held in ~.J.1shington, D.C., nl the W,tshlnt;ton llilton llolcl. fl-<1111 'l'lll1rsdny, Decc'mhcr 4th, Lhrouglt Sund:ty , Dc<'l'lllher 7t:lt . The progrnm includes C1VL't· 250 sc!cnL[flt: scssil)ns ;md S[Wl'1:1l events, including a Distinguished Lecture by Sir Ruymond Firth on the topic, "Spiritual Aroma: ReElections on Religion and Politics .'' There are Middle East- related papers s~attered throtJghout various panels, as.well as three panels specifically related to the Middle East : --Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan, Friday 8 : 30-11: 30; --Nile Anthropology : Current Research, Sunday 1:30-3:45; and --Islamic Ideology, Sunday 2 : 00- 5 : 00. The schedule, session titles and participants are printed in the AAA Newsletter, Vol . 21, No . 6 (September 1980), available for $2 . 50 from : Anthropo l ogy Newsletter American Anthropological Association 1703 New Hampshire Avenue , NW Washington , D.C. 20009 tel. : (202) 232- 8800 . The AAA can also provide convention registration and membership information.

The Middle East Research Group in Anthropology will hold a business meeting at the AAA on Thursday , December 4th, in the Lincoln West Room of the Washington Hilton llotel , from 5 to 7· PM . Business will include choosing replacements for three of the four editors of the HERA Forum (tvho have nmv served out their two- year terms), finding re­ gional correspondents , deciding whether to afficiate t.Jith the AAA , report from the secretary- treasurer . planning Middle East- reJated pnnels for the next 1\1\A Meeting, and generally considering the future of MERGA. We hope that as many interested members as possible will attend and participate.

MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES ASSOCIATION 1980 CONFERENCE

As this issue of the Forum goPs to the printer, the 14th i\ununl ~leeting of the Niddle Eastern Studies Association of North America is about to be held in Washington . D. C., Thursday through Saturday, November 6th through 9th , at the Capital Hilton Hotel . The Program Committee has organized 43 panels , 7 workshops, and 3 current events sessions . Ellen Hermanson of t-1ESA reports that this is the largest progrAm and has elicited the largest registration of any in MESA Conference history . In recognition that this is the beginning of the 15th century in the Islamic calendar, the meeting is giving special prominence to "Studies in Islam--Past, Present and Future ." In addition , the program will also emphnsize secondary issues of development and creative culture .

Local arrangements arc being made by the Center for Contemporary Studies a t Georgetown University. Abstracts of the papers delivered are available from MESA for a fee (last year it was $2.50) . For abstracts and for membership information, contact :

The Middle~~astern Studies Association Hngop KPvorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies 50 Washington Square South Netv York, N. Y. 10003 tel. : (212) sqs- 2400 . i\LTEHNJ\TTVE ~1TI1DI.E Ei\STEHN ST\JI1TJo:S SP.l'!lNAH l9RO

The L\lternative Middle Eastern Studies Seminar is holding its ann ual conference Nov mber 8th and 9th , 1980, in Washington D. C. at George Washington University, the Marnin Ce n ter , 21st and H Streets, N.H . The title of the conference is, " Imperiali sm , Religion , and Revolution in the Middle East . " and the tentative schedule is : - -Saturday, Nov. 8, 9-12 : Panel l;•Islam and Revolution (Ballroom); - - Saturday, Nov . 8, 2-5 : Plenary Session, Business Meeting (Ballroom) ; --Sunday, Nov . 9, 9-12 : Panel 2, Marxism and the Middle East (rm 402- 4) ; - - Sunday, Nov . 9, 2-5 : Panel 3, U. S. Foreign Policy in t he Middle East (rm 402- 4)

NEWSLETTER OF TilE /\1-!ESS, from Ted Swedenberg , Un i versity of Texas/Austin)

New Directions in Hiddle Ei1st Studies Newsletter is published by .AHESS (the Alternatives to ~Iiddle East Studies Seminar) . AMESS was founded in November 1977 by a group of student of the. Middle East who were concerned about the relat ion of American scholarship on the Middle East to U.S . policy in the area and about the structure and orientation of the Middle East studies in the U. S . The ND}ffiS newsletter reflects these concerns and facili­ tates the exchange of information and ideas among AMESS members . Included are reports on AMESS regional and national conferences, bibliographic notes, communications from members on their research projects, etc . Subscriptions (3 issues per year) are $5, payable to Pat Cla~.:rson, Department of Economics , Seton Hall University, South Orange, N. J . 07079.

SECOND I TERNATION.AL CONGRESS OF l'~GHREB HISTORY A D CIVILIZATION from Donald Holzinger, History, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

The Deuxi~me Congr~s International d ' Histoire et de Civilization du Maghreb will be held from the 24th to the 27th of November at Amilcar, near Tunis, Tunisia . The theme is "D~pendance, R~sistance et Mouvements de liberati n dans l'histoire du Maghreb ." Further information can be obtained from: Secr~tariat de la Soci,t6 Tunisienne des Historiens Universitaires Bureau 47, Faculte/ des Lettres et Sciences Huma i nes 94, Bd . du 9 Avril 1938 Tunis, Tunisia .

FIU! ON THE HIDDT...E EAST, from N. W. Jabbra , Dalhousie U, Halifax, N. S.

The National Film Board of Canada, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, has produced a film on an Afghan nomad family called " Sons of Hajji Omar." Directed by L\sen Balikci (of Netsilik Eskimo fame), it follows the family on the trail and i n tmvn, where some members have taken up residence . Color , approx . 1 hr . running time . It can be rented free of charge from the NFB by Canadian educationa i nstitutions, and can probably also be purchased . Its rental order number is 0178 385 . It may also be available for rental or purchase from the Smithsonian .

CHANGE OF AFFILIATION FOR ONE OF Tl!E FORUM EDITORS

Sondra Hale, HERA Forum co-editor, who \vas formerly in Anthropology (and \.Jomen ' s Studies) at California State Unive rsity, Northridge, has be n :-~ppointed Di.rcctor, Center for Women's Studies, F02, California State University, Long Hench, 1250 lkllfloh• r Blvd . . Long Beach, C.:1lifornia 90840. Professional correspondence should be sent there . Home address is the same . -S-

ON C01'1PARISONS IN TilE AR/\13 l.JORLD by F. C. Huxley CentPr for Niddle Eastern Studies, University of California/Berkeley

A traditional way of considering Arab co~ntries is to divide them into the Mishraq and the Maghrib. In the Mishraq the states of "Greater Syria" (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan) form a contiguous block whose territories and societies share many affinities. In the Haghrib, too, geographic and socio-cultural likenesses are found among the states of the former "French North Africa" (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia). Assuming the reader's basic acquaintance with each of these groups , I would like to show how comparisons among them--first between regions and then between a sample country from each--can indicate some promising topics for future research.

On the regional level, Samir Amin has sketched a suggestive comparison:

Like Syria, the northern Maghreb is primarily a mountainous country-- the Greeks called it ' Land of the Atlas '; half of Morocco and Algeria is situated at an altitude of more than 1000 metres. Like Syria, the rainfall is. generally inadequate, irregular , and un evenly distributed: only one third of the country has more than 400 millimetres, which is the annual minimum required for dry cultivation of cereals and mediterranean produce. Again like Syria, it is a country with large minorities oE highland farmers who have preserved their own traditions : Berbers in the l'laghreb ... , whose counterparts are the Maronites of the Lebanon, the Alawi and the Druzes . These are all peoples living entrenched in mountain fastnesses , which the nomadic invasions , that brought the faith of Islam to the land and progress­ ively arabized it, found difficult to penetrate . And, as if to accent uute further the resemblance between these tvo extremities of the Arab 1wrld, both are regions which have recently and extensively been colonized by European settlers--French in North Africa, Israeli in the countries of the Syrian East . (1970 : 10)

Two aspects of this comparison deserve special attention . The first concerns the minority populations in each region. As Amin's text illustrates , the major minorities are "religious" groups in the east, an "ethnic" group in the west . This opens up a very interesting problem of definition and classification . Just h01v are "religious" or "sectarian" groups similar to " ethnic" groups in this part of the '''orld? Arc there significant discriminations bet1veen them here? How do they relate to other vertically structured groups , such as "extended families" or "factions"? h'hat are their links . if any, to stratificational groups like " castes" or " classes" ? And hmoJ does this regionally- based infornwtion relate to broade r contexts?

The other aspect of /\min ' s comp

Given that these parts of the Mishraq and the Maghrib resemble each other in terms of -(i- several geogrnphic :1nd sorio-cultur.1l clwr

Lebanon and Tunisia, for inst:1nce, are th~ smallest states of their respective groups i n populAtion, nrca , and naturnl resources; hO\-reve r, the two coun t r ies provide .:1 very int resting contrast to each other. Lebanon is a highly heterogeneous or pluralistic society with three major ethnic groups, 17 officially recognized religious sects , many political parties and factions , and a wide spread of socio-economic differentiation . Tunisin , conversely, is relatively homogeneous: 99% of the population are Arabs of the Sunni Muslim faith; the only legal party led the struggle for independence and has ruled the country since; and while socio- economic disparities are growing, they in no 1vr~y approach the Lebanese situation pr ior to 1975 . Therefore, Lebanon and Tunisia ca n be seen to constitute opposing poles-- relatively plural versus relatively homogeneous-­ in a spectrum formed by types of social organiztion in the Arab World . Hichael Hudson (1977: J99), for example, sees the two countries as diametric to each other. Lebanon is "unstable, " with a high fragmentation of political culture and low government capa­ cities; \vhile Tunisia is capable of "dynamic" modernization, Hith a low fragmentation of politica] culture and high government capacit.ies . (Events in both countries since 1977 hnve p rhaps aggravated the Lebanese description and attenuated Lhe TunlsL:m one . )

With such different cont·exts, one strategy o( cornpe1rislon is to look for simi.Jnrities. That is. if one can find some factor which occurs in the society at either pole and which is either alike (in the simplest case) or regularly related (jn a more complex one), then it is possible to infer about the presence ;1nd n

For instance . I have been interested for some time i n wasita . a proress where one party acts as intermediary betHeen at least t\-ro others to resolve a dispute , find a spouse. get service from a bureaucracy, and so forth . After studying the process in Lebanon , I wanted to investi~ate whether it might occur in other Arnh societies and, if so , in what form(s) and for Hhat use(s). On the basis of prior experience in Tunisia, I felt that I would find wasita being used there to build networks of personal relationships . So I did , but there were important differences in the ways such wasita- based networks relate to formal, bureaucratic struc~ures in the two societies . I have begun discussing this research (Huxley 1980) and look forward to saying more about it in other contexts , then using it to guide later fieldHork . A similar strategy could perhaps be used to study laff (roughly , "family-a] liance") orgonizntion in the t-lishraq and the t-laghrib, as hns been suggested earlier (Huxl y 1978: 117) . The reader is hopefully inspired to think of other possibilities as well.

So although it is possible , and under the right cir umstances even beneficial, to bifurcate our concept of the Arr1b World , comparing betw en the 1ishraq and the ~laghrib necessarily calls attention bnck to their similnrities as Hell ns tl1eir differences . i

References Cited

Amin, S. 1970 The Maghreb in the modern world. Middlesex, England, Penguin . -7-

Hudson . M. 1977 Arab politics : the search for legitimacy . New Haven . CT . Yale Univer~ity Press.

Huxley , F. 1978 Wasita in a Lebanese context : social exchange amo ng villagers and outsider s . Anthropological Papers No . 6~ , Ann Arbor , MI , University of ~ l ichignn Nuseum of Anthropology .

1980 Intermediat ion i n Lebanon and Tun i sia : two cases and commen tar y . Unpubli shed HSS .

THE POLITICS OF HISTORY : RE - READING 1'HE SANUSI OF CYRENAICA by Lisa S. Anderson Political Science, Columbia University

Few countries have been as neglected by social scientists as Libya. There is no complete description of its colonial experience in any language ; a fe1v partial eulogies by retir ed Ital ian colonial officers, one or two equally partial histories in Arabic , and half a shelf of contemporary travellers ' and journalists ' accounts make up almost the entire published literature on Libya during the first half of the t\ventieth century . Thus, i n contrast to the literature on the rest of the Ma ghrib , the few books available on Libya before independence continue to be used by othen•ise discriminating scholars for lack of anything better .

Among the most important of these books, still in print after more than thirty years , is E. E. Evans- Pritchard ' s The Sanusi of Cyrenaica. I cannot evaluate the merits of Evans­ Pritchard ' s anthropology ; as a political scientist , I am not equipped to do so . When I spent four months i n Libya in 19 79, I was , however , the first non- Libyan since inde­ pendence to undertake research on the Italian period within the country . I have had occasion, then and since, to consider the critical position The Sanusi has long occupied in our understanding of early twentieth century Libyan history .

Unlike their French counterparts in the ~1aghrib, the Italians did not pursue scholarly research on their ex- colony after it became independent . Much of the scholarly work undertaken during the Italian period (1911- 1943) had been devoted to demonstrating that Mussolini ' s Empire was heir to a Roman predecessor and intervening civilizations , including that of the Arabs and Islam , were gi ven short shrift . In the aftermath of World War II , the colonial adventure in Libya was associated with t l1e profoundly embar­ rassing Fascist era and tl1e young tradition of Italian Oricntalism suffered a crisis of identity and confidence from which it is only now recovering . There has been, t h erefore, no revisionist school comparable to that in French Orientalism. As for the Libyans themselves , they found better uses than scholarly pursuits for the seven or so university graduates they had at independence and they have only recently found the human as we l l as financial resources to nEford academic research . The British Military Administration (B~~) of Libya which administered the country from the defeat oE the Italians in 1943 until the country ' s independence in 1951 was but a footnote to the history of British imperialism, but it had its scholarly apologist , in the person of Evans-Prit chard .

Evans- Pritchard was an officer of the British Militar y Administration in Cyrenaica and , as I lvas recently told by one of his fellow GMA officials , he did not much like the country . That this is not evident Erom the book itself may be a mark of his skill­ ful and elegant ommand of language ; no other book on Libya approaches The Sanusi ' s spare and stylish exposition . Neither does any other book have the nir of authority which lack of critical revi sionism in Libyan studies has lent Evans- Pritchard ' s work. -8-

The Sanusi of Cyrenaica is, however, an illuminating example of the observation tlwt among the spoils won by victors is the right to fashion history ; this is scholarship in the service of imperialism.

British interests in Libya grew out of the First World War when , i n or der to secure Egypt ' s· western frontier, the British entered i n to agreements with I dri s , t he head of the Sanusi religious order. Partly to annoy the Italians, partly to shore up thei r flagging reputation for good faith in dealings. with " nati ve Arab chieftains ," t he British then began the process of transforming Idr is into a genuine political figure . As Evans-Pritchard himself observes ''from this time, the British authorities favored his pretentions to the leadership of Cyrenaica. " (p. 126)

Although there were other aspirants to nationalist leadership i n Libya , i ncluding t he founders of the Tripoli Republic of 1918- 1922, it would be hard to ascertain from The Sanusi ; the ·book. is not about t hose who failed t o \v in British s upport . I ndeed , t~ few references to the Order ' s competitor s cast t hem as selfish villai ns : Idris ' cous in "j ust failed to bring the whole country un der the Sanusiya flag . . . chi efly bec

It was to be the British who were the arbiters of Libya ' s f ut ure after World Wa r II, and it was they who sponsored Idris as the King of i ndependent Libya . Most of the historical chapters of The Sanusi of Cyrenaica are based on the BHA ' s Handbook on Cyrenaica: History, written by Sir Duncan Cummings , then the chief British official in Cyrenaica, who told me that he also gave Evans- Pritchard his unpublished notes . The purpose of the Handbook coincided with the larger purpose of the Administration, \vhich was to insure the smooth transition from Italian rule to independence under pro- British Idris . The Sanusi of Cyrenaica may not have been intended a& an apologia for Britisl1 policy but it reflects its sources . In its emphasis on the Order ' s organization, independence, and vitality, it neglects the role of British support and distorts t he equally long and valiant struggles of the Libyan nationalists who fo ugh t both Italian rule and ~ritish influence, who rej ect ed the r ule of an aging and anachronisti c religious figure , and who acquiesced in the British- sponsored Kingdom under Idris only \vhen it became clear that they had no other choice .

By the time I arrived in Libya, ten years after the revolution which overthreh' King Idris, The Sanusi of Cyrenaica had been removed from the library shelves , along with all other books about the Sanusiyyah and the monarchy . It was , however , often recommended to me as a book I should read . I once remarked to a Libyan historian that I was surprised that a book I found so unsatisfying should be urged on me by the very peopl e whose history it was supposed to tell. He smiled and said , "yes , but only a Hesterner can say that . We know it is not accurate , but not for the reasons tl1is governme nt clai ms , so we defend it . It is a corrective for t he government ' s lwtrcd of everything Sanusi. Besides, it is the only scholarly book there is about our history in Englis h ; at least we know that some English-speaking people l1ave read something of our history . Even if it is wrong, bad history is better than none at all ." If indeed history is the perogat ive of political victors , the battle has just been joined in Libya . Until its resolution, The Sanusi of Cyrenaica will remain an important book, but it will be used , I hope, with increasing care. -()-

DOING RESEARC:ll IN ALGERIA by Donald C. Holsinger History, George Mason University, Fairfax VA

In 1977 I spent several months conducting disseration research in Algeria . I was working on the social and economic history of the Hizab (northern Algerian Sahara) during the nineteenth century. Having taught in the'.secondary schools of Algeria for two yenrs previously. I foresaw many problems and obstacles which my family, including two small children, and I would face. Some American scholars had warned me not to waste my efforts and had suggested that I seek a "tamer" country for research . Fortunately I ignored these warnings. Although the difficulties of living and working in Algeria should not be underestimated, the hospitality and cooperation which I met on all levels demonstrated that the warnings in this case had been exaggerated.

Official relations between Algeria and the United States have improved over the years as the economic links between the two countries have strengthened- -this in spite of the fact that the public rhetoric has often remained harsh. Despite the officially proclaimed socialist policies of the Algerian government, no foreigner should go to Algeria expecting to find an egalitarian paradise. Algeria has all the problems of a French- modeled bureaucratic system compounded by the special difficulties facing a country starting late in the development race.

Although the btJreaucratic procedures were predictably frustrating and time- consuming, I encountered little resistance or suspician during my stay in Algiers and in the Mizab. Several months before l.eaving fr:111ce for Algeria, I had submitted a request for research allthorization to the Organisme National de la Recherche Sci'ntifique (ONRS) in the Ninistry of Higher Educntion and Scientific Research . I h<1d received a response from ONRS approving my research project but informing me that official authorization should come from the l'1inistry of Higher Education. To sum up a complicated and frustrating process, I spent a month in Algiers trying to obtain this official authoriz<1tion before concluding that the letter of approval was all th~t I really needed and could hope to get. However . had I wished to stay in Algeria beyond the expir~tion o[ my three-month tourist visa, some sort of official authorization might have been necess<1ry.

The time in Algiers was not wasted since it enabled me to t11ork in the Bibliotheqt1c Nationale and to make contact with numerous org<1nizations nnd individuRls. Letters of introduction in French nnd/or Ar::1bic were helpful. Official <1ffiliation tvith the University of Algiers appeared not to be feasible although my informal relations with Algerian professors were very profitable. I did not affiliate formally with the Center for AnthropologicAl. Prehistoric and Ethnographic Rese

My time in the Mizab was spent interviewing elders and scholArs on the one hand and exploring libraries and collections for written documentation on the other. l was gratified tn meet hospit.1lity .1nd cooper<1tion in virtually nll inst:lnces.

The cost of living in Algeri£1 tvns shocking despite my previous experience there. llousin~ in overpopulated Algiers cnn be a nightmaris\1 problem and my family nnd I were fortunate to have access to Rn unfurnished apartment belonging to an American acquaintance. ln the Mizab we had little difficulty renting a villa in a palm oasis. Although I rarely used my car in Algiers, a vehicl~ was necessary for travel nnd research outside of the cApital. \.Jith the erasure of all visible remains of t.he french l;~ngunge , especially i.n Algiers, it is becoming incre<1singly necessary for foreigners to have some training in Arabic, although French is usally adequr~te for spoken communication.

Having my family \vith me did help to open doors t.Jhich might otherwise have remnined shut, -10- but it also multiplied m8ny problems of day-to-day living.

Since my research experience in Algeria dates from several years ago, some of the above observations may be out-of-date . I hope to return again for short-term research trips . Algeria is a country which amply re\vards foreign visitors \vho arrive with few preconcep­ tions and an open flexible attitude . I would be happy to correspond with anyone contem­ plating research in Algecia .

FIELDHORK IN ALGERIA by 1'1arian Gram Anthropology, University of }licllignn/Ann Achor

From the end of Ramadhan in September 1978 thcough the next fast the following August I was in Algeria, engaged in cesearch on village marriage patterns. I had hoped to spend as much of the year as possible in a village, already selected, doing fieldwork, but I was at my chosen site more like nine months. Many of the delays and problems I exper­ ienced are typical for anthropologists. Colleagues in other social sciences and history may have similar problems, but here I \vould like to point out some of the conditions of doing research outside the academic context of libraries, nrchives, or public offices. While these conditions may seem a series of obstacles to be overcome, they can be a learning experience, necessitating contacts with Algerians involved in similar work, teaching one the workings of a new bureaucracy, and exposing Amecicans to the intellectual demands of third world politics . Finally, the inevitable delays can always provide time for gaining perspective on one's field study, tracking do~1 publications, or forgetting it all at the beach. Below, I shall note some of the prerequisites for research in Algeria from four aspects, the political, the official, the physical and lastly, the personal.

While the official problems of getting

Since hosting an internation;ll congress of sociologists in 1975 , i\lgeri<1 h:1s tilk n :1n official st8nd against ethnog rilphy. They do not oppose fieldwork p0r se. but r<1th0r .::1 narrow interpretRtion of field observations which suggests particular nnd tinique local customs. Although this view is common to currPnt anthropology as well as third world, this should not be taken for granted. FormaJly Algerians are prepared to criticize all American policies and efforts. Youc research must be provPd significant to Algerians . Again and again, pre pare to mphasize how your work differs from colonia l ist definitions of a myriad of scpacate ethnic g coups within Algerian boundaries. Familiacize youcsel£ with Algeria's anthropological experience as presented by Lucas ond Vatin (1975) .

A good way to deal with these issues is through working with Algerians . Affiliate yourself with an Algerian institute or university before coming to Algeria, and attempt to establish some academic contacts thece. If this is difficult from the U. S . . one c:1n -1 1-

t ry by way of French rcsc<1rch org:llli;ntions , but LilL' hcs l :1ppro;1ch ls .1 dl r ccl onC' . /\ n Algerian associate has become a r eq uiremen t for fiel dwork . \.Jhethcr the association is a full partnership or occasional advice from the capital depends on your situation. A team effort will provide you with much b r oader insight into the iss ues raised in your study . Flexibility in acting on this insight and adjusting your research goals is helpful . Further , make clear your intentions of communica t ing the results of your research to Algerians . In some cases an ·{\.lgerian organization may \vant to publish your work .

With a reasonable research goal, begin the official process of getting authorization for the study early . Ideally six months or so before coming to Algiers cont act the director at the Direction de la Recherche Scientifique Ministere de l ' Enseingement Superieu r et de la Recherche Scientifique 1, rue Bachi r Attar . Alger, ALGERIA

With your request for permission to do research , send a detailed explanation of your research with a shorter version in Fr ench . Include o. Curriculum Vi t ae and the name of an Algerian " correspondant ." IE you do not ha ve the latter, tell them you are looking for someone . Ask about various research institutes . Many new organizations have been created in the past decade ; there may be one with information appropriate to your study . Recent Algerian publications and researchers just back from Algeria are the best guide .

While \vai t ing for the reply , \Hi te to the cultural at tache <1 t the Arne ricnn Embassy in Algiers about your study. Ask <1bout current t·escn r c:h conditions , and .1bouL whar sort of visa you ' ll need . This may depend on the l ength ~f your stay rather than your activities . Also , if you let the embassy knmv of your pJ.ans , they can help with formal introductions and documents . They must channel any of your [orms going through the Ministry of For.eign Aff

Since I received the first research authorization issued at the ~linistry of Higher Education , I cannot say how efficient the process has become . Perhaps the phone calls and visits to the Ministry are no longer necessary . However , if you do not have n r esearch authorization in hand upon arrival in Algiers, plan on spending a few weeks in the capital . Don ' t come during Ramadhan. An Algerian document, even a provisional one, is necessary everywhere you intend to do r esearch. Even an extended visit to friends in iJ smnll to•.vn may bring inquiries from the l ocal poliee, nnd eve ry visit to civil nuthorities \vill require presentntion of your " ordn~ de mission". Provincial officinls c

This brings me to the phys i ca l !lnd personal conditions of y0ur stay. Huch depends upon your sex. \v omen cnn travel almost

pnpers for it. llowcvcr, you will miss all those yo11 ndgllt: nH'Ct w:1il Jng . nncl set yourself outside the common Algerinn experience . This may be what you \vCJnt to c-omprehend.

References Cited

Lucas, P., and J.-C. Vatin 1975 L'Algerie des anthropologues . ·,Paris, F. Maspero .

A REVIEW . PIERRE BOURDIEU. OUTLINE OF A THEORY OF PRACTICE . Richard Nice, trans . Cambridge : Studies in Social Anthropology, no . 16, 1977 . 24 pp. (paper). reviewed by Sabra Webber Folklore, University of Texas/Austin

Nuch of Pierre Bourdieu ' s Outlin of a Theory of Prn ti ·e is conC'erned 1.dth d 'mnnstrnting that the sole task of the symbolic sys t m of the Kabyles in Algeri.1 is t lesi timate their historically established order while masking the fact tl1at alternative orders are possible . (pp. 116 & 164) Bourdieu bleakly reveals that this symbolic system is only a disguised form of pmver and capital which " ... never ceases to conform to economic calculation even when it gives every appearance of disinterestedness by departing from the logic of interested calculation (in the narrow sense) and playing for stakes that are non- material and not easily quantified . " (p . 117)

Certainly , for Bourdieu, this situation obtains not only among the Kabyles but cross­ culturally. In a more economicnlly advanced culture, however, where covert strategies in the symbolic domain are replaced ~vith overt formalized economic relations, symbolic forms (though serving the same purpose) become fewer. Nevertheless, a Clllture member in either a class or agrarian culture remains unaware of the economic and material basis of his or her culture ' s symbo1ic structure, and a person's actions \vithin tbis symbolic sphere '' . .. are the product of a modus operandi of which he is not the producer and has no conscious mastery .. . " (p. 79)

Bourdieu includes in the symbolic structure not only feasts, ceremonies, rituals . dancing. singing, folk dress , and folk architecture but traditional language and specifically such folkloric variations as myth, commonplaces. sayings . stories , proverbs and riddles. I find at least three problems with this view . First, there seems no reason traditional language should serve only to legitimate class or social structure . Second, it is unlikely that culture members are unable to perceive the persuasive power of language and take control of it. Third , Bourdieu's manipulation of traditional words and folkloric texts in his construction of the Kabyle ' s habitus (i.e . underlying culture structure) appears unsystematic and selective.

Of course the range of our symbolic world-- and that of the Kahyles-- is defined culturally but it does not logically follow that the symbolic str11cture of the habitus must be simply a reaffirmation of the material structure. And to further stAte that cu l ture members are unable to master or manipulate the symbolic struc-ture including language, effectively blocks the \.Jay to internally controlled culture change. There remains no " ... occasion for modes of thought, art and speech to change drastically . There is no way in the many mansions of the habitus for ne\.J ways of thought actua l ly to achieve domination by way of their different currPncy." (Inglis , p . 365) ~ But surely, lang11nge and tr::Jditional linguistic forms such as riddles nnd proverbs are a resource not only from which b11t through which new perspectives nn habitus can be discovered . As a kn]idescope can be rotated to produce infinite regroupings from a finite number of particles . so language can be turned, experimented with by culture -13- members and, jn Lhe process, alternative conceptions of the matcrinl \vorld m<1y be designed . Materially people may be stymied by hierarchies of sex, age or race but language and linguistic productions are a powerful means of symbolically and sometimes actually (cf Joseph, Terri) overcoming those bonds. Surely it is through the skill of a persuasive speaker that, " ... the capacity for ch.-mge may be highlighted and mn~ manifest to. the community ... " (Bauman, p. 305) And folkloric forms of speech may be especially effective in this respect for, as C. S. Le1vis observes, "I.Jhat is ne\v usually Ivins its way by disguising itself as old ." Though Bourdieu flirts with this power of lang-uage, ultimately he \·Jill not allmv that it is anything other than a " practical" apprehension of the familiar world," (p. 4) a disguised path to economic power only and never an exploration of alternative habitus.

Though a "sense of limits," a "sense of reaJity" is sometimes imposed by language, possibilities for alternative "realities" can alsobe explored in the confines of jokes, stories, riddles, and even proverbs . Bourdieu himself stumbles on a social heretic but fails to recognize him . Djeha, whom Bourdieu takes seriously as a legendary, culturally representative, figure who didn't revenge his father's death for a hundred years (p . 14) is actually a fool or trickster figure \vho acts as a central character in a series of jokes and funny tales found throughout the Middle East . Most of his stories possess anarchic overtones. He tears at the very fabric of the power structure-­ pissing in mosques, chopping off the head of an Imam, extorting money from the sultan and robbing and cheating his friends and neighbors. t,Jhile Bourdieu sees Dj eha as vali­ dating a male Kabyle 's " ... capacity to reopen or cease hostilities in his own good time," (p . 15) Djeha actually is doing the culturalJy "unthinkable''--\·Ja iting one hundred years to avenge his father's death .

Perhaps as more attention is paid to ncquisition of traditional langunge by chiltlren , the \vay in \vhich symbolic and material structures of habitus interrelate will become clearer . Bourdieu sees sayings and proverbs as means by which ch ildren are systematicall y cut off from extrn- cultural possibilitiL'!S . (p . 167) John 1--lcDm•ell, on the other hand, in his study of the significance of riddling for children. has a different finding. According to Hc.:Dowell, through riddling internet ions children· hnve n chnnce nlso to become aware of and to explore the tentntive states of conceptual systems and thus to develop flexible cognitions.

Finally , at the risk of fnlling prey to tvhat Bourdieu cAlls the "occ as ionr~list illusion, " (p. 81) 1 \vOu]d suggesL that he include more immedi.:Jtc cont~xts in his an;,Jysis o( KDbyle habitus. Certainly, as he observes, " ... the truth of ~~n in eraction is never entirely contained in the internction ." (p. 81) Nevertheless, the gathering o( an array of contextuconstructions more appropriate to his own habitus thnn that of the Knbyles. The words and sayings he chooses (sometimes Arabic and sometimes Berber) are jsolnted from their "natural" vcrbtll and nonverbal immediate contexts (e.g. p. 127). Thus they giveth impress·on oE lli.lving been snatched up arbitrarily Hnd the assemblages into which he works them to create his habitus-- unions, oppositions and separations--seem more his crention than the discovered symhoJic structure of Lhe KabylPs .

Whether in the West or among the Knbyles. traditional languAge may indeed serve ns an affirmation of culture prnctices ..... But this langttnge bas A " subversive" potential as well . It is a means of power for relatively powerless individuals And groups , and further, through jokes, ridd l es or proverbs, cuJture members can and do manipulate the boundaries of their cultural perception and symbolically experiment with nlternative structures or even dissolve them. This property of folk speech , so centrrtlly concerned -I'~ -

\vith the wuy tlwt chnngc is eff ctccl in every strntn of soricty inn very immeulnte lvCJy, \JO ttld seem a rewarding perspective from \vhich to study the present rapid ch.:mge in the Middle East .

References Cited

Abrahams , Rog e r D. 1968 "Introductory Remarks to a Rhetorical Theory of Folklore." Journal oE American Folklore 81 : 143- 148 .

Bauman, Richard 1975 "Verbal Art as Performance. " American Anthropologist 77 : 290- 311 .

Burke, Kenneth 1969 Rhetoric of lotives. Berkeley; University of Californi.:~ Press .

Eickelman, Dale F. 1979 "The Political Economy of ~leaning. " American Ethnologist 6: 386- 393.

Fernandez, James W. 1971 "Persua sions and Perform.:~nces : Of the Be.:~st in Every !3ody ... 1\ nd the Hc t aphors o f f. vc r y ~t a n. " In ~ t y tb, Symbnl · ;md Culrurc. Cliffc,t·d C<.> crtz, 0d. New York.; W. W. Norton & Co . pp. 39- 60.

Geertz, Clifford 1973 "The Interpretation of Cultures . New York; Basic Books .

Inglis, Fred 1979 "Good and Ba d Habitus : Bourdieu, Haberm<1s and the Condition of Englond . " Sociol ogi c a] l\cvi ew 27 : 35 1-3fl9.

J oseph, Ro ger 1979 "Tm..rards a Semiotics of Middle Eastern Cultures . " Prtper presented at the 1979 Middle Eastern Studies Association Annual Meeting .

Joseph, Terri 1980 "Poetry as a Stra tegy of Pm..rer : The Case of tbe Riffi

McDowell , John Holmes 1979 Children's Riddling . Blooming ton; Indiana University Press .

Pirsign, Robert M. 1974 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance . New York ; Bantam Books .

NO 11\DS, FARNERS, AND MIGRANT LABOR IN SOUTHERN TUNISIA by Concepcion del Castillo Re gional Planning and Area Development Project University of Wisconsin/Madison

l" This study documents a process of change 1vith reference to a community in the Tunisian south : Ch ahb ania . Loca ted be tween the cities of Medenine and Be n- Gardane, Chahbanin is a t mm tha t 1v.-1s recently e stabJ i s hed--in 1957--but whose inhabitants have occupied th e area (or ge nera tions . The peopl e \~ho f orm the community 1 ive not only in the sm .:-t ll t own of Cll ahbania but are s catt e r ed throughout the land that fot"ms the sector bee1ring -l5- the s:1me name . This c:ommunity hns expcricnr.cd--nnd continues to cxpcricncc--n series oE changes .

This study established and contr

The French Protectorate established in Tunisia in 1881 caused the initial changes in the life of the community . \Htll the Protectorate came imposed changes in the delimitation of lands and sedentarization which resulted in a series of readjustments in the system of social organization . Internally, social forms changed and attenuated the importance of the agnatic group as the main unit of production, consumption and residence . In the sedentary community, netJ emphasis Has given to smaller localized lineages tJhich have now become well defined. Sedentarization resulted in economic changes as well. Male laborers have achieved new importance . There is surplus male labor that need not be engaged in pastoralism nor in agricultural production and has become essential to the economic survival of the families. This surplus labor constitutes the migrant labor pool in the community.

The system in its contemporary Eorm follotJS tw0 different lines or strategil'S. I have called these lines traditional and transitional . They are defined by the overnll wealth possessed by<~ L1mily

This d(1es not mean, hn~,rcvt'r, Lhat stn1ctnrnl ch.:1ng(' c:tnnot be postulnted for this svstem. Eventual change will be modelled nn forces in the political sysrem and the institutional­ ization of political objectives in education, taxation . and economic restrictions on migration . Th0ugh effective penetration at the institutional level has not been achieved in Chahbania, a gradual change in the direction of increased central cot1trol is apparent, not only in this communily bul in the nAtion as a whole . In the future. this type of pro~ess will continue to nccentuate differences in wealth and produce stronger patron­ client networks, to the detriment of more traditional forms of allegiance and

In addition, increased <.>ducation!'ll requirements tvill contin•te to produce individuals educated beyond the limited opportunities nf the rural ;Jrens, pnrticularly in the <1hsence of a diversified integrated ntrnl development progrum that could mphasize grnss roots participation and economic integration . It is at this level thnt the basic re<1sons for continued migration lie. The exploitation of land, combinPd with the economic potential represented by the migrants will contiue to alter the system and incref flock size

~.Jhile seen from the perspective of n short study, the rate and direction of chnnge is not completely apparent, the direcli<"'n of c!Junge indicated by the parameters of the system considered here suggests an volution in the direction of a formation of a more socially -lfJ-

diffc•n' nti

Rcfc r·cnc.:cs Cited

Lee, Concepcjon Espernnzn 1979 Nom,1ds, Fnrmers, ond Migrant Labor in South'rn Tunisi

Women's Status and Power Revisited: Suggestions for a Dialectical Model of Gender Roles by Liesa Stamm Auerbach Anthropology , University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee

In the past decade a quiet revolution has been occurring in the anthropological assessment of women. Beginning as a "study of man" and indeed focusing primarily on the male concerns and activities of a society, anthropology has now arrived at a point where it is fairly well-established that the women of a society also have significant concerns and activities which may not be the same as those of men. A recent issue of the ational Women 's Anthropology Newsletter (June 1980) is devoted to examining "the pervasive and universal presence of women's culture." A question of major significance in the documentation and analysis of women ' s culture is that of women ' s social status and power. In the tradition of anthropological research a number of detailed case studies, done primarily by women, have now established the existence of women 's social power as a significant factor in a variety of soci~ties throughout the world . In documenting the nature of women's power, these studies have contributed to a broader co nceptual understanding of social power itself .

Power is an element of all social relationships and activities . It consists of influence or control over actions, resources or social relationships tvhich are valued by a conun unity or group . Most comnrunities have some positions to which a power component is formally assigned . Such organizational or positional pmver is usually sanctioned through formal ideological or jural codes . In addition, many, if not most individuals in a community have the potential of exerting power not associated with a formally recognized position . This is unassigned personal power, sanctioned implicitly through the acceptance of an individual's right to exert influence and cont.rol ewer n prrrtic u'L1r <1spe ·t of social life.

It is frequently the case that tvom en are restricted from access to positional pot-rer. For this reason anthropologists have often assumed that men have a l1igher social status than \vomen. Such an assessment, however, is based on an anolysis of the Eornwl organ­ izational principles of n society rather than the operational processes involved with the practice of daily life . A processual viewpoint brings into question the assumption tha t a differential distribution of power between women and men implies a secondary position for women. Rather tl1is power differential occurs because many social activities and roles are differ ntially assigned according to gender. Women and men , therefore, assume control and exert personal power over differ •nt resources, actions , and relation­ ships . !ichelle Zi.mbalist Rosaldo (1980) hos suggested tll:1t s xu<1l

Among the studies cont ributin ~ grea tly Lo an understandi11g o[ women's power

The emerging model of gender relationships, for which North Africa and the Middle East provide a major example, is one \vhich emphasizes the contributions of both \vomen and men to the ongoing processes of social life. Although sharing a common kno\vledge of sociocultural beliefs and practices, each gender has differential interests and differ­ ential ar~as of power . The relationship between the women and men of a society can, therefore, be understood dialectically: at the same time opposed and interdependent within a social system.

A dialectical model of gender relationships can be applied to a number of research questions . This model is useful, for example, in understanding the division of work and occupational structure of a community . In my study of gender roles in the Tunisian town of Ksar- Hellal (Auerbach 1980) one salient aspect of economic organization is the differential contribution to household economy of men and women . Women process and manage household resources, while men provide the resources . Botl1 these roles are necessary to the functioning of the household and represent separate areas of expertise to men and tvornen. Similarly the different interactional domains of tvomen and men in North Africa and the Hiddle East , the well-known domestic/public dichotomy, provide women and men with different areas of sociocultural knowledge and different rules of social interaction . Susan Carol Rogers (1978) has suggested that males and females in a society may operate differentiolJy at

The suggestion that women and men m.Jy have differential areas of cultural knotvledge and therefore opposing sociocultural concerns does not necessarily imply conflict. Rather women and men operate \vithin complementary roles t.vhich

In a modernizing situation, some of the clearly defined role expectations of men and women are disrupted and concomitantly, the "separate but equal" definitions of gender. Frequently men have greater access to the new educational and occupational opportunities . In such a changing society, women's socioeconomic roles are seen as limited compared to men and the status of men becomes more ac~uratelv one of primary significance . As anthropologists, however, we must carefully assess whether the perceived status differ­ ences created by modernization in fact reflect people's own evaluations of gender .

References Cited

Auerbach, Liesa Stamm 1980 Women's Domestic Power : A Study of \.Jomen's Roles in a --~~~~~~~~~--~-~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tunisian Town. Ph.D. Dissertation . University of Illinois .

Makhlouf, Carla 1979 Changing Veils: Women and Modernization in North Yemen. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.

Nelson, Cynthia (1974) 'Public and private politics : Women in the Middle Eastern world, ' American Ethnologist 1: 551-560 .

Rogers, Susan Carol 1978 "t.Jomen's Pla e : /\Critical Review of Anthropological Theory, " Comparative Studies in Society and History 20:123- 62 .

Rosado. Michelle Zimbalist (1980) . 'The use and abuse of anthropology: R

Rosen, Lawrence 1979 ''Bargaining for Reality: A Study of Male-Female Relations in ~1orocco, '' in Lois Beck Clnd Nicki Kcddi.t.' (cds . ). ~.Jomcn in the ~Ius I im World. Cambridge, !vtass.: llarvard University Press .

ARBI/SOURI IN TEBOURBA, TUNISIA by ~1ira Zussman Anthropology, University of Cnlifornin, Berkeley

In ~n~roducing themselves and their region one of the first things the people of Tebourba say is "ahna kul kif kif_" ("we are all the same" l or "~ kul arbi" (" we are all Arab" l. This initial insistence on hol'l'Ogene~ty does more t~an just proclaim ldentl.fication with Arabism, Tunisian nat:ionalisrn and Islam: it is a constant reminder, or int!"oduction 1f need be, that the people of Tebourba were once NOr all the same. They were both a.rbi and souri. Of french Tebourba {Tebourba souri) only the buildings remain and one fam1ly that '"lll soon die out . The ent:ire agricultural region is no·..r populated only by arbi families, with the exception of foreign wives brought home by a few migrant workers abroad . Yet in the minds, memories and daily lives of Tebourba '.s fellahin the world is still divided into arbi and souri camps: There are t•..ro l

minor lexicographical puzzle may be explained as follows : Tunisians follo\ving the pilgrims ' way from 1 900 onHa':"dS may have been struck, as they passed througn Cair o, by the appearance of the Stria- Lebanese •..1ho Here then trans?Qrting the Beirut nahda (Renaissance) into Egypt ; the influence of Eur ore ..,·as identified with that of the Levant ; one be,ame ' Syrian ' because one stood in relation to the traditional milieu dS these Cairo Syrians stood in relation to the fellah of o l d , or the old Cairo bourgeoisie . (Serque : 1967 : 200)

Ar bi , when it is contrasted to souri includes everything c onsider ed ind~genous by the far m people . So~ri ends by being a catch- all for non - indigenous categories (dllhough in contemporar y Tebour ba anything actually "Syrian" \vauld rrost llkely be placed in the a r bi category for \vi thin each category the r e a.!:"e g r adations) . The co n tras ~ includes peoples, farm techniques, costumes , foods , language , vegetables , ideas , Ear~ aniMals , types of roads, and even ways of sitting doHTI . In almos t every sphere of daily farm l ife these tHo opposir.g traditions must be dea lt with and reccnciled . Choices must be !!'ace bet\,-een arbi and souri ways . The distinc tion is both ideological a;1d (still) a conflict bet•.veen people-- indigenous people and foreigners •,..rho have carne to change the land and the way people live and o,.;ork . These foreigners , once french colcnial Earmers and their families are today ' s rural development HOrkers of any nationality .

The list wh~ch follows includes fifty- five comrron attributes thaL have both ~bL and souri manifestations . Each fellah's ' household and farm have a dis~inctive blend of arbi ~ souri modes . In examining arbi/souri patterns among sixty- five farm famil~es in Tebour ba patterns emerged which have important implications for ag r icultural extensior. (rural developme!l t) HOrk in the region, These points are briefly swr.rran.zed celO\v: Values and Ideology : The arbi/scuri contrast is pervasive . It exists , as can be seen f~om this list , in ever y sphere of horr€ and farm life . The contrast at its most basic is this : l ) Arbi is an idealized category fil l ed with the elements that make up "tr aditional" life . Souri is the fellahin ' s version of ideali::ed Euro~an mode::-nity . \·lhereas the archetypical u.rbi life does not in fac t exist--at least not in Tebourba- ­ foreign developers are ableto adhere un compromising l y to " souri pure" ..,.-c:ys. This 1..,1ck o f compromise is ne~ in the region , for even the colons of old had thei ~ 0wn pecul~ar brand of an arbi/souri mix . 2) The contrast i s also seen in terms of ouality ·.;s quillltity . Arbi is the superior path of adherance to long valued customs Lhat u=e, say t~e fellahin , simply " better": Sheepsk1.ns are more comfortable than chairs , the hamrr~::tm gets you cleaner than showers and home baths , arbi eggs have better color and taste •ihile arbi chickens are healthier than souri one~ herd cf sheep is more secure than ~oney ~ the bank, a kanoun in c.he lap~ warmer than a gas- bottle heater half a r oom n. ·.•av , fres h food is healthier than packaged , and ,...,hat could taste better than milk straight from the cow?

Souri '"'ays are not necessarily unfamiliar but they are nevertheless reL:it~vely new , suspect, illld " wrong". ..Souri farm techniques often require book learning, persistent hard Hark for long hour~ 1macc ustomed tasks , and "pis tons". "P~sLons" (pronounced " bisetOn" ) are t.r.ings ':.hat, or in thi s case , ;;:>eople "·ho r1:.sh ( ycu) :.1p . P i.stons a r e the secular/souri equ~valent of baraka. When fellah~n explain •..;hy one ?erscn ' s land is producti ve Hithout much physical work Hhile h~s neighbor ' s is not , they say ~f the first : i nti alik bilharka, 1v'ena aliya bilbarka" ("It is for you to toil and for me to receive the aid of Gocl") , Pistons '.vorl< the same way . The aid in this case comes from \vell - connected people •;~ho can bestoH favors: union or cor."11unity leaders , L.1rrn managers, rich relatives or friends, development '"'orke~s (of t2n foreign) . As one fellah put it : all the hard work in the world will not get you us far s one good piston . Souri farming leads to bigger y1.elds , nigher income and Luge- scale ~~odu c t~on . It 1.;ould be imposs~ble to have , for example, 5 , 000 arb1. chickens loose and pecking around the family· farm despite their good taste a~d h1g her price at the souk . On the other hand, 5 , 000 souri chickens are eas1ly cooped and fed even on a small farm . souri things that are ,., ' '· if'· •>1 ·1 ;•tt• I" Cl"" I I)• f'll •l tC" I )' l'.Jzor " r.h.J VJf'"1 rrf"'ll\rn t')f s.,;,p 1 fur ~o.· •>•nnn) I [or ""'") ---Arb\ and- --Sour\ ,!;'lntttt tn'l. U~f' of "'.1t"ttr T<>lletry SeAte•J . Po;e nC f"ll=""'r Wao;hahl e c lol.h JXlrlc;, Hr:n~trual cnre r t us h or thr,'"'-awol'y raf"Pr Y~Ur;ilhle ' hnmP.-mOldP rrMu,: t~ ltCM Sour! '" tJ l Clrc:tm'l'"l"'lon Roys' purl f !cat ion O"''"' t J~"' ..,r Tl'>tl'! r .... r o;;Qn -ll 0llvr-oil ~ot'kt'Od cotton Rlrth control Plll~ or !.II. D. v :t •·d 11<"1 F-IIPJ'""S 1 LOry .\r' , t-o , r~r I nr Orlqin<; Frenrh, Eurn~Po\U Clov"! "ollve-,.,11 cnmpr,..ss · IIPartach'! rernt!rly l\.~ptrJ n or oth~r MC1'fic ."t1ons f'•l:: l tn 1\,.. ll rJ lQn Chrl!".t '"" f"olk or rcl \'lion.-; hrolcr llc.~tl"'r H~lc~l ~octor, nurse or "r ' '' f>: l..:>~n'l llil'JC Frenr: lt , o ther Eurnf'('cln ph~r~rlst-. l~nqu .1qe s coo 1 rt o-.~n to go into the Tem~rAt u rp Warm ''P to qo into the cold, ror~nir ~ - lu~~tlnn F:c1ucat t o n rrrnr:h/EurOf""'lO rdllcAtio n colrl, slp cold w~tcr to CP1Ul-"tton drinll: snrrw-""thlrYJ hDt t'> rrtain ... r 11n 'iic~ tlr}() 1t ut e'1Wlllz.e vlth outdt)')r botty warmth In cold O'ltfk 'O rs l f"n"T''' r" t ur,. PH:t'l<.,, n.l)(t;Qob Vlto'J o ( S UCCP ~S "Piston~", han1 ...,ork AlePdl~ to l~

1"\" lt ya f or c')untry-vn"'rn Cl othing F:uro~.tn-~ ty 1e c Lothr.5 '; ,)(,..clrl [ f'Jr town- wnmPn "'h ~L h cr nc"' o r h;Hwl-~-r l o"'n farm _1 1 t-N ~ rh .. ~h t' for men "fr(pJ"'r(P" WAy of llfr. Thc.ory OtlS ln•sco ""; h l"~"' ·' ~ (rubl ~ ,..r tt-11nr1alr;) rrom e:w;;("'f"rienrf" f.rluc .-:tt i o n In farming r rotn boolt.s l'n::~·~l, rl ,lrbnlo-A, ~tC HUS\C Guitar, h r"" S~ J rt}·mrhonl r A.r,.l•lr sln'}lnq e [ollrlorlc or f f)C k. s tn,lnq In f:•uo~-.n s~~ll-~cale han~ work' Techn lrtU"'S Lar,c-scaJe ~Choln1%~J with '"' f f or"l?" · Hyth""Jt: lanqU,"\<:)PS. rlrl'Yilc u~~ of draft ~nif"'~l~ hl9h yield

" ... ""'iir'-'~rr.. ""'"'5r'o"f'PtS Dry-farml"'l comp.1tablc W;JtP.r 11S3'1C Concrete lar?e-~cal~ irrlq atlon ;I wlth sheep hprrlinq. Or ranal.s s~~ll-qcale earthen seguta l!('l' t.r;.r.. hold Olrt Ro01ds awl acces!; f c'lVP.~"1 Tt:t'lt , PHri I, o;t f.lJ 'J011rh1 Ahole on [arrrt Colonial farr"l•houo;e {no..., anl~,l, karita Tr~n~p::>rt.-.tion f' lth,..r ruwto"'n or rt:!novatcd) On !oat or ~k>$=Or vehic lf!

Sh,..c-p 4nd local vi'!irletles 1\nl.,.ls rt1"i anri l'"P"'rt•-1 ·.·."rJ~t l r>c;­ r •.,r :trhJ •..t/courty.,rJ A bcvlP l n tt)\o.'O fl.P tl - til-:!d vtlL"\ (now either o[ t\nlm.."ll~ of anlm.:Jlt; u~••o;e "tt.,•·h,.ri to runriawn f'r r...,1ova ted l. IIOUS'! n,..i,hhorl r, onro;. ~ep.lt~te from nth,..rs . n Gr.,7.J nrJ o r:- ~ck.in'l on re~d ConcPntrate, s~~ct~lly ,.,uj ln-"1 ,., lr1Pr l\r-1h District o( to'""'" colonial t;('"r"tion of tO\In the qrouncl fo~ulAt ~" rl ' ~o1e1-out rl ty Svv,....J fr r-rn l"\r'f'vloa5 $ ('Pd rurch.,t;Pri to '""tc h !:oil fA noun • r l~y c:h ... r co ~l lle.,tinq in house Oottl<"'l-qlls he•ter ycf'\r'c;, crop cond1tlonw::: h tlrnrr l. l1l1tlnq ~liv~-nll L lqh t! nq kanonn rour ln!J ').t\5 on co" l!; and ~oorJs (qro ..... n and eatrn) '~~~r1 cloth lqnltlng I 5~.-i(ic SPASOOf'l f'QOt1 (qen~ral) 7\ny othor coro!.-,ln,tJons . tl:'rOsf'nP l'ntrrn LlQhlln'l Elnctr lc light~ C C'rnh ln"'.tlon.c;. r- re!>h . Importr>rl, ~~~~,-~, rroce so; ~ H\d"hl ,..,.... lOU'VJ lflblto T~hl Talt r~ ~ t~n~ular tahl~ or -;torP-tv:n~ht.

... tlJt :;h"""('COk1 n o; ")n ra7 5P

't t,,.r- rc;k l no; r>n raq P tn'O llPdrll n•J flrtt"l fr."\rne ltPd wlth fodm Lotrnh, tNE! r') UPt. Heolt rork, rork ~a~~~1P () ( c;t [A \.I M.\l r; rrnltrP-;t; I.Af(J,.., fr'!'! loc.'ll Chicken Smaller, f"P'Mne'l i""(V>rtr">d Arn..,.J or t:.JV"C)ns lltenc: lls rork.c; .1nti kn i v ~c; v.'lrl,..ty . nroYn v~riPty. Whit~. Usu~lly Ho~-ri\lsc-rl; or If purch~t~cfj lllC'?&"ly rluc~M r' l'l'f r otr; cookv.-n'? Hrt,..l pols purchllserJ 1 ll ve or f r07'""

Y \:'V''III'I'l g rill ro c r::ookln~ • Oaklnq Oot"t l~r.f-ttP nr llo..,-baked k.huh< Orf'nrl frrnc h b.!tJ • Iett~ ,.,r Italian t lt"-f"H111_, I QtJttli')Of ;'tllf"h"" sl OvP-QVr>n t'lbt>lln:t or k.h11h1: jn~ brearl {rom h.,~ ... ry l'lV t'n

llni'TV" or loca 11 r ""'-i~ . Oil I ry rtCYIIJCts Pror."'~~e»rl 1 pack .VJ~>rJ anrl_ FrPr;h (; unrr oc ~<;~,..ti Oil"' hlq t,.....,..,l -;h,rM by a l l S~rvlnq COO

from th~ c"Jv HI tl< 110POJCn t t.erl, s te r 11 L 7.Prl. t~y ') l ~~!~~~ l_!._!! rack~tq~ and pnrch.a:;ed

B~thlnq Shov-r or ~ath 't h e ~ l n ' h"zln on (~r~J Cou;.r.oU!J and hulq.,IIC r Pastnt; & qr.:t lns rt t c~ , Spa'Jh~tti ' A:Jt:"~lrOni II.J,.,...-clM rnh}l c b~tth tn lO'JO. BAth'! -llOnP. . O"lly to weekJ y hnft'>Pnvu1'! ~o to ha~mV~"" ..,f th friends/ Oorr1.'1ine LPtt tlf:''! ~uttPr lettuc~ far.'llly. '·""'·~ly or l"!s~. Tn rAl V:"'Tlt',..l••c; n t- tr r rr'Y1'lr.:o __ rf ~ l l ''"''I"" M~lll Ill\ I rrt'l f"" :;h>'rrf""""" ,,, ,,. ,,.,1 .... . , , ... ."" ... t ...... ~ ' -21-

especially desirable are often also particularly inuccessable to the fellahin. Good pistons anc one exllmple but there 21re many more : motor vehicles, medical care, f .Jrm machinery , home aprliances , tap water, electricity, ne\v seed str.Jins, and even sour i wiyes . Haking sou~i choices may make a farmer rich, but more likely it impli.es that he already is: -----

Social Organization and Develooment: i\s might be expected arbi/souri in the family household corelate to many female/male d1stinctions . In dress , cooking , bathing. sitting and eating wome:1 are thorou<:.hly a.rbi while men are frequently souri. A dinner scene reveals women and children dressed arbi, sitting on sheepskins on the flcor around a mid.J.h and sharing one bowl of food, dipping into it with xubz tabcuna ·,..·hile their souri­ attired men sit on chairs at a high table with individual plates and French bread before them . On the farms the distinction exists as •.vell: large private farms and state farms have souri- trained administrators often from Sfax or the Sahel. SrMll family far~ are run in varying degrees of arbi/souri according to the skills, m2ans and orientation of the farmer . State and foreign agricultural extension workers in the region have as their goal " changing the mertality of the fellahin" , This goal, repeated in newspapers, on the radio, and in person, is oriented toward converting arbi to souri far~ing , It should also be noted here that on the farms arbi/souri also takes on a clear nature/culture aspect : arbi farmi:-tg is dry- farming and sheep-herding lvith little or no manipulation of soil, plant and water components. Souri farming, on the other hand, uses c~emical treatments, hybrid strai:-ts of both plants and animals, special feed concentrates , and irric;ation. Extension .vorkers in the region have been focusing on small family farms i:1 an attempt to convert dry to irrigated farming and to transform almost every aspect of these farms . nO\.Jever, arbi values are still quite strong in the r<:!gion a.r.d small­ scale farmers ?.re not enthuslastic about giving up their prized sheep , \o/orking harder at unfamlliar tasks and taking fina.:1cial risks in areas they do not even '.vant to change. In addition, they view foreign development ·..rorkers more as pis tons who can intervene with state officials and help the fellahin acquire more lend than as teachers of souri farming. \•iith this in mind they are often 1"illing to follow (for i.l vlhile l extens~ directives . The fellahin are ambivalent : both attracted and repelled by souri ways. A lot more could be said about arbi/souri were more space available. In essence, however, the arbi/so'J.ri dichotomy is a system of dividing the world placing in opposition farmers and rural developers . The arbi category includes farmers, agricultural "''Orkers, land­ owners, cooperative mem.bers-;a:.=ld their families. Souri is a category employed by the farm people o: Tebourba to refer to foreign concepts and outsiders--including Tunisian agric~ltural extension <~rkers taught in souri ways . From the i nside the category of arbi of course breaks down . Among the fellahin--underneath the ''we are all the samc"-­ there is a striking diversity of tribal affiliations and othe r identities based on regional or nati.onal origL~s . These identities and distinctions come into play both within and beyond arbi(souri.contexts.

Re ference Cite d

Berque, J acque s 1967 French No rth Afric,1: Th e :t-J aghrib Be tween Two \.J o rld \.J ;rrs . Prnege r Publishers, Ne\v York .

I NTERNATIONAL SY!-lPOSlUM ON SlRi\T BANI HILAL by Bridget Connelly Rhetoric., Utriversity of California/Berkeley

A f irst I n ternati ona l Sympos ium on Sirn t B

iz.Jtions , the symposi11m brought together fourteen scholnrs from C'ight diffc>rent cnuntries to consider the currcnl st;1te of Hilali studies nnd to sti.n1ulilte cnnpc>rotivc reser1rch ventures in the future.

Sirat Bani Hilal (Biography or Epic of the sons of the Crescent Moon) recounts the story of the migrations of the Beni Hilal tribe out of Arabia into the Levant and Egypt, then across North Africa to conquer Tunis in the tenth and elev nth centuries . Cl

First noted and recorded by Ibn Khaldun from North African oral tradition, the folk epic also exists in anonymous manuscripts and cheap printed editions dating from the 18th and 19th centuries . Critics, both Arab and Western, have long ignored this rich tradition of folk narrative as something outside the realm of Arabic literature proper, classically defined on the basis of a linguistic dichotomy which recognized as "adab" only compositions in the idiom of the Court , the Koran, and pre- Islamic poetry . Such a view did not recognize orally composed folk narrative and poetry in the vernacular as artistic creations worthy of consideration .

The Hilali symposium participants have gathered all together hundreds of hours of record­ ings taped from oral tradition, the longest single version of th epic being that collected by Abd el-Rahman el- Abnoudy from an Egyptian rehab- poet who has per formed t he complete song in 114 hours over two and one half years . But this , in fact, is only a small part of all that still exists of the epic . The Bani Hilal matter represents a unique area of folk art in its diffusion across a wide geographical a nd cultural expanse , its length , its richness, and diversity . Acquiring different faces and forms i n the various cultural areas, the matter exists as epic song performed by professional musicians to the accompan­ iment of a one-stringed poet's viol called the rebaba, as work song, as prose tale told informally in storytelling sessions, as proverbial dicton, as love song .

The scholars gathered in Hammnmet agreed that the important work for the present gener­ ation of scholars is the collection and preservation of a culture that ls rapidl disappearing. The thrust of research then has been largely positivistic, with emphasis on collecting tapes from field work, the establishment of linguistically authentic texts, describing the performance context , as well as sorting and collating 18th and 19th century manuscripts. The goal of the folkJore Center in Cairo , represented by Abd el­ Hamid Huwas, has been to record and describe the performance context and the f rm and function of the tradition vherever it exists in Egypt . \.Jell-kno\vn poet Abd el- Rahma n el-Abnoudy is giving the tradition new prominence in Egypt with his radio show devoted to the epic, featuring the b st oE Upper Egypt ' s bards . tn Tunisia, a ]fl.rge coJL ction was made hy Anita Baker oE the University of Indiana with the guidance of Nuhamm<1d Harzouki of Tunis ' Center for Traditional Arts. Studies of the texts collected by Marzouki and Bake r have an historical and philological focus . ~iovani Canova , of the University of \ ~ nice, has travelled throughout Egypt , Syria . and Jordan, fo]lowing the trail of the Hilali legend to make an anthology of sound recordings. Abd el- Rahman Ayoub , a French-trained linguist of Tunisian origin presently teAching at the Unive r sity of Yarmouk in Jordnn , has don field wo r k i n Tunisi1J ::Jnd .Jord ;:m as well as \vork on the manuscript co1lection in the Berl iQ Staarsbib1 iotek where l87 mss nre housed. Ayoub was part nf the French research te~~ connected with the Ce~tr Nntional de Recherche Scientifique. l'licheline CnJ ley, 1\rlet.te Rolh, ,qnd LtJCiPnllL' Sn;1dn lwve nll t.•nrkcd in No r t h !\ f ric .1 n n d il r e cn n c c r n.~ d "' i Lll c s l o b I i. s h i. n g t P x t s (' 11 \•' ll i t ' h t o b: 1 s l' f t1 rt ll L' r l n t L' r­ pretiv~ studies o( the tr;HliLion . C

NEW DHIENSIONS IN U\GllRIBI HEDICAL HISTORY by Nancy Ga l lagher History , University of California/Santa Cruz

Anthropologists have found inq uiries into the in terrelationships of medicine and culture exceptionally productive , yielding unique insights into the internal dynamics of given soci eties . Historians are al so finding the social response to disease over Lime indicat i ve of changing communal attitudes . New interdisciplinary methodologies arc enabling the historian of social medicine to rethink the standard view of effective Western medicine gradually replacing less effective trad i tional medicine in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and to expand on the well- established philological study of Arabic medical man uscripts .

Jim Hill in " ~1edicine and Imperialism in 1-lorocco" (HERIP Reports , 60, 19 77 , 3-12) shows that France and other imperial powers used doctors as diplomats and info rmants since they had access to inner circl es of Horoccan government and to remote rural areas . They were not there primarily to promote health and "when their medical system did improve the health of the Horoccan people , it did so only to supply an exploiLable labor force to coloniCJl capit;1l . " Before and during t he french P1·otecto r ate e r :1 (1912-1956) , the French used medicine to promote their culture ; to Lyautey the dr1ctor was n corner­ stone of mission civilisatrice: " From the day \vhen a notable, <1 qaid, or just some suffering devil decides to see a French doctor and leaves his office cured , the ice is broken , the first step is taken , and the relationship begins to be established."

Hill observes Lhat the health system organized by the French has been preserved since independence . The Horoccan government has opted for speciali?-ed medical se r vices rather than for broad public health programs . He concludes "only the complete abolition of capitalism can clear the way for a society insuring good life and health for all . " This article , part of a larger study (Profesi.ona l s and Politics in Horol·co , ISlll Press . forthcoming) corrects the notion that hP

One of the most interesting .1spects o( nineteenth- century mcclira l history i. s t:IH' encoun ter bet\vecn Galenic- [sl.:Jmic nnd European medicAL systems (somctimQS call(!d ' Lhe i.nLerfnce bett.Jeen ethnomedicine ;md biomedici ne ' ) . Ybon n 1'11r in , i n i\ffronl'llll'llts cu l turcls d:ms l ' Al gerie coloninle : Eko l es , medecines, rE>ligion, 18"30-lRRO (P;uis , 1971) , asks "Que1 a ete le langage historiquement parle en une terre p:ntic'uJj€he, celle cit' l ' Algf"rie, entre la civilis:Jtion en pleine mutation qu ' etait Je monde occidental au XTXe siecle , et tout specialemE>nt la societe fr;:Jnc;aise, et l a civilisation traditionnclc d ' un·peuple con 4uis?" In ans••ering this question with regArd to medicn1 issues , the

Titese and other social histori. s of medicine use mccllcnl , sociologica l , politic

A REVIEW . CLIFFORD GEERTZ. "SUQ: THE BAZAAR ECONmfY OF SEFROU . " In Heaning and Order in Horoccan Societv C. Geertz, H. Geertz , and L. Rosen. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1979 by Elaine Combs-Schilling Anthropology, University of California/Berkeley

In his essay on the bazaar economy of Sefrou, Geertz' main concern is that while the bazaar is the Hiddle East's most characteristic institution, one which typifies much of how "life is lived in that part of the world" (p. 123), it has received little serious scholarly attenlion . Gcertz sets out to remedy this situation, placing b fore himself the am:~some task of describing the Hiddle Eastern baz.::tn.r in spatial (periodic , permanent and shop window) as well as temporal (1900-1970) terms, using Sefrou's bazaar as the case in point . The essny is divided into two majn parts . The first is bnsicnlly historicnl and descriptive dealing with a few key events, people and institutions whicl1 have been import.::tnt in sh.::tping Sefrou' s b.17.anr. The second part is more nnnlytic

Geertz begins the essay with a vivid description of Sefrou ' s transformntion tluri11~ the first port o[ this century from an economic w.:J.y station in long-·distilnce tr.:1cle to a "commercial center, minor but vigorous, in its own right" (p. 133). Utilizing his familiar two man contrast (in this case "a kinetic Berber chieftain and a descendant of the Prophet munitions maker'' p. 134) Geertz demonstrates the importance of certain types of dyadic relationships (the qirad, the zettata, and the mezrag) in laying the foundation of Sefrou ' s bazaar economy.

Geertz Lhen moves into the most troublesome part of his essay, the description of what he calls "three aspects of the Sefrou bazaar", that is, the "ethnic- like distinction" of nisba, the bazaar's "integration . . . \vith some of the major institutions of mainstrenm Islam" (Geertz focuses on the habus nnd the znhrin), and tbe roJc of the Je~vish communi.ty in the bazaur's development .1nc.l functioning (p. l40) _ li1Lthin <'nch of tllc.sc sections , important. insights nrc offered ilnd valuable jn[ormation given on the phenomena themselves, but the relationship eaclt to the other and to the main theme of the ssay, the bazaar economy, is left unclear. These problems are illustrated in Geertz ' discussion of nisbn .

Geertz dogs an excellent job of describing this "collective habit ... of classifying man into a large number of essentialist categories--categories resting on the general premise that a person's provenance pervades his identity'' (p. 142) . However when he cl.:~ims that nisba is important for organizing trade as well as for conceptualizing it, that nisba serves .:J.S a "wodel for" as Hell aS;-,- and siluational term \vhich oper:.Jtes on diffe r ent levels (e . g . SeErU\vi, 1\dJuni , H;1midi) depending on tl1e relationship between any two people , how did Geertz decide at what level to freeze a merchant ' s nisba in order to make the chart? By definition, there is no absolute nisba .

These same sorts of problems plague the religious institution and Jewish sections . For instance, Geertz demonstrates a correlatiqn betHeen "clean and dirty" trades and " clean a nd dirty" zawias, and says this distinction "was critical in the evolution oE the social form of the central place network of the bazaar" (p . 157), but again leaves the r eader wonderin g as to the specifics of t his claim. Geertz is s u perb in clarifying what a za\via is and how it is related to " herfa ( ' profession ' ' vocation ' ) and henta ( ' pious society, ' 'mutual aid group ' ) " (p . l55) , as well as clarifying the reasons for the zm.;ia ' s declin ing influence , but he is imprecise on what difference these institutions m.::tde for the shape and operation of the bazaar economy . Geertz says :

Part of the importance of the zawia in t h e developmen oE the bazaar economy lies in the simple fact that its members \vere , at least until 'the 1950s, almost all merchant s and artisans, and almost all merchants and artisans were members. (Geertz 1979 , p . 15~)

But what of t he Jews who according to previous statements by ~eertz made up 80 percent of the tm.;n ' s commercial labor Eorce (p . 132)? They were not in za\vias . If z<'!wir~s were so important in trade . what was the effect of lack oE membership on the Jewish merchant? It is questions like these Hhich Geertz Eails to address \vhicb cast a shadow on otherwise intriguing observations . It i.s to be hoped that else\vhere (\.;here space is not such a limitation) Geertz more clearly will inLegrate the initia l section with the an.1JyticaJ portion of the essay . For inslanc.e . I suspect thnt by focusing on the \vny dyadic ties are used to solve informational problems in the marketplace , nisba couJd be related to occupationAl specialization and clientalization .

In lhe second hnlf of the cs::;ny, GcC'rtz rnnkcs hi s most vnlu<1h l 1~ cnntrih tt lions Lt• Lllc understanding of the bazaar as a cultural and economic institution. After mnpping tile ~ in sratial terms, depicting with keen insight Lil e division of labor , explainin g the a min sys tern, conveying something of the conceptu<~l world n f the suq by analyzing 10 critic.:1l Ar:1bic tvords, GcerLz begins his Lheorctic,1] _,rgument \vhich rl'sts on tilL' dictum th;J. t "in the bazaar LnEornwtiun is gene>rCil l y poor , scnrcc , mnlclistt-ibu lccl , ineffidently communicated , and inlensely valued " (p . 124) and consequently "c.~ great deal of the tvay in which the bazaar is organized and func t ions . . . can be interpreted as either nn nttempt to reduce such ignorance for someone , increase it for someone , or defend someone against it . " (p . 125) In the cac-ophony of the bazaar , Geertz contends th<~t the search for re l iable information becomes the pnr amount economic lll'ti.vity . He convincingly demonstrat es that clientalizaticm and h;Hgnini.ng profitilns of actu:Jlly doing sn. " (p . 221) In exAmining clicntal­ iz;,~tion and bargaining from the communic~Lion perspective, Get:!i"LZ cl.:1rifil.!S t,•hilt llns been .:1 troublesome issue for mnny sLudying Lhe bazaar , thnr is , t.;h ' · in rile bnz<.l.tr . search "more readily takes the form of exploring matlers in c!Ppth t.;ith parriculor partners than surveying Hidely through tile _market " (pp . 223·-224) and tvhv this form of senrcb is rewarded. Geertz effectively com~~res the bazaar to the Rutomohi.Je market , demonstr<1ting why th bazaur is more like a us d chip of the bnz::wr ' s most telling charncteristics , a subsL:mLLll c-onlribttlinn l<' Lhl' epistemology of licldle !.::<~stern morkets. (TileS<' rh l<~ on p:tg<'s 211t-/.15).

Ov_ernll , the final analysis is first-rDte . This rer1der is, hmvever, lefr \vith ~orne rC'servntions concerning it, for instJnce : (1) ctre there not other imrortrtllt issues involved in the economics of eli ntalization besides that of nt~tking more mnnngeable the communication problem, issues involving pmver and how one goes 0bout setting in mntion 1 the personalistic systc~m llf the ~broccan 'b,"l?.:l

the Horocc

OBSTACLES TO THE ENTRY OF MOROCCAN tWMEN INTO \-'ORKING LIFE by Hind Nassif Anthropology, Catholic University/Washington, D. C.

Third-world countries are having to face the specter of aspirations for heir women that are proving impossible to realize .

\Htll 45% of its c~t~zcns living below the pove r ty line , ~forocc·o ' s o[fic l.1l pol Ley is to include women in its nationAl development process . But its policy declarations and fnvor­ able female intentions are far from being upheld by its national and specifically male practices and attitudes . ~~y have its women not yet been utilized in the development of their nation?

Research and field work were carried out over a period of six months while on contract for a USAID Women in Development Project. A sample of 112 working females aged fifteen and above was randomly selected from Casablanca ' s factories, government offices , private industries and commercial establishments . Methodologies used included the administration of a detailed interview schedule, discussions held with bosses and employers, as well as participant observation and media monitoring.

Working \.JOmen in Morocco 1 s biggest urban center face "multiple forms of discrimi nation and oppression," in the \vords of a french daily newspaper dated Harch 8, 1980 . They lack self-worth, decision-making and political power . Economically sp nking . they tend to be invisible because they are insignificantly active, hAve low skills , low wages , low produc­ tivity and low employability. The rnn,iority of thos survcyed--68% of the sampl --declared they were but little satisfied with their jobs. A hundred percent complained of positions , advantages and salaries inferior to those of the maJes . Only one had a position eq unl in duties , responsibilities, respect and salary to the m

However, their major complaint was the very inadequate salaries they were making, ranging from 350 to 1250 Dirhams ($U . S. 93-333 nt the time of the study) . To the qu stion '\vhat they liked most about their work", a hunclred percent ;:mswered : "absence from house\vork ." -n-

Also, 99% of the sample were unhappy with their level of education ; only 58% had finished primary school , 41.% h.:wing dropped out of secondary school at vario tJ S levels up to the b

Why do these conditions obtain and what are the obstacles and restraints that face the urban Moroccan working female? My study, shows sevet"al causes keeping l'lnroccan women in an inferior stc1tus, amongst which are ~ early marriAge (at 15 or 16) . eAsy repudia­ tion and divorce, a male- dominated patriarchal patrifocal culture , grnss legal and legislative inequalities and , above all, cultural tradition-bou~d retrograde male restraints and attitudes"

The research revealed unequal access to educational opportunities due to poverty and parents ' preference to invest in the training and education of their boys, on whom they count for old age security (girls move out of the family after marriage and themselves depend entirely upon their husbands for their livelihoods) . Moroccan culture still assigns females to family attd domestic duties inside the home and to child bearing and rearing.

Other obstacles facing Moroccan \Jerking females are the ~igh rate of unemployment for males too, the lack of child care facilities and the socially sanctioned and blatantly displayed sex discrimination to which employers are accustomed, as well as endemic poverty and illiteracy . Illiteracy is estimated nationally at 76%--86% for women and 65.2% for women of Casablanca--according to the Direction de la Statistique, Recueil des Donn~es, May 1977.

My study offers policy recommendations for botll local and intern.:1tional authorities and donors. It also suggests some measures that must be taken to facilitate the utilization of the Horoccan female in increasing numbers in the economic development of the nation.

I conclude by stressing the fact that no such integration can take place unless the local government undertakes a very serious effort to bring about a rapid drastic change in . the cur.rent attitudes of males towards females. This could begin through nation-lvide campaigns and the strengthening of women's organizations and civic groups in order to be able to present to the general public a view of society in which women play an equal role with men .

A fuller version of my study will be presented at tbe 14th annual meeting of Hiddle Eastern Studies Association in Washington, DC, or contact Hind Nassif, 2401 Calvert Street, N. W., #328, Washington, DC . 20008 . /.

MERA FORLJ}1 c/o CENTER FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES Institute of International Studies Berkeley, CA 94720 fj rs t CLJss

iil2 address correction requested