SEG XVIII _ _ _ _ _ _ Sammlung Eduard Glaser _ XVIII MARIEKE BRANDT (ED.) In Yemen, “tribe” is a historically rooted, emic concept of social represen- tation. Rooted in remotest antiquity, over the last centuries the concept of tribe in Yemen has undergone transformations, but also featured aspects of continuity. Today, with the emergence of massive political change, the eruption of popular uprisings, armed conflicts, external military inter- vention and the associated weakness of the state, tribalism seems to be gaining in importance once again, filling the void created by a retreating state. This collective volume explores the longevity and diversity of ma- nifestations of tribalism in present-day Yemen. It aims at updating and Tribes in Modern Yemen: rethinking research on tribes and tribalism in Yemen and providing new input for the discussion of tribalism in the Middle East. An Anthology Marieke Brandt is a researcher at the Institute for Social Anthropology (ISA) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. Her research focuses on tri- balism, tribal history and genealogy, and tribe-state relations in Southwest Arabia, particularly in Yemen. Tribes in Modern Yemen: An Anthology ISBN 978-3-7001-8619-9 Marieke Brandt (ed.) 9 783700 186199 Dph MADE IN EUROPE 531 Tribes_in_Jemen_Umschlag_Entwurf Rücken 9,7mm.indd Alle Seiten 21.07.2021 10:33:24 MARIEKE BRANDT (ED.) TRIbES IN MODERN YEmEN: AN ANTHOLOGy ÖSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN PHILOSOPHISCH-HISTORISCHE KLASSE DENKSCHRIFTEN, 531. BAND SAMMLUNG EDUARD GLASER XVIII MARIEKE BRANDT (ED.) Tribes in Modern Yemen: An Anthology Angenommen durch die Publikationskommission der philosophisch- historischen Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: Accepted by the publication committee of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Austrian Academy of Sciences by: Michael Alram, Bert G. Fragner, Andre Gingrich, Hermann Hunger, Sigrid Jalkotzy-Deger, Renate Pillinger, Franz Rainer, Oliver Jens Schmitt, Danuta Shanzer, Peter Wiesinger, Waldemar Zacharasiewicz Cover photograph: Weekly market in Ṣaʿdah province (2006). Back cover photograph: The village of al-Ḥajjarah (2007); both by Marieke Brandt. The production of this volume and parts of the research were funded by the Austrian Nationalstiftung FTE in the framework of the New Frontiers Groups (NFG) Programme. Diese Publikation wurde einem anonymen, internationalen Begutachtungsverfahren unterzogen. This publication was subject to international and anonymous peer review. Peer review is an essential part of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press evaluation process. Before any book can be accepted for publication, it is assessed by international specialists and ultimately must be approved by the Austrian Academy of Sciences Publication Committee. Die verwendete Papiersorte in dieser Publikation ist DIN EN ISO 9706 zertifiziert und erfüllt die Voraussetzung für eine dauerhafte Archivierung von schriftlichem Kulturgut. The paper used in this publication is DIN EN ISO 9706 certified and meets the requirements for permanent archiving of written cultural property. Alle Rechte vorbehalten./All rights reserved. ISBN 978-3-7001-8619-9 Copyright © Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, 2021 Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Layout: Daniela Seiler, Vienna Print: Prime Rate, Budapest https://epub.oeaw.ac.at/8619-9 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at Made in Europe TAbLE Of CONTENTS Note on Transliteration ......................................................................................................................... 7 Glossary ................................................................................................................................................ 9 Introduction: The Concept of Tribe in the Anthropology of Yemen M ARIEKE B RANDT ............................................................................................................................ 11 Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................. 19 Qabyalah or What Does It Mean to Be Tribal in Yemen? N A J WA A DRA ..................................................................................................................................... 21 Power as Persuasion in Yemeni Tribal Society S TEVEN C. C AT O N ............................................................................................................................ 39 Some Principles and Continuities of Tribal Law P AUL D RE sc H ................................................................................................................................... 51 Some Remarks on Blood Vengeance (thaʾr) in Contemporary Yemen M ARIEKE B RANDT ............................................................................................................................ 63 Qabīlah, Jirbah and Tanmiyah: Tribes and Agriculture in the Northern Highlands of Yemen D ANIEL M ARTIN V ARI sc O ............................................................................................................... 79 Munebbih’s Northwestern Borders Through the 20th Century A NDRE G IN g RI c H ............................................................................................................................. 95 From Bordering to Ordering: The Tribal Factor in Managing the Yemeni-Saudi Border L I s A L ENZ -A YOU b ......................................................................................................................... 109 Al-Mawaddah al-Khālidah? The Ḥūthī Movement and the Idea of the Rule of the Ahl al-Bayt in Yemen’s Tribal Society A LEXANDER W EI ss EN b UR g ER ....................................................................................................... 121 Social Restratification in Ḥaḍramawt during the Last 25 Years: An Anthropological Outlook M IKHAIL R ODIONOV ....................................................................................................................... 137 Tribes in the Neo-Liberal Era: Transformation of Yemen’s Social Structure H ELEN L A c KNER ............................................................................................................................. 145 Notes on Contributors ....................................................................................................................... 159 Index ................................................................................................................................................. 161 NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION For transcribing Arabic, a slightly modified system of the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (IJMES) for both written and spoken words has been used. The Arabic tāʾ marbūṭah is rendered ah. Initial hamzah is unmarked. Lunar and solar letters remain undistinguished when writing the Arabic article. Common words, such as shaykh, imam, Quran, al-Qaeda, Yemen, Aden, Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, Shiite, Wahhabi, Hadith, etc. are rendered in an Anglicized version. The Arabic bin or ibn (“son of ”), where it comes between two names, is often given as simply b. The plural of some Arabic words such as shaykh, Zaydī, and Salafī is given in an Anglicized (shaykhs, Zaydīs, Salafīs) version. GLOSSARy āl people of; descendants of hijrah person or place under special tribal protection; a settlement or community of sādah under tribal protection ibn/bin, pls. abnāʾ or banī son jabal, pl. jibāl mountain khurūj rising against unjust rulers madhhab school of law muhajjar under hijrah protection qabīlah, pl. qabāʾil or qubul tribe qabīlī, pl. qabāʾil tribesman qāḍī, pl. qudāʾ hereditary jurist-administrator of tribal descent qāt Catha edulis forsskål. The chewing of this stimulant plant has a history as a social custom in Yemen sayyid, pl. sādah, adj. sayyid male descendant of the Prophet shaykh tribal leader, representative of a tribal unit ʿurf, pl. aʿrāf tribal customary law waqf, pl. awqāf religious endowment zaydī, pl. zuyūd, adj. zaydī follower of a branch of Shia Islam whose heartland is in northern Yemen INTRODUcTION: THE CONcEpT Of TRIbE IN THE ANTHROpOLOGy Of YEmEN M ARIEKE B RANDT In Yemen, “tribe” (qabīlah) is a historically rooted, emic concept of social representation, even though the polymorphism and ambiguity of the term tribe render the formulation of a universally applicable definition almost impossible. Rooted in remotest antiquity, over the last centuries the concept of tribe in Yemen has undergone transformations, but also featured aspects of longevity and continuity. Today, with the emergence of massive political change, the eruption of popular uprisings, internal conflict, external military intervention and the associated weakness of the state, tribalism seems to be gaining in importance once again, filling in part the void created by the retreating state. It is these present-day expressions of tribalism in Yemen which the chapters of this volume set out to explore. A Disputed Concept There are a number of reasons why it is difficult to work with the concept of “tribe.” For historical reasons, anthropology has a special interest in the exploration, but also a specific responsibility for the critical discussion of the concept of tribe. During the period of the Euro-American colonial expansions, the term “tribe” served as a term for societies that were considered “primitive,” “uncivilized,” or “underdeveloped.”1 At the time dominated by grand theories of social evolution and historical progress, anthropology became