Basseri Tribe of Iran - Term Paper Example

? Cultural Anthropology of Basseri Tribe of Iran [Academic Level] Anthropological study on cultural background of a certain ancient tribe or group of people, like the tribe of Basseri of Iran, opens the way to understanding their ethnicity through analyzing the impact of their mode of subsistence on some of the aspects of their cultural way of life. This is the purpose of this thesis. This analysis also enhance familiarity on how the environment greatly influenced the cultural behavior of a group of people, and how the people in turn adjust their way of life according to what the environment dictates for them. But even some environmental factors will tend to influence people’s way of life, more often, the inherent virtues and molded values are predominantly influencing the decisions of some individuals or even a group of people as a whole. Therefore, through anthropological study of the impact of mode of subsistence of Basseri tribe in their cultural way of life, we will acquire full discernment on how and why mode of subsistence largely effect people’s behavior and way of living. Cultural Anthropology of Basseri Tribe of Iran Curiosity on ethnographic significance of Basseri tribe, a tribal group of pastoral nomads of Iran’s past cultural civilization, opens a way to discernment of the interesting relationship of a society’s mode of subsistence to its unique cultural features which contributes largely on anthropological study. The Basseri are known to be as traditional pastoralists. Pastoralists is defined as people whose livelihood largely rests on raising domestic animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and donkeys for milk, meat, wool production and even for transport use (Ikeya & Fratkin, 2005). As nomads, they are a wandering people who led a pastoral life while dwelling in tents as they migrated customarily in a strip of land which measures approximately 300 miles long and 20-50 miles wide in the parched prairies and mountains south, east and north of Shiraz in Fars province of South Persia. Thereby, the Basseri tribe is one among the delineated groups in Fars province of South Persia, now known as Iran, and considered as a unit for administrative purposes by the Iranian authorities. This tribe speaks the Persian dialect that is very close to the urban Persian of Shiraz town. They are more defined in political terms rather than in ethnicity nor in geographical criteria. However, in our recent years, Basseri lost most of its political and social meaning as its population started to decline depending on the changes on fate of its political leaders and probably on the circumstances of nomadism in South Persia (Barth, 1961). But then, as pastoral nomads, their primary mode of subsistence has important connections in their kinship, economic, social and political organization, and in their religious beliefs. Awareness in such relations contributes understanding on some cultural backgrounds and enhances understanding on anthropological knowledge of the past. Kinship The tribal kinship pattern of Basseri is ‘patrilineal’ wherein descent is traced through the male line. The son of a Basseri, even though his mother is from another ethnic tribe or village, is considered to be a Basseri. While a Basseri woman cannot transmits her rights in the tribe to her offspring if she marries outside the tribe. But although patrilineal in pattern, the matrilateral and affinal relations were regarded as contributors of solidarity and kinship, a strong bond between mother and child that largely influenced the effectiveness in establishing their political bonds between tents. In marriage, the transaction is not limited between the two contracting spouses, but it also includes the whole kin groups that constitute the whole households. The head of the household, which is also the head of the tent, has the authority over the marriage contracts of his household members. A nontribal ritual specialist or holy man issues the marriage contract. When a new household was formed through a marriage, the new household’s head or groom will be given by his father his shared inheritance, a fraction of his heir that he supposed to receive from his father if he supposedly died at that moment of marriage. This is called “anticipatory inheritance”. Thenceforth, this new household will stand on his own wherein, in case that its herds failed, no second inheritance will be given nor will be lent for his livelihood. (Khanam, 2005). Additionally, the socio-political organization of Basseri was based strongly on these kin relationships. Socio-political organization Barth (1961) described the composition of each family and tent structure. Each household normally consists of an elementary family, as father being the head and represented by a tent they occupied. The tent, as the external sign of existence, is the basic unit of Basseri society. The male head is the ruling authority that holds the rights over all the movable property of each tent, which basically includes the flocks. Each tent is a unit of production and consumption and can even act as independent unit occasionally for political purposes. The size of the tent depends on the size the family that resides, but normally, it is about 6 by 4 meters in wide, 2 meters high, composing of 5 separate cloths supported by 5 poles along the long side and 3 poles in the short side. During winter season, two to five tents are grouped into a herding unit making up a local camp separated to another group by a distance of 3 to 4 kilometers away. But in other seasons of the year, camps are larger in group, normally ten to forty tents, wherein members of each camp are clearly bounded by a social group. However, they maintain their relationship as continuing neighbors. The strength of a camp’s relation as a social unit call for a daily unanimous agreement on issues regarding migration, as well as selection of campsites, and other vital concerns especially economic concerns. Being nomads, the issue of their migration can only be made possible through constant re-affirmation by all its members. Each day the members of the camp must agree with the decision on vital issue of whether they will move or stay, or by which route they will take or how far will they travel. Unanimous agreements are commonly achieved in various ways, either from a compulsion by a powerful leader or by mutual consent from all concerned. But the unity of a camp is attributed to the presence of a recognized leader that represents the group for organizational purposes, be it in political and administrative terms. Leaders of different camps appear on two kinds. One kind is a headman, formally recognized by the Basseri chief, and the other one is an informal leader, which is not formally recognized by the Basseri chief. An informal leader is designated in case no headman resides in a camp, being recognized by common consent to represent their camp in a way represented by a headman. The Basseri chief is the overall head of the headmen of the centralized political system of the whole Basseri tribe. In his dealings with the headmen, he endows them with very limited political power, though some material goods are being awarded to headmen, such as riding horses and weapons. Also, the headmen are placed in a very politically convenient position, wherein they can freely communicate with the chief even matters of their personal advantage or to some extent, can even block or suspend the discussion on matters detrimental to their own interests (Khanam, 2005). Philip Carl Salzman (2000) cited Barth’s description of the chief’s position in the Basseri tribe as stated below: “The outstanding feature of the chief’s position . . . is his power of decision and autocratic command over this subject . . . the right to command, to make decisions on behalf of persons in other tents than one’s own, is a strictly chiefly prerogative. The monopolization by the chief of the right to command is a fundamental abstract principle of Basseri social structure” (p. 50). As Salzman (2000) continued to cite Barth’s narratives of Basseri’s political state, he mentioned that according to Barth, the Basseri’s unity is attributed by their common allegiance to their chief. As he continued to narrate, the authority of the Chief was implemented in three areas: “allotting pastures and coordinating the migrations of the tribe; settling the disputes that are brought to him; and representing the tribe or any of its members in politically important dealings with sedentary authorities” (p. 51). According to Barth, of these three chief’s functions, the third is the most critical, as well as, the most important since by this role, the chief has able to bridge the gap of the Basseri to the Persian government, with village agricultural communities, urban dwellers, and other segments of the Fars province and Persian community. With this role, the chief must have earned the respect and obedience of the tribesmen. In tribesmen’s points of view, obedience to their chief is the proper and desirable thing to do. Thus, although Basseri rooted from diverse ancestral origins, their common allegiance to their chief brought them into a single tribe and largely contributed to their harmonious relationship. But how submissive the Basseri tribesmen were to their chief? Barth noted some factors that could have lead them to disobey the chief and be less submissive, as presented by Salzman. One factor is that the firearms and the riding horses for military purposes are in the hands of common free tribesmen whom were skilled in using them. So, ordinary tribesmen were capable of using armed coercion against their chief, if they wanted to. Another strong factor is the tribesmen capacity to remove themselves from the chief’s authority because of their absolute capability of spatial mobility. Their cultural mobility tends them to easily walked out, literally, from their chief by simply moving out from its authority and settle to other place away from the chief. Remarkably, these underlying factors never influenced them to remove their allegiance to their chief. Yet, the common tribesmen remained with their allegiance to the authority of their chief. This is mainly because in their point of view, as their chief’s way of settlement of disputes, by making decision that is best for the tribe, the tribesmen undoubtedly feel that their interests are best safeguarded. If ever they have felt that their interests were not being served and they were being abused, surely, tribesmen will rebel. The fact, that tribesmen remained loyal and submissive to their chieftain, indicates that they were not easily influenced by their cultural way of life as dictated by environmental factor as being nomads. Otherwise, their virtues and values, as their dominant attributes, have been molded by their inherent kinship, social and political structures. Thus, loyalty portrays a major role in the lives of the pastoral nomads like Basseri tribe. Economic and Commercial Activities Khanam (2005) further gives us details of descriptions of Basseri’s economic and commercial activities. Far-reaching pastures along their migratory routes are the essential part of the pastoral economy of the Basseri. Extensive pastures are utilized by this group in succession according to season. While the snow covers the pastures in the mountainous region of the north, they will migrate to the south wherein extensive pastures though not totally rich, are available. But during spring season, there are plenty of good pastures available even in the low and middle altitudes. However, beginning in early March, in the far south, pastures gradually dry up. Yet, during summer season, lots of usable pastures are available even up to above 6,000 feet, although, still, grasses gradually dry up in the latter part of the summer. During the fall season, wherein pastures are generally poor, only the remains of their harvested fields are available for their pasturage. Basseri, and all the other major tribes of Fars, have maintained traditional routes of their travel of seasonal migrations. They also maintained traditional schedule of pastoral works according to season at different locations. The combined record of route and schedule with description of locations at different times in their yearly cycle of travel, is what constitutes the ‘il-rah’, the designated property rights of their tribe. These implement rights are being recognized by the local population and authorities. The implemented concept of rights in ‘il-rah’ implied their “rights to pass on roads and over uncultivated lands, to draw water everywhere except from private wells, and to pasture flocks outside cultivated fields” (p. 123). Clearly, as Barth (1961) declared, the Basseri obtained their rights in the pastures since birth as restrictions to their rights are with reference to the unlimited quantity of animals that they could have owned. Therefore, the limit of one’s family income is primarily based on the quantity of animals or flocks privately owned by a certain family. So, economic justification relies on the immense interest of the tribe in conserving and increasing the flocks which happened to be the apparent characteristic of the Basseri. Yes, the Basseri are good laborers when it comes to herding and expanding of flocks. But when it comes to other tasks, the chief has to form organization and systematic division of labor within the tribe. Sometimes, the chief has to use his authority in an improvised manner if he calls for a labor on a specific task. Barth cited an example as when the chief “desires a large carpet to be made, the chief can call on labour – 10 to 12 women working full time for weeks or months – and provide them with food and facilities from his own large household” (p. 101). Women normally contribute largely on their economic activities. The Basseri herd various domesticated animals, but sheep and goats are relatively the most important for them. They use the donkeys for transport and riding for women and children, while horses for riding of men. Camels are being used for transport and wool, dogs for keeping watch in their camp, poultry animals are being cared for a source of meat, but not eggs, and most importantly, sheep and goats for their supply of milk, meat, wool and hides, for their own consumptions and for trading purposes. They are not herding cattle because they are not ideal for their long migrations and the rocky environment that surrounds them (Khanam, 2005). Apparently, for their other needs like vegetables and wheat, they obtain through barter or trading of their dominant products like milk, lambskin and wool to the villagers and townsmen. Conclusion Society’s mode of subsistence is closely related to its economic condition and commercial activities. The reliance of the pastoral nomads on herding domesticated animals brings them closer to the land they wander because this natural land provides the needs of their herds. Their natural and harmonious interaction with their environment comprises their cultural way of life that has become a matter of interest of anthropological study. Their cultural way of life also includes, of course, kinship and social relationship, adopted political structure as set by their environmental characteristics, as well as other aspects, like religion, values and beliefs. All of these are a matter of concern of anthropological study that will enhance awareness and understanding that our nature of surroundings, especially our means of subsistence greatly affects our behavior, morality, community or society structure, as we tend to live according to what our environment provides for us. Therefore, our study and analysis on the pastoral nomads life of the Basseri tribe of Iran, largely contributes to our appreciation to the field of anthropological study. List of References Barth, F., (1961). Nomads of South Persia, The Basseri Tribe of the Khamseh Confederacy. Little Brown and Company. Boston. Retrieved May 09, 2012 from http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1534604 Ikeya, K. and Fratkin, E., (2005). Pastoralists and their neighbors: Perspectives from Asia and Africa. Senri Ethnological studies 69: 1-14. Retrieved May 09, 2012 from http://ir.minpaku.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10502/1118/1/SES69_002.pdf Khanam, R., (2005). Encyclopaedic Ethnography of Middle-East and Central Asia. Volume 1, A-I. Global Vision Publishing House, New Delhi, India. Retrieved May 09, 2012 from http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=q_189OeDwSMC&pg=PA121&lpg=PA121&dq= Basseri+of+Iran+as+pastoral+nomads&source=bl&ots=zM52vgLBzJ&sig=2B88SZTn9 Mned17aUYFxSlGF8sY&hl=tl&sa=X&ei=7Y9kT6b4CKSyiQfYgpnwBQ&ved=0CHU Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Basseri%20of%20Iran%20as%20pastoral%20nomads&f=fal se Salzman, P. C., (2000). Hierarchical image and reality: The construction of a tribal chiefship. Comparative Studies in Society and History. Vol.42. No. 1. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved May 09, 2012 from http://intersci.ss.uci.edu/wiki/eBooks/Articles/Tribal%20Chiefship%20Salzman%20.pdf Read More