Pub Date : 2017-10-24DOI: 10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0101
U. Freitag
ABSTRACT:This article examines a collection of merchant letters which arrived between 1919 and 1946 in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. Their recipient, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad Bin Ḥimd, was a merchant of Hadhrami origin, deeply embedded in the trade with grain, foodstuffs and other goods in the Red Sea area. Based on a survey of some of the documents, the article describes the merchant's network as well as the content of some sample letters to unlock their potential as an important source for the economic history of the region.
{"title":"A Twentieth-Century Merchant Network Centered on Jeddah: The Correspondence of Muḥammad b. Aḥmad Bin Ḥimd","authors":"U. Freitag","doi":"10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0101","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:This article examines a collection of merchant letters which arrived between 1919 and 1946 in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. Their recipient, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad Bin Ḥimd, was a merchant of Hadhrami origin, deeply embedded in the trade with grain, foodstuffs and other goods in the Red Sea area. Based on a survey of some of the documents, the article describes the merchant's network as well as the content of some sample letters to unlock their potential as an important source for the economic history of the region.","PeriodicalId":35635,"journal":{"name":"Northeast African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44614179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-24DOI: 10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0001
S. Serels
This article proposes a new periodization of European colonial rule on the African Red Sea Littoral (ARSL). The ARSL is the arid and semi-arid region between the Red Sea and the Sudanese Nile and the Ethiopian/Eritrean highlands. The region is now divided among Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti. However, historically the ARSL was claimed by numerous pastoralist tribes and clans, including the Hadendowa, Bisharin, Amarar, Beni Amer, Habab, and Afar. This article demonstrates that the process of rendering these pastoralists into British, French, or Italian colonial subjects—i.e., of establishing European colonial rule—took decades. Though colonial officials laid their claims to the region at the end of the nineteenth century, it was not until the 1920s and 1930s that they began to exert meaningful forms of colonial control over these pastoralist communities. This article argues that this period of early colonial rule should be treated differently from the period of high colonial rule that follows. During the early period, the balance of power on the ground had not yet tipped in the favor of colonial officials. Though these officials were part of large imperial networks, they were not able to effectively mobilize these networks to get access to the resources they needed to establish effective administrations. At the same time, these officials did not command local resources, which, in general, remained in the hands of the local communities that continued to mobilize them to their advantage. These communities progressively lost access to the resources that allowed them to hold the colonial state at bay. In the case of the ARSL, this loss was only partially the result of actions taken by the emerging colonial state. Rather, the leading cause was the introduction of rinderpest, a disease that killed up to 90 percent of infected cattle in virgin herds. Following the initial epizootic impoverishment of the region, continuing poverty over time robbed pastoralists of their ability to protect themselves from adverse environmental conditions such as droughts. During the first third of the twentieth century, pastoralists were plagued by repeated famines that left them with no choice but to submit to the colonial state and gain access to the limited colonial food aid programs. This submission marks the end of early European colonial rule.
{"title":"Early European Colonial Rule on the African Red Sea Littoral","authors":"S. Serels","doi":"10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0001","url":null,"abstract":"This article proposes a new periodization of European colonial rule on the African Red Sea Littoral (ARSL). The ARSL is the arid and semi-arid region between the Red Sea and the Sudanese Nile and the Ethiopian/Eritrean highlands. The region is now divided among Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti. However, historically the ARSL was claimed by numerous pastoralist tribes and clans, including the Hadendowa, Bisharin, Amarar, Beni Amer, Habab, and Afar. This article demonstrates that the process of rendering these pastoralists into British, French, or Italian colonial subjects—i.e., of establishing European colonial rule—took decades. Though colonial officials laid their claims to the region at the end of the nineteenth century, it was not until the 1920s and 1930s that they began to exert meaningful forms of colonial control over these pastoralist communities. This article argues that this period of early colonial rule should be treated differently from the period of high colonial rule that follows. During the early period, the balance of power on the ground had not yet tipped in the favor of colonial officials. Though these officials were part of large imperial networks, they were not able to effectively mobilize these networks to get access to the resources they needed to establish effective administrations. At the same time, these officials did not command local resources, which, in general, remained in the hands of the local communities that continued to mobilize them to their advantage. These communities progressively lost access to the resources that allowed them to hold the colonial state at bay. In the case of the ARSL, this loss was only partially the result of actions taken by the emerging colonial state. Rather, the leading cause was the introduction of rinderpest, a disease that killed up to 90 percent of infected cattle in virgin herds. Following the initial epizootic impoverishment of the region, continuing poverty over time robbed pastoralists of their ability to protect themselves from adverse environmental conditions such as droughts. During the first third of the twentieth century, pastoralists were plagued by repeated famines that left them with no choice but to submit to the colonial state and gain access to the limited colonial food aid programs. This submission marks the end of early European colonial rule.","PeriodicalId":35635,"journal":{"name":"Northeast African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44369753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-24DOI: 10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0051
Julten Abdelhalim
ABSTRACT:From ancient history to nineteenth century Islamic reform movements to the contemporary waves of labor migration, the Red Sea has acted as a medium where people travelled carrying their religious ideas as their cultural baggage. This article focuses on the later dynamics of synergy that evolved between Saudi Arabia and Egypt as the latter sought to introduce revivalist Islamic norms in 2012–2013. Based on ethnographic material collected in the period from the rise of the Islamists to power in the parliament and presidency in 2012 to the military takeover in July 2013 and its aftermath, in addition to literature review of primary sources of Saudi and Egyptian Islamic scholars' fatwas and speeches, this article covers the multiple facets of the response to this wave among different groups in the Salafi movement. Focus is directed to the discussion of women's role in the public sphere, and the transformation in the concept of obeying the ruler, where new constellations of what democracy means were pragmatically incorporated in new political settings.
{"title":"Reviving Islam: Neo-Salafism Traversing Saudi Arabia and Egypt","authors":"Julten Abdelhalim","doi":"10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0051","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:From ancient history to nineteenth century Islamic reform movements to the contemporary waves of labor migration, the Red Sea has acted as a medium where people travelled carrying their religious ideas as their cultural baggage. This article focuses on the later dynamics of synergy that evolved between Saudi Arabia and Egypt as the latter sought to introduce revivalist Islamic norms in 2012–2013. Based on ethnographic material collected in the period from the rise of the Islamists to power in the parliament and presidency in 2012 to the military takeover in July 2013 and its aftermath, in addition to literature review of primary sources of Saudi and Egyptian Islamic scholars' fatwas and speeches, this article covers the multiple facets of the response to this wave among different groups in the Salafi movement. Focus is directed to the discussion of women's role in the public sphere, and the transformation in the concept of obeying the ruler, where new constellations of what democracy means were pragmatically incorporated in new political settings.","PeriodicalId":35635,"journal":{"name":"Northeast African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48081630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-24DOI: 10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0025
M. Regt
ABSTRACT:At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, a large number of Yemeni men migrated to the Horn of Africa, and in particular to Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea. After the downfall of the Yemeni Imamate in the 1960s, and in particular after Mengistu came to power in Ethiopia in the 1970s, many Yemenis returned to Yemen with their African wives and children of mixed descent. Although the social status of Yemenis in Ethiopia was relatively high, their social status and the status of their wives and children in Yemen was much lower. In this article, I describe and analyze the family history of a Yemeni woman of Ethiopian-Yemeni descent in the city of Al-Hudaydah, Yemen. The story of Noura's (grand)parents' migration and work trajectories and her own life story form an excellent case to study the intersection of people's lives with global developments, in general, and political and historical events, in particular. In addition, this case study shows the connection between macro- and micro-histories and gives insight into the relations between gender, migration, work, and social status. It also shows that an historical and intersectional approach is of utmost importance to understand current social and political dynamics. The article is based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Yemen, two in-depth interviews with Noura, and insider knowledge of her life over the past twenty years.
{"title":"From Yemen to Eritrea and Back: A Twentieth Century Family History","authors":"M. Regt","doi":"10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0025","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, a large number of Yemeni men migrated to the Horn of Africa, and in particular to Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea. After the downfall of the Yemeni Imamate in the 1960s, and in particular after Mengistu came to power in Ethiopia in the 1970s, many Yemenis returned to Yemen with their African wives and children of mixed descent. Although the social status of Yemenis in Ethiopia was relatively high, their social status and the status of their wives and children in Yemen was much lower. In this article, I describe and analyze the family history of a Yemeni woman of Ethiopian-Yemeni descent in the city of Al-Hudaydah, Yemen. The story of Noura's (grand)parents' migration and work trajectories and her own life story form an excellent case to study the intersection of people's lives with global developments, in general, and political and historical events, in particular. In addition, this case study shows the connection between macro- and micro-histories and gives insight into the relations between gender, migration, work, and social status. It also shows that an historical and intersectional approach is of utmost importance to understand current social and political dynamics. The article is based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Yemen, two in-depth interviews with Noura, and insider knowledge of her life over the past twenty years.","PeriodicalId":35635,"journal":{"name":"Northeast African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44332161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-24DOI: 10.14321/nortafristud.17.1.000v
Lee V. Cassanelli
{"title":"Special Issue: Red Sea Connectivities in the Shadow of Imperialism","authors":"Lee V. Cassanelli","doi":"10.14321/nortafristud.17.1.000v","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/nortafristud.17.1.000v","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35635,"journal":{"name":"Northeast African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43706382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-24DOI: 10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0079
M. Anzi
This article explores the Red Sea world from the perspective of Yemenite Jewish migration and the Yemenite Jewish diaspora. Such a perspective, unexamined so far, supports the notion of the "Red Sea World" as a cultural geographical unit and helps extend its research parameters. In providing an integrative approach to the study of the multiple Jewish communities in the Red Sea region, which are typically viewed as distinct and relatively isolated, the research also contributes to the study of Jewish diaspora history. My research further reveals that there were close ties between Muslim and Jewish immigrants in the area around the Red Sea.
{"title":"Yemenite Jews in the Red Sea Trade and the Development of a New Diaspora","authors":"M. Anzi","doi":"10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0079","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the Red Sea world from the perspective of Yemenite Jewish migration and the Yemenite Jewish diaspora. Such a perspective, unexamined so far, supports the notion of the \"Red Sea World\" as a cultural geographical unit and helps extend its research parameters. In providing an integrative approach to the study of the multiple Jewish communities in the Red Sea region, which are typically viewed as distinct and relatively isolated, the research also contributes to the study of Jewish diaspora history. My research further reveals that there were close ties between Muslim and Jewish immigrants in the area around the Red Sea.","PeriodicalId":35635,"journal":{"name":"Northeast African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42415118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-09-11DOI: 10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0131
D. Agiùs
ABSTRACT:The Red Sea brings together the coastal communities and seafarers of Africa and Arabia through a variety of folk beliefs and superstitions, which manifest something of a common tradition through time and space. This article explores a conceptual framework that might be called a "spiritscape," an amalgam of ideas and practices that embrace multiple layers of human and nonhuman relationships and interactions within the landscape and seascape of the Red Sea world.
{"title":"Red Sea Folk Beliefs: A Maritime Spirit Landscape","authors":"D. Agiùs","doi":"10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0131","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.17.1.0131","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:The Red Sea brings together the coastal communities and seafarers of Africa and Arabia through a variety of folk beliefs and superstitions, which manifest something of a common tradition through time and space. This article explores a conceptual framework that might be called a \"spiritscape,\" an amalgam of ideas and practices that embrace multiple layers of human and nonhuman relationships and interactions within the landscape and seascape of the Red Sea world.","PeriodicalId":35635,"journal":{"name":"Northeast African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44047405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-03-18DOI: 10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.16.2.0001
Fantahun Ayele
Between 1974 and 1991, the Ethiopian army was one of the largest and most heavily armed ground forces in Africa. In March 1978, it scored a decisive victory over Somalia. However, it failed to beat the northern insurgents despite its superiority in numbers and arms. On their part, the northern insurgents carefully studied the army’s weakest points and mounted surprise attacks on poorly defended positions. One such target that suffered from repeated insurgent onslaughts was Dabat, capital of the Wogära awrajja (subprovince) in northern Gondar. The army unit assigned to carry out counterinsurgency operations in that sector was the Northwestern Command. But mainly because of the serious problems within the command structure, the army miserably failed not only to hunt down insurgents but also to defend garrison towns like Dabat. The incidents that occurred at Dabat show us the internal crisis in the Northwestern Command. Using the untapped archives of the Ministry of National Defense and eyewitness accounts, this study seeks to uncover the army’s structural problems, such as intelligence failure, conflict among commanders and officials, infiltration, insubordination, indifference, and indiscipline.
{"title":"The Northwestern Command’s Response to Insurgent Assaults on Dabat, Ethiopia","authors":"Fantahun Ayele","doi":"10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.16.2.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.16.2.0001","url":null,"abstract":"Between 1974 and 1991, the Ethiopian army was one of the largest and most heavily armed ground forces in Africa. In March 1978, it scored a decisive victory over Somalia. However, it failed to beat the northern insurgents despite its superiority in numbers and arms. On their part, the northern insurgents carefully studied the army’s weakest points and mounted surprise attacks on poorly defended positions. One such target that suffered from repeated insurgent onslaughts was Dabat, capital of the Wogära awrajja (subprovince) in northern Gondar. The army unit assigned to carry out counterinsurgency operations in that sector was the Northwestern Command. But mainly because of the serious problems within the command structure, the army miserably failed not only to hunt down insurgents but also to defend garrison towns like Dabat. The incidents that occurred at Dabat show us the internal crisis in the Northwestern Command. Using the untapped archives of the Ministry of National Defense and eyewitness accounts, this study seeks to uncover the army’s structural problems, such as intelligence failure, conflict among commanders and officials, infiltration, insubordination, indifference, and indiscipline.","PeriodicalId":35635,"journal":{"name":"Northeast African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41883668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-03-18DOI: 10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.16.2.0023
Serge D. Elie
ABSTRACT:This article examines the transformation of communal identities and social hierarchies on Soqotra Island. This is done through a “structural anatomy” of Soqotra’s changing social organization and a “lexical genealogy” of the collective identities ascribed to, or assumed by, Soqotrans in response to the polity formation strategies of a succession of British and Yemeni political regimes from the late nineteenth century until the present. Following a brief historical and theoretical introduction, Part I outlines the status stratification system that prevailed only a generation ago in the form of an ascriptive hierarchy based on ethno-occupational specializations and territorial segmentation linked to distinct ecological habitats, which continues to mediate the integration of Soqotrans into the emergent modern social formation. Part II describes how communal identities over the past generation have been leveraged by various national and transregional political and cultural forces, leading to an emerging hierarchy of ethnicity-based identities. The concluding section updates the current status of Soqotra’s traditional social groups and highlights the dynamic relationality between communal identity transformation and political and historical contingencies.
{"title":"Communal Identity Transformation in Soqotra: From Status Hierarchy to Ethnic Ranking","authors":"Serge D. Elie","doi":"10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.16.2.0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/NORTAFRISTUD.16.2.0023","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:This article examines the transformation of communal identities and social hierarchies on Soqotra Island. This is done through a “structural anatomy” of Soqotra’s changing social organization and a “lexical genealogy” of the collective identities ascribed to, or assumed by, Soqotrans in response to the polity formation strategies of a succession of British and Yemeni political regimes from the late nineteenth century until the present. Following a brief historical and theoretical introduction, Part I outlines the status stratification system that prevailed only a generation ago in the form of an ascriptive hierarchy based on ethno-occupational specializations and territorial segmentation linked to distinct ecological habitats, which continues to mediate the integration of Soqotrans into the emergent modern social formation. Part II describes how communal identities over the past generation have been leveraged by various national and transregional political and cultural forces, leading to an emerging hierarchy of ethnicity-based identities. The concluding section updates the current status of Soqotra’s traditional social groups and highlights the dynamic relationality between communal identity transformation and political and historical contingencies.","PeriodicalId":35635,"journal":{"name":"Northeast African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49052647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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