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The Tribe as a Unit of Subsistence: Nomadic Pastoralism in the Middle East
Author(s) -
MARX EMANUEL
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1977.79.2.02a00090
Subject(s) - subsistence agriculture , tribe , pastoralism , unit (ring theory) , middle east , population , geography , ethnology , ecology , subsistence economy , history , archaeology , economy , sociology , anthropology , economics , demography , livestock , biology , psychology , agriculture , mathematics education
Among Middle Eastern pastoral nomads some “tribes” can best be described as “units of subsistence”: they exploit an area providing multiannual subsistence. Tribesmen sometimes control this area; more usually they control part of it and share the rest with other nomads and with settled people. Small corporate groups afford the tribesman security and, through genealogical links, mediate his formal membership of the tribe. The unit of subsistence is articulated mainly by networks of institutionalized relationships. Corporate groups join forces only for defense, and then their alliances cut across tribal lines. Under external pressure the unit of subsistence may develop formal leadership and a small standing militia. This administrative setup is in the literature often associated with the corporate groups and called “tribe.” While coexisting with a unit of subsistence, this “tribe” is not necessarily identical with it in area or population . [ecology, genealogies, Middle East, pastoral nomads, tribe]