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Of Sand or Soil: Genealogy and Tribal Belonging in Saudi Arabia
Social Science > Anthropology - Cultural & Social
- Princeton University Press
- Paperback
- 9780691183381
- 9.21 X 6.14 X 0.68 inches
- 1.03 pounds
- Social Science > Anthropology - Cultural & Social
- (Single Author) Asian American
- English
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Book Description
Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious Arabian tribe? Of Sand or Soil looks at how genealogy and tribal belonging have informed the lives of past and present inhabitants of Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi government's tacit glorification of tribal origins has shaped the powerful development of the kingdom's genealogical culture.
Nadav Samin presents the first extended biographical exploration of the major twentieth-century Saudi scholar Ḥamad al-Jāsir, whose genealogical studies frame the story about belonging and identity in the modern kingdom. Samin examines the interplay between al-Jāsir's genealogical project and his many hundreds of petitioners, mostly Saudis of nontribal or lower status origin who sought validation of their tribal roots in his genealogical texts. Investigating the Saudi relationship to this opaque, orally inscribed historical tradition, Samin considers the consequences of modern Saudi genealogical politics and how the most intimate anxieties of nontribal Saudis today are amplified by the governing strategies and kinship ideology of the Saudi state.
Challenging the impression that Saudi culture is determined by puritanical religiosity or rentier economic principles, Of Sand or Soil shows how the exploration and establishment of tribal genealogies have become influential phenomena in contemporary Saudi society. Beyond Saudi Arabia, this book casts important new light on the interplay between kinship ideas, oral narrative, and state formation in rapidly changing societies.
Author Bio
Nadav Samin is Lecturer in Anthropology and Government at Dartmouth College. His first book, Of Sand or Soil: Genealogy and Tribal Belonging in Saudi Arabia, was published in 2015 by Princeton University Press, and is forthcoming in Arabic translation with Jadawel.
His articles on the history, politics, and culture of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states have appeared or are forthcoming in Comparative Studies in Society and History, British Journal of Middle East Studies, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, Arab Media and Society, and other publications. He was previously a Social Science Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow for Transregional Research, and has taught at New York University and Hunter College.
Mr. Samin received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University.
Source: Harvard University and Dartmouth College
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