Abu Jabir Enclave
Grant
Overview
abstract
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Models of the sedentarization of formerly mobile communities in the Middle East are primarily based on post-1948 realities, when modern nation states forced the Bedouin to settle. In contrast, during the Mandatory period (1920-1948), historical documents suggest the Negev Bedouin made a choice to become sedentary. My research investigates the sedentarization of the Abu Jabar Bedouin during the British Mandate period. The Abu Jabar built a small enclave in the northern Negev that contained 10 structures. Using archaeological and ethnohistorical data, I propose to analyze the material culture and structural layout of the settlement as a means to study the transition from mobile to settled community. For example, preliminary study suggests that domestic architecture replicates the internal organization of tensile structures. This research will provide valuable data to test alternative models for sedentarization that pre-date modern nation states. Additionally, the Abu Jabar model can be compared with known examples where modern nations sedentarize mobile pastoralists. Lastly, this study has impacts on the current debate concerning the legal status of Bedouin lands in Israel, as central to this debate is the State?s argument that Mandatory period Bedouin built only storage sheds and not permanent domestic structures.
date/time interval
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November 2018 - August 2019
awarded by