Tribal Modern: Branding New Nations in the Arab Gulf

223 Pages·2014·14.74 MB·English

by  Miriam Cooke

Tribal Modern
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of
the Ahmanson Foundation Humanities Endowment Fund of the
University of California Press Foundation.
Tribal Modern
Branding New Nations in
the Arab Gulf
miriam cooke
university of california press
Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the
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University of California Press
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University of California Press, Ltd.
London, En gland
© 2014 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Cooke, Miriam.
Tribal modern : branding new nations in the Arab Gulf / Miriam Cooke.
pages cm
ISBN 978- 0- 520- 28009-0 (hardback)— ISBN 978- 0- 520- 28010- 6 (paperback)
1. Ethnology— Persian Gulf States. 2. Persian Gulf States— Social life and
customs. 3. Tribes— Persian Gulf States. I. Title.
GN640.C66 2014
306.09536—dc23
2013019649
Manufactured in the United States of America
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and
sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland Enviro100,
a 100% post- consumer fi ber paper that is FSC certifi ed, deinked, pro cessed chlorine-
free, and manufactured with renewable biogas energy. It is acid- free and EcoLogo
certifi ed.
For Muhammad Àli Àbdullah and DD
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contents
Introduction
1
1. Uneasy Cosmopolitanism
16
2. Pure Blood and the New Nation
30
3. The Idea of the Tribe
50
4. The Brand
64
5. Building the Brand
77
6. Heritage Engineering
99
viii / Contents
7. Performing National Identity
123
8. Gendering the Tribal Modern
138
Conclusion
163
Acknowledgments 175
Notes 177
References 197
Index 207
Introduction
Bombay. February 1973.
I was running out of money. After months on the road, I was
tired of traveling. Busing and hitching across Eur ope through
Turkey to Afg hani s tan through the Khyber Pass and Rawalpindi
to Katmandu and down to Goa for Christmas and Trivandrum
for New Year’s Eve had fi nally slaked my wanderlust. Instead
of Bali, I decided to return to Bombay and then home. Home in
oh- so- far- away En gland.
With little money left, my only option was the “human cargo
ship.” These vessels of misery left Bombay when they had fi lled
with Indian laborers bound for the Arab Gulf. The accelerating
production of oil drove the demand for migrant workers. South
Asia supplied them. More and more ships w ere fi lling and leaving.
At the port of Bombay, I met with the ship’s captain and handed
over my twenty pounds sterling to cover the cost of my trip to the
Iran ia n port of Khorramshahr. Before setting sail, I signed a doc-
ument accepting the conditions of travel: no doctor on board.
1