Bedouin Bureaucrats: Mobility and Property in the Ottoman Empire

Bedouin Bureaucrats explores how Bedouin in the Syrian interior engaged with Ottoman state transformation,using their category to gain political influence and resist reallocation attempts. It places the Syrian interior in a global context of imperial expansion and illuminates Ottoman state formation efforts within Bedouin communities.

Format: Hardback
Length: 374 pages
Publication date: 25 April 2023
Publisher: Stanford University Press

In the late 19th century, the Ottoman government embarked on a mission to populate landscapes they legally deemed empty. This involved incorporating both land and people into territorially bounded grids of administrative law. The book, "Bedouin Bureaucrats," delves into the intricate ways in which tent-dwelling, seasonally migrating Bedouin engaged in these processes of Ottoman state transformation on local, imperial, and global scales. As the tribe became a category of Ottoman administration, Bedouin in the Syrian interior utilized this classification to gain political influence and organize community resistance to maintain control over their land.

Narrating the lives of Bedouin individuals involved in Ottoman administration, Nora Elizabeth Barakat brings this population to the center of modern state-making. From their involvement in the pilgrimage administration in the 18th century to their performance of land registration and taxation as the Ottoman bureaucracy expanded in the 19th, to their eventual rejection of Ottoman attempts to reallocate the empty land they inhabited in the 20th century, Barakat showcases the unique trajectory of Bedouin in Syria, who maintained their control over land.

By placing the Syrian interior within a global context of imperial expansion into regions formerly deemed marginal, particularly in relation to the American and Russian empires, the book offers valuable insights into Ottoman state formation attempts within Bedouin communities. It sheds light on the complex dynamics and negotiations that unfolded between the Ottoman government and Bedouin communities, as they sought to navigate the changing political landscape and preserve their land rights.

Overall, "Bedouin Bureaucrats" is a groundbreaking work that provides a rich and detailed account of the interactions between the Ottoman government and Bedouin communities in the Syrian interior. It offers a valuable perspective on the complex processes of state formation, power dynamics, and cultural adaptation that unfolded during this period of history.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503634619