Basseri of Iran: Past and Present Essay

Basseri of Iran Past and Present Jonathan Hixon ANT101 Instructor Brown-Warren February 24, 2013 When the Acha workforceian emperors of ancient Persia built their large(p) at Persepolis, in a valley of the Zagros, they did so with strategy in mind. Persepolis was placed in a common bottleneck in the iodin-year migration routes of several tribes from the warm coastal plains to the cool summer skunks in the north. twice a year, several whole confederations of tribes had to pass by Persepolis with all of their richesiness in sheep, goats, and horses, and he who ruled Persepolis ruled what then was Persia.One of the tribes that n unmatchabletheless use this route at present is the Basseri of Iran. (Coon, 1962) The Basseri of Iran was a unsettled pastoralist participation from the get of their existence. The Basseri argon located in southwest Iran and were housed in c angstrom down downs. Each en populate housed a nuclear family and many inhabits made up a c adenylic acid for the Basseri. An independent household occupied e actually tent in a camp. The tents were arranged in groups of smaller groups that unremarkably would put all of their flocks of animals into unrivalled unit that was taken cargon of by one guard.A shepherd was usually a younger son or girl from diametric tents that took c be of the smaller camps flocks. many families would hire a shepherd from different tents if they did non bring in the mode to provide a qualified shepherd of their own. Nomadic pastoralists had no permanent closings instead, complete households dismissal location with the herd. House structures were highly cash in ones chipsable, such as a tent or yurt, a portable, felt-c all everyplaceed, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure used in the steppes of Central Asia among Kazakh and Kirghiz pastoralists.Pastoralists moved for a number of reasons an early(a)(prenominal) than following wet and forage for their herds. Herders also moved to avoid neighbo ring peoples and government control, thence reducing illness, insects, and competition for resources, while abstaining from taxation and circumscription into military service. (Nowak &amp Laird, 2010) In the past, the Basseri of Iran were nomadic pastoralists, hardly the Basseri wee-wee started to come into a cultivation of a much advanced technological market-gardening in todays time. The Basseri provoke now become more dvanced in their flori refining with the foundation we all live in today while respecting the culture they came from in decades past. The social organization of the Basseri is clearly simple, exclusively effective as a organized system of leadership. The Basseri chief is the head of a very strongly centralized political system and has immense representation over all the members of the Basseri tribe. The chief, in his dealing with the headmen, draws on their source and influence but does not delegate any of his own power back to them.Some material goo ds mostly gifts of some scotch and prestige value, such as riding horses and weapons flow from the chief to the headmen. A headman is in a politically convenient position he john communicate much more freely with the chief than can ordinary tribesmen, and thus can bring up cases that are to his own advantage and, to some extent, prevent or delay the talk ofion of matters detrimental to his own interests. Nonetheless, the political power that a headman derives from the chief is very limited. Johnson, 1996) The Basseri as noted are divided into camps of tents, which may or may not get hold of a headman present in a particular camp. If a camp does not perplex a headman present, then that camp lead usually have an loose leader who were recognized by the new(prenominal) headmen, but had no skeletal systemal recognition by the Basseri chief. For this reason (not macrocosm formally recognized by the Basseri chief) the informal leaders still usually answered to an official he adman in another camp which could bring things up before the chief if something needed to be addressed.The head of the household (or tent) would be the person responsible for bringing things up to an informal leader or a headman for discussion with the chief when things needed to be brought to the oversight of the chief for social or political discussion. This political organization is not so hard to grasp as one of a wide population like we see in the United States. In summary, one could see that there are tents that housed families, a head of household for that tent, an informal leader or headman and finally the chief (who would be over many different camps and tents within those camps).This political organization would be tight compared to, for instance, a police department chain of command in where you have the chief, then the captains (compared to the headmen), then sergeants (informal leaders), corporals (heads of households), and finally the troops (members of the individu al households). This was a bureau I could compare and understand the political organization of the Basseri people easily. The economic proceed of the Basseri was that of true importance to the tents/households ability to sustain themselves.The economic function of the Basseri lies in the occupancy of pastures throughout the migratory fashion of the Basseri. Tents are the raw material element of the economic unit in the Basseri community. As much as they are social units, tents are also the basic units of production and consumption. In the summer, there might have been as many as thirty or forty tents that made up a camp barely in the winter months, camps were reduced down to approximately two to quin tents and were separated from other camps by three or four kilometers.The Basseri keep a variety of domesticated animals, but sheep and goats have the greatest economic importance. Other domesticated animals include donkeys for transport and riding (mainly by women and children), horses for riding only (predominately by men), camels for heavy transport and wool, and dogs for keeping watch in camp. (Johnson, 1996) Their products obtained from their flocks sustain the Basseri community. The Basseris most important products for trade included milk, lambskins, and wool, in that order.The Basseri spins, roam wool and goat-hair, and make their own tent poles, pack-saddles, and cordage. The rest of their equipment is bought from townsmen and gypsies, their vegetable feed from villagers. Some of the Basseri own village solid grounds from which they receive shares of the crops. (Coon, 1962) Community members trade in their milk, hides and other animal products at bazaars in surrounding towns and use this bullion to purchase other types of food such as vegetables, clothing and other necessities.As John Dowling argues, it is informative to contrast the Basseri with another pastoral people, the Turkana of Tanganyika. both(prenominal) the Basseri and the Turkana ar e nomadic, both have productive organizations that are family based, both pasture their animals on tribally owned lands to which all individuals have usufruct rights, and in both societies animals are culturally ascribed to individuals property. But the orientation of the Turkana pastoralist is vastly different than that of the Basseri.The Turkana pastoralist produces primarily for consumption, the Basseri for sale. (Dowling, 1975) Dowling goes on to say that the Basseri go frequently to the market, buying material for womens clothing, mens ready made clothing, goods of tanned leather (shoes, saddles, etc. ), stubble flour (a staple), sugar, tea, dates, fruits, vegetables, glass ware, china, metal articles (cooking utensils, etc. ), narcotics, luxury goods such as womens jewelry and carpets, and, for those who are able, land.The Turkana could live without external trade they are self-sufficient subsistence producers. The Basseri are market dependent. (Dowling, 1975) Gender roles of the Basseri were clearly defined and adhered to by the members of the Basseri camps and tents. The gender roles of the Basseri are clearly defined by the community. When it comes to the tent, all authority lies with the economize (head of household). The husband was the purpose-making person in the household and all were anticipate to adhere to the decisions made by the husband.Women had less significant power and were largely their roles were to take care of the day-to-day domestic operations of the tent or household. Women were also considered part of a mans wealth and it was sort of common for a wealthy man to marry more than one wife. Daughters had no rights in choosing a join partner as this decision was solely made by the husband/father and the father of the boy the daughter was to marry.Most families viewed the girl children as a means of gaining wealth since they understood that the girl would attract a certain amount of bride wealth into the family. The boy child was of more use to the community as a whole. The boys could look after the herds (even though there were cases that I read where girls were allowed to do shepherding duties as well) and protect and help the communities in the struggle between other communities.Marriage among the Basseri was arranged and it was not possible for a girl of the tent to have much of a say in who she would marry. As pull up stakes tongue to before, the Basseri of Iran have households that are referred to as tents within a tent, there were nuclear families that had members of households headed by the husband who was considered head of his tent or household. The husband or head of the tent was the one who made all arrangements for marriages of his sons and daughters under their tents.The husbands would discuss with members of other tents who show interests in his sons or daughters and together, they would arrange marriages between the sons and daughters of other tents or households. The parties that were to get married usually had very little options but to accept what had been decided for them and accepted the marriage. The father of the bride would have to pay the bride footing in the form of line of descent and would also be pass judgment to give a share of his animals to the new couple as a form of inheritance. This inheritance ould form the means of subsistence for the newly married couple/family. A married man may arrange subsequent marriages for himself, whereas all women and unwed boys are subject to the authority of a marriage guardian, who is the head of their household. The marriage contract is often drawn up and written by a nontribal ritual specialist, or holy man. It stipulates certain bride-payments for the girl and the domestic equipment she is expected to bring, and the divorce or widows insurance, which is a prearranged share of the husbands estate, payable upon divorce or in the event of his death. Johnson, 1996) Basseri are slowly becoming more and more settled in todays society and some are moving away from the tralatitious nomadic pastoralist ways of culture and moving towards a more modern approach to life. mend there are still nomadic pastoralists today among the Basseri, many of the Basseri have begun to settle down and become a more settled culture. pauperism and debt lead a household to consume their capital in livestock this makes them poorer, which makes it harder to make ends meet.More capital is consumed, and with no alternative sources of wealth available, settlement is inevitable. (Bradburd, 1989) Successful Basseri build up their herds, accumulating hundreds or thousands of animals. Fearful of losing their wealth to disease and the vulnerabilities of nature, herders convert this capital into an alternative form of wealth, such as land in local villages. The land is cultivated by villagers as tenant farmers, including unsuccessful Basseri who lost their herds and ended up as agricultural laborers. Nowak &amp Laird, 201 0) Bradburd argues that not only poor Basseri settled wealthy Basseri were operate to settle both by the risks of pastoralism, which threatened them with a sound reflection to poverty, and by the fact that the economic realities of their situation did not provide a return commensurate with their risk. (Bradburd, 1989) With increased modernization, many of the Basseri have learned of other subsistence means that are more profitable and have shifted away from the traditional Basseri culture or pastoralists.Traditionally, the Basseri of south western Iran are nomadic pastoralists and they continue to be that way in todays time, but the number of traditional nomadic pastoralists among the Basseri people a very few. Most Basseri have begun to move towards a more modern approach in living and have settled down in villages or even more urban areas to obtain jobs that sustain life easier than their ancestors had in previous years. In the past, the Basseri of Iran were nomadic pastoralists , but the Basseri have started to come into a culture of a more advanced technological culture in todays time.The Basseri have now become more advanced in their culture with the world we all live in today while respecting the culture they came from in decades past. Most texts agree that many of the settled people in the southwestern area of Iran either were Basseri or are descendants of Basseri. Even though there are still traditional nomadic pastoralist Basseri in the region, they have become small in number but the ones that exist today, value their lifestyle and dont want to intensify the way they have been living for many years.