Bassheri

Bassheri Culture Lindsay Jordan ANT101 Donald Anderson 9-17-12 Cultures Basseri is a nomadic, pastoral tribe of the Fars region of Iran, the Basseri also in habit the steep mountains of the South, East, and North Shiraz. They are one group of five, occupying the region often referred to as the confederate of Kamesh (Arabic for five); however, their tribe speaks Persian. The Basseri are pastoral nomads that live in independent households referred to as tents.   They have a very deliberate political structure and are well organized.   Their leaders have to lead somewhat for the people because if the common Basseri do not agree or believe in the chief then they will take their herd to an alternative chief.   The Basseri of Iran are a very traditional and focused community, the following pages should give you a small glimpse into their daily lives, their beliefs values and culture.  The Basseri culture is made up of individual households which are referred to as tents.   Each tent has independent ownership of the property in the tent unit and the livestock. The tribe consists of 3,000 tents or 16,000 people.  The man is the head of his own tent.   For ease they will combine multiple tents and herds the animals together. The tent owns about 100 sheep and 10 donkeys, and the sheep are tended by a boy, either a member of the household or a hired herdsman. The Basseri are tent dwelling so they can move easier and faster.  During prime migratory seasons as many as forty different tents may make camp together, combine their flocks with several herding units and function as a migratory camp. These larger camps are the primary units of the nomadic society Culture and function similarly to a small village of a sedentary society.   When two or more of these larger migratory camps combine they are called an “Oulad”.   An Oulad may share a common lineage and consist of ninety or more families. In the winter and spring the tribesman use the coastal plain to pasture their flocks where up to ten inches of rain will fall. At the Persian New Year which is called No Ruz they start moving north and arrive at the Persepolis plain at the end of April and the this whole migration process takes up to 50 days. The sheep that they raise are completely adapted to the migratory lifestyle, but aren’t adapted to the climate extremes. If they aren’t moved at least twice a year up to 80% of them will die. Basseri normally use Farsi as a language, though majority of them know only their Basseri dialect, but still few of them speak Arabic or Turkish. Most of the various groups that the Basseri community comes in contact with speak Arabic, Farsi or Turkish. The Basseri were element of the Khamseh confederacy, which was formed during the nineteenth century. At the beginning, they were not major within this organization, and when later on, the Basseri developed in importance in the confederacy, that the confederacy lost its significance as a social and political unit. The environment of the Basseri develops from the arid and hot climate of the Gulf of the Persian. Approximately 17,000 to 22,000 square kilometers whereby they traditionally inhabited spans a huge ecological range. Pastoral nomads move between pastures every three to four days. Nuclear family is the basic unit of the pastoral nomads in Basseri. The animal herders and Culture a young child usually leave early morning with herd while the adults stay behind to pack up to move to another spot, then they set up, and prepare for the herd which will need milked upon arrival. They rely on livestock for survival and the livestock rely on the pasture for foods and drinks. In other words they live off the land and the animals for all their needs such as food, clothing, and materials. Since they do not grow crops and all the cattle, sheep and goats to graze for feed, the animals are their primary means of food. Life as a pastoral society is defined as “those who regularly move in search of naturally occurring grass and water” to feed their herded animals. They have to move around so that the animals they herd will have land and/or pastures to graze on for food. They migrate very often because if they didn’t the animals would not have any food. Other domesticated animals include donkeys for transport and riding (mainly by women and children), horses for riding only (predominantly by men), camels for heavy transport and wool, and dogs for keeping watch in camp. Poultry are sometimes kept as a source of meat, but not for eggs. Cattle are not herded because of the long migrations and the rocky terrain. (Every culture) Sheep and goats provide milk, meat, wool, and hides. Camels provide only wool. These products are consumed immediately, stored for later consumption, or traded. Cultures The majority of Basseri speak a dialect of Farsi but a few also speak Turkish or Arabic. The Basseri chief is the head of a strong centralized political system and has full control over everyone in the tribe. The chief also have headmen which can communicate more freely and therefore can block or relay messages of their discretion. Their political power is still very limited. Their authority comes from kinship and a descent system as well as matrilineal and affinal relations. Affinal relations are also regarded as relations of solidarity and kinship. They appear to be most effective in establishing political bonds between tents. The chief also gives the headmen material goods of some economic or prestige value such as horses for riding and weapons to hunt or protect themselves with. The main functions of the chief are find pastures in which the animals can feed off of and coordinate the migration of the tribes, settle any and all disputes that are brought to him, and represent the tribe or any of its members in politically important dealings with sedentary authorities. Most matters of law are governed by custom and compromise in the Basseri tribe and are regulated by diffuse sanctions. However the chief will serve as a mediator when conflict arises that can't be solved through normal tradition because of the severity of matters of the case. The chief is not bound by precedent or custom in his decision, and his decision will be based on what he feels is best for the tribe or in general he does exactly what he wants to do no matter what. The chief also has an entourage that follows him called a Darbar which consists of tribe members that are closest with the chief and always migrate with him. In this Darbar are personal valets, groomers for the horses, a scribe and a hunting and drinking Cultures companion. The chief will also help solve any political strife within the tribe but any economic exchange is up to the individual and the individuals involved only. Marriage in this tribe is more like a transaction because the kin groups constitutes whole household. It is not about two people meeting and falling in love. The head of the household and or the tent is the only person that holds the authority to arrange a marriage or make a marriage contract for the rest of the household. The marriage contract is made up by and written by someone who is not only a member of the tribe but is also a ritual specialist or a man of high faith. This helps decides the bride-payments for the girl and what domestically she is expected to bring into this marriage, and the divorce or widow's insurance, which is a prearranged share of the husband's estate, payable upon divorce or in the event of his death. Every thing to do with marriage is prearranged. When two people come together in marriage and form a household, the groom's father gave the new household an inheritance in which the groom received from his father's herd that he would receive as an heir if his father were to die at that moment. From then on, the new household was on its own. If its herds failed it received no help or no second inheritance, it just failed. Men could also arrange other marriages for himself. This means that all women are inferior to men and all women and unmarried boys are to have a marriage guardian in which is usually the head of a household/ tent. The Basseri are Shia Muslims who accept the prescriptions and prohibitions of Islam to the extent that they are familiar with them. The Basseri are not very familiar with Muslim beliefs, customs, and ceremonies. There is some confusion among the Cultures Basseri with respect to the divisions and events of the Muslim year, even though they are continually reminded of them through their constant dealings with sedentary villages. Even though the Basseri know when certain events of the Muslim year are they are not consistent in observing them. Islamic feast days are rarely celebrated. Even the fast of Ramadan and the feast of Moharram, which are of central importance to the surrounding Muslims, are observed by only a few Basseri. Rituals are more often connected with the life cycle—birth, marriage, death—than with Islamic traditions. They value certain events in life more so than the big event that surround their religion. - In conclusion, The Basseri are a clearly delineated group, defined (as - are most groups in the area) by political rather than by ethnic or geographical criteria. In the late 1950s there were an estimated 16,000 Basseri living in Iran. More recent estimates of the Basseri population have not been widely published. The Basseri of Iran is not a very well known culture and there isn’t a lot of information on them. Basseri is a nomadic, pastoral tribe of the Fars region of Iran, the Basseri also in habit the steep mountains of the South, East, and North Shiraz. They use the natural resources of the land to survive and they are either consumed immediately or stored for later use. This makes them only migrate places just for naturally occurring grass and water this is called nomadism. When Anthropologist study other cultures such as the Basseri it helps to understand a different way of Cultures life than yours and helps people not to judge. It helps people get a better understanding that different cultures are raised to believe the beliefs that they grow up as adults to believe or participant in. Sometimes they do not know any better they only know the way of life of their culture. Reference ▪ http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/oldworld/middle_east/basseri.html http://orion.oac.uci.edu/~dbell/BarthsoPersia.pdf http://www.archive.org/details/nomadsofsouthper002252mbp