: William Lancaster, Fidelity Lancaster
: Honour Is in Contentment Life Before Oil in Ras Al-Khaimah (UAE) and Some Neighbouring Regions
: Walter de Gruyter GmbH& Co.KG
: 9783110223408
: Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des islamischen OrientsISSN
: 1
: CHF 221.40
:
: Kulturgeschichte
: English
: 621
: Wasserzeichen/DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF
< >Based on interviews and field research, the authors explore the sets of ideas Arab tribespeople from Ras Al-Khaimah had about tribe and community; social and economic networks, and jural contracts for livelihoods and profits; their uses of their environments; the moral relations of credit, debt and labour; ruling; economic and political transformations; and ideas of regional history where conflicts were regarded as disputes over sets of ideas, and informal accounts of tribal and local histories.
Published sources give a wider context to these ideas and events which show the great complexity and differing perspectives of“life before oil” in the Gulf.



< >William O. Lancaster andFidelity C. Lancaster, Aberdeen University, Scotland, UK.
Preface6
Acknowledgements12
Contents14
1 Social matters: social infrastructure, premises and practice16
Ownership, territory, and residence41
Group identities and their references50
“The poetics of dwelling”51
2 Sea people, ahl al-bahr, and how they lived60
Sea trading and carrying61
Pearling71
Fishing75
Changes in coastlines83
3 Livelihoods and living on the coastal plains or sayh, and the sands114
Waters, soils, and livelihood options114
Livelihoods and profits, ma'ash wa fa'ida, and living117
4 Ru'us al-Jibal mountains livelihoods and living
Waters, soils, environments152
Livelihoods and living in the Ru'us al-Jibal162
5 The western Hajar mountains livelihoods and living
Waters, soils, and environments206
Livelihoods and living in the western Hajar224
6 Distribution, trade, investment, credit and debt254
The second section describes the activities of traders276
7 Ruling and Rulers313
Local terms for persons fulfilling roles in aspects of ruling319
Local descriptions of ruling in the past326
Rationales of ruling348
Changes from the discovery and development of oil384
8 'What happened to turn our world upside down?'391
A brief economic history of the area398
Changes in traditional sources of profits425
Date growing areas inland from the coast446
Sands452
Ru'us al-Jibal456
Western Hajar463
The transformation through modernisation473
9 Back to History481
The Gulf coastal towns and places on the Shamailyya and Batinah coasts486
Date garden areas of the Sirr516
Sands526
Ru'us al-Jibal history is presented as tribal history Dhahuriyyin
Western Hajar544
Bibliography574
Index584
List of Figures596
Plates598