Mediterranean Culture: Stereotypes and Ethnography

Stereotypical Images of the Mediterranean

• The Mediterranean is seen as a place of coexistence, conflict, and chaos.
• It can be considered a culture area due to shared "family resemblances".

Culture Area Definition

• A culture area is a contiguous geographic region with societies sharing key traits.
• The concept emerged in Anthropology in the late 1800s and was developed by A.E. Kroeber in the 1930s.
• Some anthropologists like James Ferguson have critiqued it as arbitrary.

Mediterranean as a Culture Area

• British Anthropologists have treated the Mediterranean and Near East as culture areas since the early 1900s.
• Edward Said's "Orientalism" discusses bias in Western views of the East, where regions are lumped together and portrayed with political motivations, both romanticized and reviled.

Three Key Issues

• Honour, shame, and gender relations.
• Politics, patronage, and power.
• History; the past in the present.

Early Ethnographies

• Early studies focused on rural areas (peasant societies) and were conducted by British male anthropologists. Male values and perspectives were emphasized, and "honour" and "shame" were isolated as key values, reflecting gender segregation.

Honour

• Honour is a system of moral resources, often equated with respect.
• In Mediterranean ethnography, a man's honour is tied to his control over the sexuality of his female relatives.

Shame

• Shame is related to concerns about one’s reputation.
• A woman's "shame" comes from adhering to her culture’s sexual mores.

Politics and Patronage

• There is a concern about political corruption, organized crime, and "ungovernability".
• "Amoral Familism" suggests the family is the most important unit.

Amoral Familism

• A study by Banfield in Southern Italy used interviews and psychological testing and determined that Southern Italy focuses too much on the family and not enough on voluntary organizations - the benefit is for the family not governance and creates exploitation.

Presence of the Past

• Mythology is the base.
• The Mediterranean is often seen as "stuck in the past," with layers of history missed.

The Mediterranean and the British Imagination

• The Mediterranean was important in controlling global trade and was seen as the origin of Western Civilization.
• After the fall of the Roman Empire it underwent "decline".
• There was a perception of degeneration of culture, the presence of archaic cultural elements.
• There was need for domination, strong leadership and worrisome parallels to British Empire.

Key Questions on Mediterranean Cultures

• How valid are honour/shame/patronage/politics, and presence of the past as traits uniting Mediterranean cultures?
• What are some of the problems with using these as determinants of Mediterranean unity?
• Are there better unifying traits?
• Does considering the Mediterranean a culture area deny the differences in this complex area?

The Bedouin

• Nomadic Arab people in the Middle East and North Africa.
• Pastoral nomads
• Patrilineal, patrilocal tribes
• Social organization is around kinship or fictive kinship.
• Descent from a single ancestor
• Polygynous
• Muslim (mostly)

Arab Migrations

• Around 1045 CE, Bedouins migrated from central Saudi Arabia into North Africa.
• Overgrazing and desertification led to animosity between the Bedouin and settled agriculturalists.

Bedouin Tent

• The tent is an adaptation to desert conditions.
• It is covered in fabrics and skins without windows for sandstorms.
• It's easily portable for migration.

Bedouin and Camels

• Camels were important for trade in North Africa and the Middle East.
• Camel caravans allowed travel through the desert.
• Their hump stores fat, and their feet are adapted for walking in sand.
• They extended trade networks

Bedouin Camp

• Lived in camps that could be moved along with herds to fresh pasture lands.
• Today, most Bedouin are sedentary, though they continue to practice pastoralism.

The Awlad ‘Ali in Egypt

• Claim descent from Mohammed’s son.
• Live close to Egyptians.
• Have had political, economic relationships Egyptians, Libyans and British.
• Have resisted assimilation into Egyptian society.

Identity: Asl

• Blood, genealogy = basis of Bedouin identity.
• Constructed as linking them to “pure” Arab tribes and followers of Mohammed.
• Distinguishes them from non-Arabs, non-Bedouin.

Asl and Character

• Nobility of origin is believed to confer moral character.
• Quality of character is symbolized by honour and modesty.

Asl and Relationships

• Asl also means kin relationships.
• Bedouin divide themselves into kin and non-kin.
• Kinship is traced through the patriline, and kin relations always predominate over non-kin ones.

Asl, Honour and Modesty

• Asl = primary metaphor for virtue including generosity, hospitality, loyalty, honesty, sincerity, keeping one’s word, and Sharaf (honour).

Hurr

• Hurr means freedom, independence, and the ability to stand alone.
• It's won through toughness, assertiveness, fearlessness, pride, self-control, and physical stoicism.
• Considered weakness or failure = dependence.
• Important to all genders.

‘Agl (Reasons or Self-Control)

• Children are born without hurr or ‘agl, because they are completely dependent and must be learned and developed.
• Age increases honour because it increases self-mastery and social sense and greater control of reason.
• Wealth increases honour because it gives power to host lavishly, demonstrate generosity, and support many dependants.

Earning Respect

• Those in authority must treat dependents fairly, with respect, drawing little attention to social inequalities and minimising assertions of power over them.
• Alienating dependents weakens a leader’s power base, wealth is accumulated in animals and farm keep.

Voluntary Submission

• Voluntary Submission = sign of independence (hurr) because it is willingly given.
• A woman with ‘asl is deferential to authority, but not weak or submissive.

Hasham: The Honour of the Weak

• Deference, fear of humiliation or exposure.
• Practiced only with social superiors; never with equals or inferiors.
• Black head covering worn by adult marriage; covers face before those who inspire Hasham = symbol of modesty.
• Veiling = protection from exposure for falling short of ideals of independence - not submission, but self-control, modesty.

Camels for Jeeps: Globalization

• Sedentary – territory to territory to take care of livestock.
• As Trade increases pastoralism decreases.
• Availability of cars decreases dependence to the patron.

Peasants

• Non-landowning agriculturalists
• Work land or keep livestock for owners and are paid in kind (mezzadria).
• Systems are highly exploitative: peasants are often in debt for life.
• The best of the crop must be sold for cash.
• They supplement their livelihood through hunting, gathering, fishing and other economic activities.

Pastoralism

• Horticulture: Olives
• Agriculture: Durum Wheat

Balentia

• Courage, Strength, Honour
• Demonstrated through physical, verbal and moral prowess.
• Boys are raised to have balentia from infancy.

Transhumant Pastoralism

• Men's work

Men and the Church

• Men are expected to work and be productive after adolescence.
• Church attendance is seen as a women's activity.
• Priests, as celibate men, are treated with suspicion.

Urbanization

• The agricultural economy's collapse in the post-war era forced many rural Italians to migrate into the cities.
• They took on jobs as laborers, becoming part of the underclass.

Ex-Migration

• Others left Italy altogether for economic opportunities in other European countries or for Canada and Australia.
• Now, some are returning to retire in their home communities.

Gender Roles: Women

• Values: Marriage and Motherhood.

Women as Producers

• Before marriage, women had to accumulate dowries
• Dowries consisted of all the items necessary for a household
• Wool from the sheep was spun and woven into items for the home.
• Make and embroider baby sheets and pillowcases
• Items were displayed at weddings to show off the young woman's skills

Women as Nurturers

• A woman's ability to cook and feed her family is an important index of her personal worth.
• Women still cook the majority of a family’s meals at home, even if they work outside the home.
• Healing is an extension of women’s role as nurturers.

Women and the Church

• Often involved in religious organisations and festivals.
• Women gain moral status and honour by attending church and being religious.

Gender Role Benders

• Differs culture to culture.
• Caretaker for one of the town’s chapels also a healer whose faith and devotion often made him a target of derision from other men.
• Greater consciousness recently – cities and educational institutions.

Gender Role Pioneers

• A woman taught math and science for 30 years, served on the town council, and started a cultural association in the town.

Changing Gender Roles

• Since the 1970s, women’s roles have changed drastically in Italy.
• Woman have access to the same opportunities as young men.
• 1980s – women consistently pursued higher education at greater rates than men.
• Many of them now live in urban centers
• They continue to be responsible for domestic tasks.