Anthropology of the Middle East

It was decided by the editorial board of AME that some issues of the journal should be open-themed so that new topics of interest to researchers could have a place to be presented, and, in this way, perhaps new horizons of scholarship could be opened up. This issue was an open-theme issue but, amazingly, all the articles are concerned in one way or other with ethnicity. Would it be incorrect to call this the most important concern in the Middle East today? I think there is some truth to it, as our articles show: from concern with nation formation through enculturation in mahallah’s of Uzbekistan; to linguistic behaviour in two regions in Uzbekistan; to ethnic conflict and violence in Kyrgyzstan; the Turkish diaspora returning to Turkey and trying to set a superior example; and last but not least the emblem of a prosperous nation, Qatar, claiming not only tribal origins but also acting democratically through tribal delineation at times of voting. This is exactly what I have observed in southern Iran where people vote according to tribal lines. The same topic was evoked in ‘You Have Car Insurance, We Have Tribes’ (AME 6 no. 1, 2011).

This article examines how Turks returning from Germany to Turkey self-fashion as 'orderly neighbours'. By maintaining aesthetically pleasing homes and gardens, keeping public spaces clean, and obeying rules and laws in public, return migrants believe they act as modern 'European-Turks' and exemplify good neighbourliness. Many neighbours, however, feel these actions are unnecessary or even disruptive to Turkish communities. In conversation with the burgeoning anthropology of ethics, this research explores how local, national and transnational assemblages foster reflections and debates on neighbourly ethics. Further, this study highlights anxieties about individualism, reciprocity, 'modernity' and 'European-ness' in today's Turkey.

The article analyses speech varieties among Uzbek migrants in Tashkent city in Uzbekistan to shed light on inter-ethnic contact. I do this through discussing various rhetorical strategies and linguistic means employed during the identification processes. 'We-codes' and 'They-codes' as well as the analysis of intent and 'perceived intent' are the centre of the theoretical argument of the article. It is important to consider communication and miscommunication when studying inter-ethnic relations and collective identities. I argue that it is necessary to distinguish between intent and what I call 'perceived intent' when analysing miscommunication. The data used for the article is drawn from the ethnography of communication among Khorezmians and other Uzbek groups in the capital city of Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Theoretically, the article contributes to the recent scholarly debate on language and identity pioneered by Gumperz, Hymes, Giles and Fishman among others.

This article examines the resurgence of tribalism as a sociological component of contemporary Qatari society. Utilising an ethnographic, mixed-methods design, the article begins with a survey of the substantial scholarship concerning tribes in Arabia. That scholarship provides ideas and understandings that only partially explain the vitality of contemporary tribalism. The article then demonstrates tribalism's ongoing social importance by analysing data from a quantitative survey of 800 Qatari citizens. The article concludes with the ethnographically situated contention that tribalism functions as a mechanism for asserting social power in the contemporary Qatari state, and is therefore an emblematic component of Qatari citizenship.

The violence between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan in 2010 has shocked many who thought of Kyrgyzstan as the most liberal country and the strongest democracy in Central Asia. That conflict, still, has not been explained and understood very well. Opposing and rival explanations often accuse one or other party, or certain obscure and even foreign forces. Many analysts, on the other hand, rely only on the internal Kyrgyzstani affairs in order to explain that conflict. This article tries to find explanations and offer an understanding of the Uzbek–Kyrgyz interethnic conflict. Its aim is beyond a mere description and understanding of a single case. It will use different kinds of data in order to offer analytic explanations of the events. The legacy of the Soviet nationalities policy, in combination with regional peculiarities – particularly its ethno-demographic features – were the ultimate causes of the eruption of the Uzbek–Kyrgyz conflicts in southern Kyrgyzstan in 1990 and 2010.

PUBLICATIONS

Anatoly M. Khazanov and Günther Schlee (eds.) (2011), Who Owns the Stock? Collective and Multiple Property Rights in Animals (New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books), "Integration and Conflict Studies", Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, vol. 5, 332 pp., 8 maps, 19 tables, 66 fig., biblio., index.

Motzafi-Haller, Pnina (2012), In the Cement Boxes: Mizrahi Women in the Israeli Periphery (The Hebrew University Magnes Press), pp. 276, ISBN: 978- 965-493-650-7.

Helie, Anissa and Hoodfar, Homa (eds.) (2012), Sexuality in Muslim Contexts: Restrictions and Resistance (London: Zed Books), Pb., glossary, xiv + 346 pp., index, ISBN: 978-1-78032-286-8.

FILMS

What is Farhâdi Trying to Portray of Iranian Everyday Life and Iranian Characters in His Films?

CONFERENCES

Encounters and Engagements: Creating New Agendas for Medical Anthropology, 12–14 June 2013, EASA/SMA/URV Joint International Conference, Tarragona, Spain.