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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20121022T080000
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DTSTAMP:20260505T073209
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SUMMARY:William Beeman Lectures on Iranian-Arabian Biculturalism
DESCRIPTION:William O. Beeman\, Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the ‎University ‎of ‎Minnesota and President of the Middle East Section of the ‎American ‎Anthropological ‎Association\, delivered a CIRS Monthly Dialogue on “The ‎Khalijis: ‎Iranian-Arabian ‎Biculturalism in the Gulf Region”‎ on October 22\, 2012. As an ‎introduction‎\, ‎Beeman ‎‏gave the audience some background to what he described as “one of the ‎longest running toponymic ‎battles.” There has been disagreement in the recent historical period ‎over whether the body of water between ‎Iran and the Arabian Peninsula should be ‎called ‎‏‎“the ‎‏Arabian Gulf‎” ‎or the ‎‏‎“‎Persian Gulf‎.”‎ ‎ \n \n \nIn order to resolve this historical contention\, Beeman said that he uses the term ‎‎“‎Khalij” to ‎describe the body of water\, and “Khaliji” to describe the residents of the region. These are terms ‎commonly used in the discourse of the region and are ‎understood in Arabic\, in Persian\, and in ‎some South Asian languages as well. “I want to call into question the nature of the identity of the ‎people who live in this region\, and ‎rather than identifying them either as Persian or Arab\, or ‎calling this body of water the Persian ‎Gulf or the Arabian Gulf\, I want to make a case for these ‎individuals as residents of this region\, ‎whether they are on the Iranian side or on the Arab side ‎independent of an exclusive Arab or ‎Persian identity\,” he said.‎ \n \n \nSuch communities are formed as a result of historical factors\, including migration\, trade\, ‎shifting ‎colonial boundaries\, or as the results of intermarriage or cultural borrowings that occur as ‎a matter of course ‎when populations come into contact. “The Khalij is a rich mélange of cultural ‎differences made up ‎of Arabic\, Persian\, South Asian\, East African\, Portuguese\, French\, and ‎English\,” among others\, Beeman noted. ‎ \n \n \nLinguistically\, the people who live in this region have been comfortable communicating in a ‎number of languages\, and even forming new ones that are a mix of Arabic\, Persian\, and Indian ‎languages. A similar example is Swahili – meaning “coastal” in Arabic – and the mutual influence ‎of Arabic ‎and East African languages on each other as a result of contact and ‎trade across the ‎Gulf of Aden. ‎‎“Many people living on either side of the Khalij are fully ‎bilingual\, and frequently ‎tri- and quad-lingual\,” Beeman said. ‎ \n \n \nThe “geographical impenetrability” that separates the Khalij from the inland regions meant ‎that ‎people on both sides of the water had a closer cultural identity than what they shared with ‎their ‎own inland Arab or Persian communities in terms of cuisine\, dress patterns\, marriage ‎patterns\, religious rituals\, and ‎discourse structures.‎‎‏ ‏Often\, because of the strong marriage and ‎trade ties\, families would be ‎dispersed on both sides of the Khalij and\, to this day\, have strong ‎cross cultural and cross border ties. Before modern air travel\, ‎the ease of maritime travel across ‎the Gulf and the difficulty of inland travel across deserts and ‎mountains meant that “people ‎living on the coast of the Khalij found that it was much easier to ‎communicate with each other ‎than it was to communicate with people who lived inland\,” Beeman said. Boats ‎could carry much ‎heavier loads much more easily than any form of overland transport\, ‎and so the Khalij was an ‎area that thrived both culturally and economically. ‎ \n \n \nIn conclusion\, Beeman said that\, as a result of state and historical processes\, there were several ‎events that had a profound effect on changing the unified nature of Khaliji culture\, including ‎colonial territorial demarcations and competition. He argued that “the early impositions of state ‎structures in the region\, which had been blissfully absent for ‎centuries\, caused an overlay of state ‎identity\, which has served to obscure the basic ‎commonalities between the members of the ‎population of this region.” Other events also contributed to the separation of the Khaliji ‎communities\, including the consolidation of Iran under Reza Shah; the consolidation of Saudi ‎Arabia under Ibn Saud; the departure of the British from the Khalij that left a vacuum to be ‎filled by local ruling families who demarcated their territories accordingly; and\, finally\, the ‎Iranian revolution of 1978-1979 that changed the shape of the Iranian political and cultural ‎landscapes\, and caused a break in the historical alliance between the cross-Gulf communities. ‎ \n \n \nFinally\, the gradual encroachment of modern state structures into the region required a newly ‎‎“imagined” idea of identity that necessarily distinguishes one group or ‎nationality from another. ‎Beeman concluded that the shared culture of “Khaliji” identity belies this imagined separation ‎of ‎nationalities and promotes the idea of a diverse community that is ‎inherently multicultural. ‎‎“This\,” he said\, “is an ‘unimagined’ community; a community in fact\, but not in name\, ‎and not in ‎its social identification.” ‎ \n \n \nWilliam O. Beeman was formerly Professor of Anthropology and Director of ‎Middle ‎East ‎Studies at Brown University. Best known as a Middle East specialist for more than ‎‎30 ‎years\, he ‎has also worked in Central Asia\, the Caucasus\, Japan\, China and South Asia. He ‎has ‎served as ‎consultant to the United States State Department\, the Department of Defense\, ‎the ‎United ‎Nations and the United States Congress. ‎  \n \n \nArticle by Suzi Mirgani\, Manager and Editor for CIRS Publications
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/william-beeman-lectures-iranian-arabian-biculturalism/
CATEGORIES:Dialogue Series,Regional Studies
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