Thursday, 26th November 2009
Dr. Eveline van der Steen (University of Liverpool)
FROM BURCKHARDT TO BELL: WESTERN TRAVELLERS IN THE NEAR EAST
In the nineteenth century AD the Near East was a cauldron of tribal activity and tribal conflict. It was officially part of the Ottoman empire, but particularly in the south, in Transjordan and the Arabian peninsula, the bedouin tribes were all-powerful. This was also a time that saw a surge of exploration in the region, largely from western explorers and travellers, looking for adventure as well as for the homeland of the Bible. The accounts of these travellers, their encounters with the bedouin and their descriptions of life in the Holy Land and beyond make fascinating reading. They also tell us of a way of life and a political constellation that has since disappeared, but that can teach us much about a society in which tribal politics and tribal affiliations determine the social and political landscape, not only in the recent past but also in earlier periods such as the Bronze and Iron ages in Palestine and Transjordan.
Eveline van der Steen is an archaeologist / anthropologist who has studied nineteenth- century sources as a means to understand tribal societies in the region in various periods, particularly the Bronze and Iron Ages in Jordan and Palestine. She has published a number of articles and is presently finishing a monograph on the subject of tribal interaction in the nineteenth century.
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