kinship structure, marriage practices and family of this ethnic group

1. Bedouin ‫ي‬ِ‫و‬َ‫د‬َ‫ب‬
• "those in bādiyah" or "those in the
desert"
• an Arab semi-nomadic ethnic group
• desecended from “nomads” or
wanderer”

2. Bedouin Marriage Practices
• Endogamy and Polygamy – Uncovering
the mystery that shrouds Bedouin marriage
• According to the Qur’an, marriage should
ideally occur “between a man and his
father's brother's daughter”.
• A man, therefore, is entitled to marry his
bint amm, the term used to describe
marriage man and his female parallel
cousin (his dads brothers daughter) and
ibnʿamm is the term used to describe a
daughters marriage to her male parallel
cousin (her dads brothers son).

3. • Endogamous marriage strengthens kinship ties
(or what the Arabs call Asabiyya) and maintains
blood purity.
• Economic stability! Endogamous marriage
helps retain economic resources – money,
cattle, property - within the family.
Another fascinating marriage practice
• Polygyny: A man with two or more wives
• Polyandry: A woman with two or more
husbands
• Polygynandry: A group marriage
• Some parents are more willing to marry their
daughters off as second wives to men of the
same origin than as first wives to men of a
different origin.
• Bedouin men in polygynous marriages usually
maintain separate households for each wife and
live with them in turn.
• Men tend to spend more time with their
‘favourite’ wife and children, and that sex is
more frequent with later wives.
• For women, honor, or ird, is inviolable, and a
marriage within the family helps keep this ird
intact. A man who is not closely related to a
woman is not allowed to touch her in any way,
not even so much as to brush his fingers
against hers while handing her something. To
do so is to dishonour her. if a woman brings
dishonour to herself, she shames her family
because honour is held not by individuals but
by the whole family.

4. Marriage and sexuality – Who has the rights?
• A Bedouin woman’s ird is intact when she upholds her hasham -essentially “an internal state
of shyness or embarrassment and a set of modest behaviors that are thought to grow out of
these feelings.”
• Bedouin marriage is usually arranged by the groom and the girl’s male representative
(usually the father).
• A bridal contract is announced in front of witnesses and a person of authority (usually the
Sheikh).
• If a male from the family doesn’t agree with the choice of a spouse for his daughter, sister or
even cousin, he is able to stop the wedding according to Bedouin Law.
• The bride is usually not present but allowed to hide behind a tent to listen.This segregation of
men and women during the arranging of the marriage is in accordance with the concept of
hasham.

5. Bedouin marriage from an economic and social
perspective
• Marriage establishes connections between two Bedouin families.
• criteria for marriage include:
-Character
-Reputation (very important from a social standpoint, as marrying into a family of high
reputation can increase a family’s social standing)
-Economic status of prospective in-laws.
• 'Mahr': The dowry.
– according to Islamic law, marriage involves a bride-price
– amount that the groom’s family must pay to the bride’s guardian (father) to cover
purchases such as clothing and jewellery, the jewellery serves as economic security for
the wife in case of mishap

6. Bedouin Families
• Three-generational families often dwell under the same tent at a single time.
• Bedouin homes consist of roughly nine to fifteen individuals.
• Parents, grandparents, and children, married sons introduce their wives into
the home, and any of their future offspring reside there as well.
• Once divorced, daughters return to the homes of their fathers with their
children.Her husband cannot compel her to live with him again, but he can
refuse to grant her a divorce, thus denying her the freedom to remarry.
• Bedouin childrearing is a communal effort. By age 6, children are expected to
take up tasks and assist the rest of the family with gender specific chores.
• If members of a family pass away, in accordance with the Quran. the wealth
is distributed amongst the remaining children.
– Sons receive 50% of the inheritance and daughters 25%.

7. Divorce and remarriage among the Bedouins
What are the main reasons for divorce in Bedouin society?
– Polygyny, as mentioned earlier, is rather common in Bedouin society. If a first wife disagrees with her
husband’s polygyny intentions, he can choose to divorce her.
– Conflicts that arise from living in a joint household (especially those between: mother-in-law and
daughter-in-law; the wife's family and the husband's family)
– Long-term refusal or inability to provide sexual services by either the husband or wife
• A man can officially divorce his wife by pronouncing the formula ‘I divorce you’ three times
consecutively. There is also a type of non-final divorce in which a man can separate from his wife by
saying ‘I divorce you’ only once.This allows the man to take back his wife if she agrees to it, without
having to remarry her and thus pay a second bride-price, or mahr, to her family.
• Men may even betroth themselves to another woman on the very same day of divorce, while the
woman is required to wait forty days before she can remarry.Stigma is often attached to a woman’s
second marriage as she is already experienced in sexual intercourse, and may thus be seen as defying
Bedouin codes of conduct.
• Divorced women often suffer emotionally. If they remarry, they may be restricted to being a man’s
second or third wife.

8. Bedouin Homes
• Bedouins reside in tent-like structures contain two parts.
– women’s quarters; household utensils, bedding, and food supplies are generally stored here. It is also
where women make the food and care for the children, often accompanied by other women. Men that
can only ter is member ofthe family.
– Men's quarter:;The main feature of this section is the coffee mangal. The head of the household will
spend much of his time warming coffee for visitors here
• Guests who stay for dinner are served on aluminum trays.
• Males will dine in groups of four and eat their fill before giving their spots to the next male
who waits to eat. Whatever is left after the men have had their share is then distributed
among the women and children in the female part of the house.
• Often, women that are too old to have children are permitted to eat with the males and their
guests in the male section of the home

9. Bedouin Kinship Structure

10. • Kinship
– Women throughout their lifetime keep their
fathers last names,
– They do not adopt the family name of their
husband once married. This is one of the
reasons that fathers are so eager to have their
sons marry their parallel cousins who already
share their name. The distinctions between their
matrilineal and patrilineal relatives is by name
their cousins differently depending on whether
the cousin is on their fathers or mother's side.
 Follow a patrilineal kinship system. Bedouin
names are made up:
individuals first name, there fathers name and
their father's father's, or great grandfather's name.
Figure 1: A diagram depicting patrilateral parallel marriage