As Nomadism Ends: The Israeli Bedouin Of The Negev [Hardcover]

Avinoam Meir (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0813389593 | ISBN-13: 978-0813389592

As pastoral nomads become settled, they face social, spatial, and ecological change in the shift from herding to farming, toward integration into the market economy. This book analyzes the socio-spatial changes that follow the end of nomadism, especially in the unique case of the Bedouin of the Negev.The culture of the Negev Bedouin stands in sharp contrast to that of the westernized Israeli Jews. The Bedouin live as an Arab Muslim minority within a Jewish state whose people have until very recently been in political conflict with their Arab neighbors. Such a cultural and political gap generates conflicting forces that can drive change in unpredictable directions.Focusing on the structural consequences of the shift to sedentarization, the author explores the related socio-spatial issues of the encounter with the modern, westernized world within a settlement frontier context: The adaptation of territorial behavior; the adoption of western demographic patterns; changes in the social status of individuals; integration into a system of social services; and the spatial conflict between state governments and pastoral nomads.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Avinoam Meir teaches in the Department of Geography and Environmental Development at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (December 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813389593
• ISBN-13: 978-0813389592
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,331,445 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Academic Literature, June 27, 2002

By 

Rook Andalus (Venice, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: As Nomadism Ends: The Israeli Bedouin Of The Negev (Hardcover)

Considering Bedouin serve in special units in the Israeli army, I hardly believe they are as biased as the Gush Emunim settlers who treat them like animals in the Negev. This book is fair, and concise, written by someone who is very careful to convey the facts. I find it amusing an outsider labels the author of this book an "outsider" considering the fact that major settlements in the Negev are of outsiders that began with Jewish Zionist settlement in the 1920s and 1930s and was intensified in the 1940s and 1950s. The book, however, is not overly bogged down with the polarization of ethnocentrist antagonism, it does provide the reader with the Bedouin societal evolution under the Ottomans, then the British, and currently under the Israelis since 1948. Avinoam Meir is an academic and professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Development and The Negev Center for Regional Development at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva. Hardly an outsider. He has published several papers on Bedouin and certainly knows the subject without romanticizing the Bedouin as other authors tend to do. An excellent read!

7 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The book is wildly off track, poor characterization overall, November 22, 1999

By 

J. Hammad (Over Yonder) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: As Nomadism Ends: The Israeli Bedouin Of The Negev (Hardcover)

The author did not have to go very far to make substantial errors in this book, The title itself is an error, since these Bedouins are Palestinians, and not Israeli's (They would take great offense to being called Israeli's. This author is definately an outsider looking in.

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not quite..., March 28, 2000

By 

"flamemama" - See all my reviews

This review is from: As Nomadism Ends: The Israeli Bedouin Of The Negev (Hardcover)

The nomadism of the Bedouin in the Negev was stripped by Israel policy. Now they are finding that their culture and way of life is unacceptable in Israel. This book hinds the true facts. I would not recomend it.