Anthropological debates on kinship in the Middle East have centred on the 'problems' of patriparallel cousin marriage and milk kinship. A focus on Middle Eastern reactions to assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilisation allows a fresh perspective on the study of kinship in the region. My own research has investigated Islamic legal reactions to assisted reproductive technologies and the practice of assisted reproduction in Lebanon. Islamic legal reaction is diverse, as are the uses made of these techniques by non-specialist Muslims. Considerations of propriety and public reputation remain uppermost, although matters of kinship are debated and new patterns and ideologies of relatedness are potentially emerging.
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Kinship, Propriety and Assisted Reproduction in the Middle East
Morgan Clarke
In Anthropology of the Middle East
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2007
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 70–88 (19 total)
Breastfeeding Practices among Pastoral Tribes in the Middle East
A Cross-Cultural Study
Aref Abu-Rabia
The main purpose of this article is to describe traditional breastfeeding practices among the pastoral tribes in the Middle East. It also examines beliefs and attitudes towards breastfeeding and related issues, including pregnancy, infections of the breast nipple, sources of milk, 'bad milk' syndrome and breastfeeding as a contraceptive method. The most significant findings are that mothers relate breastfeeding to their physical and psychological state. There are also symbolic and emotional relationships between human babies and the colostrum of animals. A survey of medicinal cures for problems related to breastfeeding reveals that these cures are based on substances found in the desert pastoral environment.
In Anthropology of the Middle East
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2007
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 38–54 (17 total)
Reforming universities in the Middle East
Trends and contestations from Egypt and Jordan
Daniele Cantini
convergences or ‘mimetic isomorphisms’ ( Shore and Davidson 2013 ). In this field, à la Bourdieu, centre-periphery dynamics are central, as well as the positionality of the actors vis-à-vis the presumed centre, as argued by Marginson. The Middle East region
In Learning and Teaching
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2019
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 74–92 (19 total)
Economic Anthropology in the Middle East and North Africa
Hsain Ilahiane
, and ideology ( Asad 1973 ; Mintz 1986 ; Roseberry 1989 ; Wolf 1969 , 1982 ). Despite this heated debate on the interplay between the economic and the social in everyday life, ethnographic works in economic anthropology of the Middle East and
In Anthropology of the Middle East
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2023
- Article Type:
- Introduction
- Pages:
- 1–10 (10 total)
Writing the History of Ordinary Ottoman Women during World War I
Elif Mahir Metinsoy
in World War I,” 121. 21 Ahmed Emin, Turkey in the World War , 128. 22 Feroz Ahmad, “War and Society under the Young Turks, 1908–1918,” in The Modern Middle East: A Reader , ed., Albert Hourani, Philip S. Khoury, and Mary C. Wilson (London: I. B
From the “state-idea” to “politically organized subjection”
Revisiting Abrams in times of crisis in Turkey and EU-Europe
Katharina Bodirsky
important to grasp the relationship between political and non-political power. ( Abrams 1988: 82 ) A few years ago, I was teaching an undergraduate class in anth ropology at Middle East Technical University in Ankara. One of the assigned readings
Teaching National Identity and Alterity
Nineteenth Century American Primary School Geography Textbooks
Bahar Gürsel
Abstract
The swift and profound transformations in technology and industry that the United States began to experience in the late 1800s manifested themselves in school textbooks, which presented different patterns of race, ethnicity, and otherness. They also displayed concepts like national identity, exceptionalism, and the superiority of Euro-American civilization. This article aims to demonstrate, via an analysis of two textbooks, how world geography was taught to children in primary schools in nineteenth century America. It shows that the development of American identity coincided with the emergence of the realm of the “other,” that is, with the intensification of racial attitudes and prejudices, some of which were to persist well into the twentieth century.
In Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 106–126 (21 total)
Anthropological Archaeology in the Middle East
Past Achievements, Present State and Future Prospects
Kamyar Abdi, Marjan Mashkour, and Soheila Shahshahani
Anthropology of the Middle East has implicitly and explicitly been a journal with a regional orientation. Most previous issues, however, have added a thematic dimension to this regional orientation, and the same applies to this special issue. The chosen theme is anthropological archaeology, given the fact that this school in archaeology has been responsible for tremendous progress in Middle Eastern archaeology and has advanced our knowledge of the ancient Middle East by leaps and bounds. Anthropological archaeology has been a major player in Middle Eastern archaeology for the past half-century, and no other school in Middle Eastern archaeology can claim to have been immune from its influence, whether in matters of theory or, more visibly, in methodology.
In Anthropology of the Middle East
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2009
- Article Type:
- Introduction
- Pages:
- iv–vii
Islam, IVF and Everyday Life in the Middle East
The Making of Sunni versus Shi'ite Test-Tube Babies
Marcia C. Inhorn
In vitro fertilisation and even newer assisted reproductive technologies are part of everyday life in the contemporary Middle East. There, IVF is practised according to local Islamic norms, which have been reinforced by fatwas from lead- ing religious authorities. As this article will show, ideological differences between dominant Sunni and minority Shi’ite forms of Islam are currently shaping the practices of test-tube baby-making in the Muslim world, particularly regarding the use of third-party gamete donation and new technologies to overcome male infertility. Such divergences have led to gender transformations within infertile marriages in the Muslim Middle East, with potentially profound implications for women’s marital security and family formation.
In Anthropology of the Middle East
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2006
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 42–50 (9 total)
Religion, Identity and Minorities in the Middle East
Strategies and Developments
David P. Shankland and Soraya Tremayne
The consideration of faith and ethnic minorities in the Middle East remains today, as it has been for some time, immensely relevant. In this issue, we see this subject approached from a refreshingly wide perspective. Yet, in spite of their diversity, the topics addressed by the contributors reflect many shared situations in today’s Middle East, and possibly beyond, which often have their roots in mass migration, war and conflict, and globalisation. Through their work, we see once more the way that anthropology is uniquely qualified to reflect upon the reformulation of cultures in the modern world whilst simultaneously highlighting the fate of those who fall between the interstices of dominant political paradigms.
In Anthropology of the Middle East
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2009
- Article Type:
- Introduction
- Pages:
- v–viii