Siwa village
Tourists apart, local citizens in the Arab nations have also become major audiences of the Bedouin culture. The once-denounced way of life has been re-scripted into a notable regional tradition that makes up a part of the national heritage. Aspects of nomadism are reinterpreted, reconstructed and reinvented in contemporary representations and activities to suit contemporary taste. State- sponsored Bedouin theme parks, radio programmes and festivals have emerged in many cities and towns. For example, Bedouin camel races first appeared in the 1960s in a number of Arab cities, and have become particularly popular in the United Arab Emirates. Despite being claimed as a Bedouin event, camel racing has never been a regular activity in the Bedouin life. The races, however, have helped foster a wider appreciation of the desert culture and provide an annual social event for tourists, expatriates and locals. As globalisation diminishes differences among nations, simplified Bedouin traditions continue to be promoted and reconstructed Bedouin legacies manipulated locally to enhance national heritage and cultural unity within the nation. As Bedouin settle in towns and oasis villages, differences between the former nomads and sedentary Arabs become minimal. Anthropologist Donald Cole states that contemporary Bedouin may disappoint many westerners and urban Arab citizens, as they
are merely ‘ordinary, everyday people… (with) similarities rather than differences’ to sedentary Arabs. 7 I recall my experience in Morocco in 2008: my friends and I left the desert and returned to the town of Zagora by bus, arriving at a dusty parking lot filled with service taxis (mainly Mercedes Benz from the 1970s), aiming to bargain for a ride towards our next destination. As we finally settled the negotiation with a driver, we heard someone yelling our names. I turned my head and saw a local man wearing white t-shirt and blue jeans coming our way. Not until he stood right in front of me could I recognise him. He was our desert tour guide, our host and driver for the past two days who we just said goodbye to a few hours earlier. Away from the desert context, without his blue turban and white robes, I just couldn’t associate him with our Bedouin experience. To me, he looked no difference than any other young man in Zagora. Maybeour guide represents the sedentary generation of the Bedouin, or maybe he is just a tourist worker from another Moroccan city who participates in a staged authenticity in the desert. Memory tends to betray, but since my Moroccan holiday, the image of this young man is vividly imprinted in my mind as the representative of Bedouin culture. / 1 Lawrence, T E. Seven Pillars of Wisdom . London: Penguin Books, 1962. 38-39. 2 Cole, Donald P. ‘Where Have Bedouin Gone?’ Anthropological Quarterly , vol. 76, no. 2. Washington: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research, 2003. 235 – 267 3 Abou-Zeid, Ahmed M. ‘The Changing World of the Nomads’ Contributions to Mediterranean Sociology , ed. J.-G. Peristiany. Paris: Mouton, 1968. 279 – 288 4 Cole, Donald P, and Soraya Altorki. Bedouin, Settlers, and Holiday-Makers . Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 1998. 100-107 5 Cole. ‘Where Have Bedouin Gone?’ 247 6 Weir, Shelagh. The Bedouin: Aspects of the Material Culture of the Bedouin of Jordan . London: British Museum and World of Islam Festival Publishing Company, 1976. 1-3 7 Cole, ‘Where Have Bedouin Gone?’ 260
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