Peoples & Cultures of the Middle East

In Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East, authors Daniel G. Bates and Amal Rassam (2001) discuss the needs, values and motivations of individuals in the region in order to explain the development of cultural institutions and social processes. In Chapters 1, the authors provide a discussion of different geographical factors, ecological constraints and material resources which shaped the development of societies in the region. For example, in the largely arid region, water is an essential and important natural resource in shaping the societies that live in the Middle East. As Bates and Rassam (2001, p. 1) assert, "Sources of water are the sources of life itself in the Middle East. The distribution of people, the settlements they have created, and the ways they secure their livelihoods are closed shaped by the challenges of controlling and securing this vital resource." We see how this resource impacted the tools and products of ancient Egyptians, who developed water lifting devices to water their fields. The exploration of the geographical factors, ecological constraints and material resource that shaped societies in this region demonstrate the authors' claim that it is "�impossible to separate cultural or social processes from the environmental setting in which they occur," (Bates, & Rassam, 2001, p. 1).

In Chapters 2 and 3, the authors provide a discussion of the ideology and ideation behind Islam. We see that Islam is a source of uni

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atives or unknown persons. Yet despite such strong ties of kinship and family, we see that Middle Eastern societies do not place a higher emphasis on the kin of male relatives versus kin of the female, as is done in many other Western cultures. We also see that such customs, like marriage and residence, also dictate the structure or organization of local communities in the region. Migrants are often welcomed into local communities through public venues like mosques or coffee- and tea-houses. Networks, then, whether kin or marriage oriented, serve as a basis for social organization in Middle Eastern societies. Chapter 9 addresses an often controversial topic, the nature and role of gender in Middle Eastern cultures. The individual in Middle Eastern culture is viewed by the authors as an actor in society within a specific institutional or cultural context. With respect to women and society, their roles is both "�complex and vexing" according to Bates and Rassam (2001, p. 226). While conventional and traditional teachings of both the Quran and Shari'a view women as inferior to men legally and weak, the authors provide insight into local customs and adherence to laws in some regions that show wide variation as to the roles an

Category: Foreign - P