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In this book, Goodman examines the emergence and articulation of Bedouin identity in the Aqaba region of South Sinai alongside patterns of economic and social change, locating the source of both within the changing landscape of South Sinai's tourist towns. Based on fieldwork centered in the town of Dahab, he provides a bottom-up view of the transfo...
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Context 1
... field research came from a mix of observational methods including mapping demographic patterns in the town, charting types and locations of construction and development, and observing Bedouin-Egyptian-Tourist interactions through what ethnographers describe as participant observation as well as formal interviews (See Figure 2). This raw data was then filtered through intense analytical sessions between myself and my partner in which we discussed our observations and used "thick descriptions" to analyze the events we had witnessed and attach underlying meaning to them. ...
Citations
... The Mzeina Bedu of South Sinai are a sociallymarginalized group who have fished the area's reefs for generations . Their nomadic lifestyles have been disrupted by the population growth in the region (Matrahazi 2019) and they have settled in coastal towns since the 1970s, working in tourism and continuing to fish for subsistence and sale to local markets (Goodman 2013). Managing this bioculturally-diverse region's coral reefs and associated fisheries resources is thus not a simple process of counting fish. ...
... Bedu are traditionally pastoralists for goats and camels, but have never subsisted from a single-sector economy as they also grow dates, fish, garden and produce charcoal (Beadnell 1927;Marx 1999;Goodman 2013;Matrahazi 2019). Furthermore they have capitalized on their unrivalled knowledge of the Sinai wilderness to earn money escorting pilgrims to Mecca and even drug smuggling (Glassner 1974;Hobbs 1998;Marx 1999Marx , 2008 , over 90 % of Bedouin land on the Aqaba coastline was, often forcibly, re-appropriated for development, allowing the Bedu to access only 7 % of the land they traditionally exploited because they lacked legally-recognized ownership Homa 2007;Sowers 2007;Karkabi 2013). ...
... Furthermore they have capitalized on their unrivalled knowledge of the Sinai wilderness to earn money escorting pilgrims to Mecca and even drug smuggling (Glassner 1974;Hobbs 1998;Marx 1999Marx , 2008 , over 90 % of Bedouin land on the Aqaba coastline was, often forcibly, re-appropriated for development, allowing the Bedu to access only 7 % of the land they traditionally exploited because they lacked legally-recognized ownership Homa 2007;Sowers 2007;Karkabi 2013). Furthermore, the sea was regarded as a collectively-owned resource and became state property (Ali 1998 Meanwhile, fishing has changed from a subsistence activity to one of commercial value, supplying tourists with fresh fish; in some way allowing the Bedu to integrate themselves more fully into local economies (Goodman 2013). ...
Coral reef ecosystems around the world are declining as a result of human impacts including overfishing, pollution and climate change. The coral reefs of South Sinai are significant because of their unique biodiversity, the income that they generate for Egypt through diving tourism and their importance as traditional fishing grounds for the Mzeina Bedu. This PhD takes a multidisciplinary approach to evaluate the status of coral reefs in South Sinai, with particular emphasis on Bedouin fishers and their fisheries. In Chapter 1, I examine the importance of culture and traditional knowledge in the successful management of coral reefs and natural resources in general. In Chapter 2, I focus on the Bedouin tribes of South Sinai to understand their history and socioeconomic status; investigating their fishing techniques and sites as well as their traditional understanding of coral reef biodiversity and ecology. Chapter 3 focusses on the ecological status of finfish populations at sites along the South Sinai coastline, evaluating the status of stocks and potential Bedouin fishery impacts. Chapter 4 examines the invertebrate fishery, which is mainly practised by Bedouin women and targets Tridacna clams. Chapter 5 takes a fishery-dependent approach to assess the catch of Bedouin fishers, to understand important biological and socioeconomic parameters that influence the fishery. In Chapter 6, I use statistical modelling techniques on long-term coral reef ecosystem data sets from the study area to analyse longer-term trends in the ecological status of reefs in South Sinai and likely causes for these trends. Coral reefs provide income, tourism, food and coastal protection to local communities and indigenous people throughout the tropics. The socio-cultural facets of the Mzeina Bedu have been inextricably connected to the reefs and associated fisheries of South Sinai for generations. However, exploited finfish and invertebrate communities have declined in both size and abundance with increased fishing pressure, resulting in ecosystem-wide impacts. The Mzeina themselves should be integral to any proposed fisheries monitoring or management initiatives, and technological approaches may provide useful cost-effective tools. Fisheries ecosystem-level declines have been apparent over at least the last decade and sustained monitoring is essential to ensure that the impact of management initiatives may be measured. If urgent collaborative management and enforcement actions are implemented alongside a programme to develop livelihood opportunities for the Mzeina, the reefs of South Sinai could return to a state that supports both the socioeconomic needs of the Bedu and continues to generate substantial tourism income.
The following article investigates two interconnected border logics—securitization and humanitarianism—as they unfold as part of soldiers’ border experiences. We wish to show the alternating implementation of these two logics and to elaborate on how are they bound together. Our ethnographic fieldwork was conducted between 2012 and 2014 along a section of the Israeli–Egyptian border, consisting of observations, as well as off-site interviews with soldiers who were stationed along this border, and analysis of media reports and court affidavits. Dedicating special attention to the interactions between soldiers and irregular migrants, we argue that the ambiguities experienced by the soldiers at the ground level result in what we call “arbitrary humanitarianism.”
