Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Arabian Oasis City : The Transformation of 'Unayzah / Donald P. Cole, Soraya Altorki.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: CMES Modern Middle East SeriesPublisher: Austin : University of Texas Press, [2021]Copyright date: ©1989Description: 1 online resource (284 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780292757288
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 330.953/8 19
LOC classification:
  • HC415.33.Z7 U533 1989
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Study and Its Setting -- Part One: Political Autonomy, Domestically Organized Production, and Mercantile Trade -- 1. The Autonomous Amirate -- 2. The Old Agriculture -- 3. Craft Production and the Old Market -- 4. Caravans and Long-Distance Trade -- Part Two: Provincial City within a New State and the Development of Capitalist Social Formations -- 5. Development of the New State and Education -- 6. Occupational Change and New Institutions -- Part Three: Economic Boom and Transformation -- 7. The Economic Boom, Expatriates, and Local Development -- 8. The Market Today -- 9. The New Agriculture -- 10. Salaried Employment and Its Social Impact -- 11. Changing Patterns of Social Life -- 12. Analysis and Conclusion -- Glossary of Arabic Terms -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: Vast social change has occurred in the Middle East since the oil boom of the mid-1970s. As the first anthropological study of an urban community in Saudi Arabia since that oil boom, Arabian Oasis City is also the first to document those changes. Based on extensive interviews and participant observation with both men and women, the authors record and analyze the transformation that has occurred in this ancient oasis city throughout the twentieth century: the creation of the present Saudi Arabian state and of a new national economy based on the export of oil and the economic boom brought about by the dramatic increases in the price of oil following the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War. In addition, the authors reveal the changes brought about by the fall in the price of oil beginning in 1982 and analyze the problems confronting ‘Unayzah in its aftermath. By demonstrating that the area was not exclusively dominated by tribalism and Bedouin nomads, this empirical case study destroys stereotypical views about Saudi Arabia. Indeed, it proves the existence—prior to the coming of the modern Saudi Arabian state— of surplus agricultural and craft production and the full development of local, regional, and long-distance trade networks. It shows that women, although veiled, played active roles in work outside the household. The social impact of change over the years is, however, profound—especially the gradual replacement of the extended family by the nuclear family, changing patterns of husband-wife relationships, the impact of self-earned income on the status of women, and the emergence of a new middle class of employees and entrepreneurs. Because of the high degree of gender segregation in this area of research, Altorki and Cole give us a fortunate collaboration between a Saudi Arabian female scholar and an American male scholar experienced in research in the Middle East.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780292757288

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Study and Its Setting -- Part One: Political Autonomy, Domestically Organized Production, and Mercantile Trade -- 1. The Autonomous Amirate -- 2. The Old Agriculture -- 3. Craft Production and the Old Market -- 4. Caravans and Long-Distance Trade -- Part Two: Provincial City within a New State and the Development of Capitalist Social Formations -- 5. Development of the New State and Education -- 6. Occupational Change and New Institutions -- Part Three: Economic Boom and Transformation -- 7. The Economic Boom, Expatriates, and Local Development -- 8. The Market Today -- 9. The New Agriculture -- 10. Salaried Employment and Its Social Impact -- 11. Changing Patterns of Social Life -- 12. Analysis and Conclusion -- Glossary of Arabic Terms -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Vast social change has occurred in the Middle East since the oil boom of the mid-1970s. As the first anthropological study of an urban community in Saudi Arabia since that oil boom, Arabian Oasis City is also the first to document those changes. Based on extensive interviews and participant observation with both men and women, the authors record and analyze the transformation that has occurred in this ancient oasis city throughout the twentieth century: the creation of the present Saudi Arabian state and of a new national economy based on the export of oil and the economic boom brought about by the dramatic increases in the price of oil following the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War. In addition, the authors reveal the changes brought about by the fall in the price of oil beginning in 1982 and analyze the problems confronting ‘Unayzah in its aftermath. By demonstrating that the area was not exclusively dominated by tribalism and Bedouin nomads, this empirical case study destroys stereotypical views about Saudi Arabia. Indeed, it proves the existence—prior to the coming of the modern Saudi Arabian state— of surplus agricultural and craft production and the full development of local, regional, and long-distance trade networks. It shows that women, although veiled, played active roles in work outside the household. The social impact of change over the years is, however, profound—especially the gradual replacement of the extended family by the nuclear family, changing patterns of husband-wife relationships, the impact of self-earned income on the status of women, and the emergence of a new middle class of employees and entrepreneurs. Because of the high degree of gender segregation in this area of research, Altorki and Cole give us a fortunate collaboration between a Saudi Arabian female scholar and an American male scholar experienced in research in the Middle East.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Apr 2022)