Poetry and Politics in Contemporary Bedouin Society

About this book

This book shows how colloquial Bedouin poetry remains a vibrant art that has manifold modern functions: commenting on world affairs (such as the Arab-Israeli wars, the Gulf War, the American invasion of Iraq); criticising the domestic policies of Arab states; highlighting poverty, discrimination, the corrupt practices of officialdom, and compliant local media.

Each of the forty-one poems presented within the book is transliterated and translated into English verse, with historical and contextual annotation. The tone is sometimes bitter, sometimes satirical, sometimes scurrilous, and often amusing. The poems are prefaced by an essay on the practice of modern Bedouin poetry.

The book is completed by appendices containing the Arabic script versions of the poems, extensive language notes, and a glossary of the vocabulary.

Recordings of some of the poems in the book can be listened to or downloaded free of charge at the bottom of this page.

About the authors

Clive Holes, Ph.D. (1981) in Linguistics, University of Cambridge, is Professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World at the University of Oxford. He has published widely on the Arabic language and its dialects, and is a Fellow of the British Academy. Said Salman Abu Athera (Ph.D. Glasgow, 1995) is an independent researcher into Bedouin poetry and culture, who has published and broadcast extensively in Arabic and acted as a consultant for UNESCO. He is a founder member of the Jordanian National Committee for Cultural Heritage, and established the Centre for the Preservation of Bedouin Culture, a non-profit NGO.

Reviews

• "This is an extremely important collection of popular Arabic poetry, and for a number of reasons. … Above all however, it is the sheer excellence of the resulting English translations that linger in the mind, providing the reader with a clear picture of a brilliant and continuing tradition of popular improvised poetry that today maintains and fosters a heritage stretching back for centuries", Professor Roger Allen, University of Pennsylvania

Details

Format: Hardback

Page extent: 372pp

Size: 235 x 155mm

Imprint: Ithaca Press

ISBN: 978-0-86372-338-4

Published: January 2009

Recordings of the poems

Press play to start listening to the poems - there are ten poems available. You can also download a zip file containing MP3 files of all ten recordings by clicking here.