Page 252 - UAE Truncal States
P. 252

Social Aspects of Traditional Economy

           The villages of Trucial Oman did not have anything near as rigid a
         social stratification as, for example, the settled population of I-Iadh-
         ramaul, but within I he general cultural homogenity of these village
         communities there were marked differences between certain groups.
         These differences were based primarily on tribal affiliation, which
         usually meant that families of one Iribe lived together in one quarter
         of a village. But within the tribes there were families of higher and
         families of lower standing; the latter were sometimes even adopted
         groups of non-Arab origin. Marriage between families of different
         levels was possible. The men of the tribal families of higher standing
         frequently engaged in pearling or other enterprises away from home
         (raising camels, accompanying a camel caravan or serving as a
         retainer or guide). In cases where a beduin section of the same tribe
         visited the village during the summer60 lheir contact would be with
         the truly tribal families of the settled section in the village. They
         shared certain facilities such as the use of wells, of brushwood and
         dates to the benefit of the beduin, while the villagers would hope for
         protection in war and a general rise in prestige. This same upper
         group of families within a settled tribal subsection were usually also
         those who had the closest contact with the coastal towns, because at
         least one brother or cousin from each household lived with another
         branch of the tribe in one of the ports.
           Even in the very small villages in the mountains of the Trucial
         States, some outsiders, such as Baluch69 and other recent immigrants
         from the Persian coast, in the case of Buraimi also some Zatut,70 and a
         varying number of people of slave origin owned houses. Most such
         foreign elements lived apart from the settled tribesmen in their own
         quarters of the village, except for the domestic servants, who were
         largely people of slave origin and resided with and shared the lives of
         their tribal masters. Another group of outsiders in the village might
         be the absentee landlords and even the people who worked in their
         gardens, remitting a large part of the crop to the landlord; this
         obligation was invariably expressed in terms of a share of the crop
         and never in terms of a fixed amount.


          4 Side-effects of economic stress
         The limitations of resources and economic
         opportunities
         The dependable natural resources available to the people of the
         Trucial States within their boundaries were exceedingly diverse and
                                                                 227
   247   248   249   250   251   252   253   254   255   256   257