Page 252 - UAE Truncal States

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
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