The Bedouin in the Middle East

Some scholars propose a wide range of alternative interpretations of the term Bedouin, referring to spatial/geographic features, lifestyle or culturally linked tribalism. Arab tribes arrived in the Middle East during the initial spread of Islam in the seventh and eighth centuries CE. Bedouin women had their traditional public sphere, which was lost as a result of forced sedentarization. Government efforts at resettling the Bedouins and terminating their nomadic/seminomadic lifestyle constituted the chief source of tension between the Bedouins and the states in which they resided, with certain differences emerging according to the respective policies adopted. Bedouin displacement policies in various countries ranged between alienation and integration. The underlying contention is that political circumstances, a lack of nearby basic infrastructures and services, and a low population density force the Bedouins to continually adapt to new exigencies and to switch from one livelihood to another.