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English edition
Apr
2009
370 pp.
Paperback
15X23 cm
$24.95
LE 120.00
ISBN
978 977 416 269 5
For sale only in the Middle East
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Poetry and Politics in Contemporary Bedouin Society
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Clive Holes
Said Salman Abu Athera
Foreword by
Roger Allen
The themes and forms of popular improvised poetry
Colloquial Bedouin poetry remains a vibrant art that has manifold modern functions: commenting on world affairs; criticizing the domestic policies of Arab states; and highlighting poverty, discrimination, the corrupt practices of officialdom, and a compliant local media.
Each of the forty-one poems presented here 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 with an essay on the practice of modern Bedouin poetry. Included are appendices containing the Arabic script versions of the poems, extensive language notes, and a glossary.
“This is an extremely important collection of popular Arabic poetry. . . 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.”
—Roger Allen, University of Pennsylvania
Clive Holes 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 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.
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Reviews
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“This is an extremely important collection of popular Arabic poetry. . . 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.”—Roger Allen, University of Pennsylvania
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