Hajar: The Siyag Reservation and Changing Ways of Life
摘要
This chapter describes how Hajar navigated cultural standards of Bedouin families amid the “changing” attitudes and values of the transition of Siyag Generation. Hajar’s stories highlight women’s important life events amid patrilineal systems of descent. Here, we explore how women's experiences in Bedouin society are hierarchically ordered against those of males, at the same time, respect, honor, status, independence, and power are awarded to women at different ages and status. We emphasize that Bedouin women in the Naqab society occupy several roles throughout their lives as mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters, each involving different arrangements of social relationships as members of their families, tribes, and outsiders (Lewando-Hundt 1984). More specifically, Hajar demonstrates how women enact sumud while mediating codes of morality, customs, and gender ideologies but do so in unique ways depending on their relative opportunities. While many customs still shape the lives of women in the Naqab Bedouin society, they have changed over time as women create new ways to empower themselves, opening up opportunities for agency and leadership within and beyond their communities.