NOMADS OF SOUTH PERSIA
The Basseri Tribe of the Khamseh Confederacy

FREDRIK BARTH

OSLO UNIVERSITY PRESS
1961

The Basseri are a tribe of tent-dwelling pastoral nomads who migrate in the arid steppes and mountains south, east and north of Shiraz in Pars province, South Persia. The area which they customarily inhabit is a strip of land, approximately 300 miles long and 20-50 miles wide, running in a fairly straight north-south line from the slopes of the mountain of Kuh-i-Bul to the coastal hills west of Lar. In this strip the tribe travels fairly compactly and according to a set schedule, so the main body of the population is at no time dispersed over more than a fraction of the route; perhaps something like a 50-mile stretch, or 2,000 square miles.

Barth's book, based on fieldwork in 1957-8, consists of 10 chapters covering the history of the Basseri, their material culture, social and political structure, relationships with the villagers, townsmen, gypsies, and the Iranian government, and a summary of the forms of nomadic organization in Southern Iran, It ends with an appendix on the ritual life of the Basseri, which, as among many other nomads, is vestigial.

23 x 15 cm. 159 pp + b/w photo plates.

Very good condition. Cloth worn on the corners. Pages age toned.