We are pleased to be hosting Dr Mansour Nasasra for the launch of the Arabic edition of his book, “The Naqab Bedouins” at CBRL Amman.
This event will be in Arabic.
The Naqab Bedouins: A Century of Politics and Resistance
Columbia University Press (English Edition, 2018)
Conventional wisdom positions the Bedouins in southern Palestine and under Israeli military rule as victims or passive recipients. In The Naqab Bedouins, Mansour Nasasra rewrites this narrative, presenting them as active agents who, in defending their community and culture, have defied attempts at subjugation and control. The book challenges the notion of Bedouin docility under Israeli military rule and today, showing how they have contributed to shaping their own destiny.
The Naqab Bedouins represents the first attempt to chronicle Bedouin history and politics across the last century, including the Ottoman era, the British Mandate, Israeli military rule, and the contemporary schema, and document its broader relevance to understanding state-minority relations in the region and beyond. Nasasra recounts the Naqab Bedouin history of political struggle and resistance to central authority. Nonviolent action and the strength of kin-based tribal organization helped the Bedouins assert land claims and call for the right of return to their historical villages. Through primary sources and oral history, including detailed interviews with local indigenous Bedouins and with Israeli and British officials, Nasasra shows how this Bedouin community survived strict state policies and military control and positioned itself as a political actor in the region.
About the Speaker:
Mansour Nasasra is Senior Lecturer in Middle East politics and international relations in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He previously taught at the University of Exeter. Nasasra is coeditor of The Naqab Bedouin and Colonialism: New Perspectives (2015) and the Routledge Handbook on Middle East Cities (2020).
About the Moderator:
Afnan Abu Yahia is an independent journalist and researcher who obtained a BA degree in Applied English Linguistics at the University of Jordan, and pursued MA in Journalism and New Media from the Jordan Media Institute. Afnan regularly publishes in-depth articles with 7iber magazine and AlAkhbar newspaper, covering different human rights issues from Jordan and Palestine.