The Road Most Traveled: The Basseri

Figure 1: The Basseri

Today’s blog post is dedicated to discussing the Basseri, a nomadic, pastoral group that resides in the Middle East (Figure 1).  The Basseri have and continue to practice their traditional way of life despite interventions by various Middle Eastern states throughout recent history, and they remain one of the few existing pastoral groups today.  The various aspects of the Basseri culture will be addressed herein.

The Basseri exist in a territory that spans the modern states of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran.  They are nomadic pastoralists, meaning they travel large tracks of land with their herds of animals.  They primarily herd sheep and goats but also have small herds of donkeys, camels, and horses.  They travel in tribal groups along their sacred migratory route known as the Il-rah (Figure 2).  This route is 300 miles in length and is traveled throughout the year by various tribes at different times.  

Figure 2: The Il-Rah

The Basseri societies are divided in several ways.  First, they identify descent through patrilineal clan membership and practice exogamy, meaning they trace descent through the father’s line and marry outside of their clan.  The Basseri live in nuclear family units with strict gender roles.  Men are responsible for animal husbandry, while women are tasked with more domestic roles, such as raising the children and weaving (Figure 3).  Basseri weaving is actually highly sought after by outsiders and is a market resource for modern Basseri.

While the Basseri exist in tribal groups there is one paramount chief that oversees these groups.  The chief is a sedentary member of the group who has accumulated a great deal of wealth both personally and through the tenure of his office, of which collects taxes from the Basseri pastoralists.  Traditionally the chief would also bestow gifts upon Basseri citizens, mediate disputes, and decide when the Basseri tribes were to travel along the Il-rah.  Today the chief also acts as the liaison between state governments and the nomadic Basseri.

Figure 3: Basseri Weaving (Circa 1900)

While the Basseri retain much of their traditional way of life they have adopted some modern characteristics.  Today, most of the Basseri are Shiah Muslims, although they practice this faith within the contexts of their traditional way of life.  They still hold traditional beliefs, such as the idea that blue eyed people harbor special powers and that envy will lead to sickness and even death. 

While they are not the only pastoralists that continue to exist today the Basseri are one of the few left.  They have faced challenges throughout their history, including but not limited to forced assimilation policies put forward by state governments and warfare in the region unrelated to them.  Despite these challenges they continue to exist and practice their ways of life and continue to flourish in spite of it all.

References

Peters-Golden, H.  (2011).  Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology. 6th Edition.  Mc-Graw Hill Education.