Frontier Nomads of Iran: A Political and Social History of the Shahsevan.

• Author: FLOOR, WILLEM
• Position: Review

Frontier Nomads of Iran: A Political and Social History of the Shahsevan. By RICHARD TAPPER. Cambridge: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1997. Pp. 448. $69.95.

This is a rich, ambitious and complicated book that tries to address various anthropological and historical issues at the same time. In particular, it has three themes: the origin of the Shahsevan; tribe-state relations; and the relation between identity and history.

In section one, Tapper debunks the standard story of the mythical origin of the Shahsevan as a tribal force created by Shah [CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]Abbas I to assist him in putting down the rebellious Qezelbash and provide general support for his dynasty. Discussing in detail the arguments used by Malcolm, who launched this myth, as well as those who since then have parroted him, Tapper shows that there is no shred of evidence whatsoever for this royal pedigree of the Shahsevans. Only by 1700 is there evidence of a tribal group called Shahsevan and living in the Moghan, but more northerly than where they would be as of the nineteenth century. The most likely origin of this group, Tapper convincingly argues, is that of quasi-Sunni nomads who fled from Ottoman punishment, submitting themselves to the Safavid shah's mercy, while professing allegiance to him and "converting" to Shi[CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]ism for good measure. This probably occurred in the 1650s, and it was not a unique occurrence for it had happened many times before. The difference was n ow that this group was not, like the earlier ones, absorbed by the Qezelbash, who by that time had lost their power and significance. They remained recognizable as a distinct group for some time to come, while absorbing Qezelbash groups in the process. In fact, Tapper argues, rather than Shah [CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]Abbas, it was Nader Shah who organized the Shahsevan as a tribal confederacy in the service of the state. He included various unrelated tribal groups who happened to occupy adjacent territories. Tapper also shows that, contrary to earlier interpretation that the Shahsevan were not true to their cognomen, they consistently defended the Safavid shahs against the Ottomans and Russians, while they did the same service for the Qajar shahs against the Russians and internal foes.

As to the tribe-state relationship, the arguments are less straightforward, for we are dealing here with a very complicated issue. Tapper spends quite some...