Madawi al-Rasheed and Robert Vitalis (editors). Counter-Narratives: History, Contemporary Society, and Politics in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

• Author: Doumato, Eleanor A.
• Position: Book review

Madawi al-Rasheed and Robert Vitalis (editors). Counter-Narratives: History, Contemporary Society, and Politics in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, 328 pages. Hardcover $ 69.95.

Counter-Narratives is a collection of articles that offer historical accounts of Saudi Arabia and Yemen that "widen the scope of historical analysis and give fuller play to the complexity of past and present," as opposed to the work of historians who "remain preoccupied with a narrow range of phenomena--rulers and tribes--that are believed to continue to shape contemporary society and politics" (2). The articles in the collection do bring in a wide range of historical actors, and without exception, they are excellent in terms of their freshness, their sources, and their theoretical sophistication.

Abdulaziz H. Al-Fahad, in his chapter, "The Imama vs. the Iqal: Hadari-Bedouin Conflict and the formation of the Saudi State," examines a 1930 debate over what constitutes Islamicly-correct head gear, and related controversies, by way of exploring the relationship between the Saudi state and its settled and nomadic communities. He argues that a preoccupation with the Bedouin and tribe on the part of historians, especially Arab writers who tended to see Bedouin as nothing but a threat and Najd as an incubator of Bedouin, has caused a misunderstanding about the way Saudi power was consolidated, and an under--appreciation of the role played by the Hadar, the settled communities.

In "Shifting Loyalties and Failed Empire: A New Look at the Social History of Late Ottoman Yemen, 1872-1918," Isa Blumi presents the case of a local power broker who, in 1898, raided British-"protected" villages in South Yemen and challenged Britain's commercial monopoly, initiating a series of events that ultimately provoked the imperial necessity of drawing a fixed boundary between British Aden and Ottoman-held territory. The case is used to illustrate how historical misreadings can result from affixing categories of identity to historical actors, such as tribe of sect, and then presuming that the loyalties imposed through such affiliations can explain these actors' motivations. The case further shows how the larger strategies of great world powers can be vulnerable to pressures from below.

Robert Vitalis' chapter, "Aramco World: Business and Culture on the Arabian Oil Frontier," illuminates the clash of cultures in Hasa between Aramco's white western managers and the oil...