A Tribal Order: Politics and Law in the Mountains of Yemen.(Book review)

A Tribal Order: Politics and Law in the Mountains of Yemen. By Shelagh Weir. (Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 2007. Pp. xi, xv, 390. $50.00.)

This author's detailed ethnography describes the political and legal life of the small tribes of the Rezih region in northwest Yemen over the last four centuries. Without resorting to economic or ecological determinism, she argues that the fertile and productive mountainous terrain of the Razih region, and its place on an important trade route, has meant that Razih has been under nominal control by some form of state entity for centuries; however, these well-armed, geographically stable tribes were always able to maintain a substantial degree of autonomy. Drawing on her anthropological field research in the region, as well as historical and legal documents, Shelagh Weir presents a persuasive account of intratribal and intertribal relations, as well as relations with the Imamate state, and, after 1962, the Republican state. The historical depth combined with the ethnographic detail make this book a distinctive and valuable contribution to the literature on Yemen.

Weir pays close attention to how changes in infrastructure, transportation, and weaponry have transformed state-tribe relationships, particularly in the Republican period. Equally, she keeps in the forefront the tenacity of tribal customs over time. Her account notably undermines stereotypes of constantly warring tribes by giving a thorough account of the "principles, rules, and sanctions" that underpin tribal governance and dispute resolution. She describes how dispute resolution is most often about avoiding rather than inciting conflict and about the importance of persuasive words over brute force. One can see the ...