Manifestations of Development: A Political Ecological Perspective on Development in Azraq, Jordan.

Degree of Master of Science (Two Years) in Human Ecology: Culture, Power and Sustainability 30 ECTS

CPS: International Master’s Programme in Human Ecology Human Ecology Division

Department of Human Geography Faculty of Social Sciences

Lund University

Author: Zackery Ryan Thill Supervisor: Richard Langlais Term: Spring Term 2012

Department: Human Geography, Human Ecology DivisionAddress: Geocentrum 1 Sölvegatan 12  223 62 LundPhone: +46-46-2228417

Supervisor: Richard Langlais

Title and Subtitle: Manifestations of Development: A Political Ecological Perspective on Development in Azraq, Jordan.

Author: Zackery Ryan ThillExamination: Master’s thesis (two year)

Term of defense: Spring Term 2012

Abstract :Azraq, meaning blue in Arabic, is the name of an oasis that once existed in the Eastern Desert of Jordan. Prior to the drying of the oasis in the early 1990s, the oasis was home to endemic species, millions of migrating birds from Eurasia to North Africa, as well as the Gazelle, Oryx, and Onager. The only fresh standing body of water in Jordan, The Azraq oasis was a unique habitat for a region that receives less the 100mm of precipitation annually. Some of the newest inhabitants to Azraq are Homo sapiens; today Bedouin, Druze, and Chechens call Azraq home, and stories of their migration to the oasis and the innovative methods these three communities interacted with the wetland are testaments to the human condition. This thesis explores the transformations brought by development specifically focusing on pipes, pumps, roads and capital. Using a political ecological framework this thesis examines how development has reshaped residents daily habits and lives, and the recursive affects the phenomenon of development has had on the ecosystem of Azraq.

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Acknowledgments:

First I would like to thank my siblings and patents for their support in my Swedish university endeavors. Without them, I would be adrift. I also thank the Azraq residents who welcomed me into their homes and for their generosity and warm hospitality.

I need to give a special thanks to Julia Olszewska for her words of encouragement and critical feedback on my thesis. I also thank Jens Hansson for welcoming me into his home and giving me a warm and cheerful place to stay my final semester in Lund, but also for the helpful feedback on my thesis, and the chance to play with Joni Katt.And, of course, I’d like to thank my supervisor Richard Langlais, for his support in the writing process.

I give a special super tack to all my CPS colleagues who contributed to making the weekends unforgettable and the weekdays enjoyable, I hope to carry you all in my memories.

I also would like to thank the RSCN for providing me the opportunity to engage with citizens of Azraq, especially Hussein, Hazem, Amer, Nouris, and others who helped me along the way in Azraq. Especially Sylvie Janssens who was of great help by introducing me to key informants, as well as making my time in Azraq more enjoyable.

Finally, I would like to thank Astrid Ellefsen, Hana Kolic, and Alessandro Barni for telling me about the wonderful programs offered at Lund University. I would not be in Lund today had it not been for them.

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Table of contents

Chapter 1: Introduction............................................................................................4-51. Topic........................................................................................................41.1 Research Question...................................................................................................5

Chapter 2: Methodology .........................................................................................6-92. Theoretical Considerations: Phenomenology............................................6-72.1 Analytical Tools Used.............................................................................8-9

Chapter 3: Framework of Study..............................................................................10-173.1Political Ecology......................................................................................10-11

3.1.1 Institutions and Power..............................................................12-133.1.2 Global and Local Knowledge...................................................14-163.1.3 Scale ........................................................................................16-17

Chapter 4: Background............................................................................................18-264. Development.............................................................................................18-214.1 Jordan .....................................................................................................22

4.1.1 Azraq Basin..............................................................................22-234.1.2 Azraq Oasis..............................................................................244.1.3 Bedouin....................................................................................24-254.1.4 Chechens..................................................................................25-264.1.5 Druze........................................................................................26

Chapter 5: Presentation of Findings........................................................................27-425.1 Pipes and Pumps.....................................................................................27-295.2 From Oasis to Wetland Reserve ............................................................29-315.3 The Changing Life of the Bedouin ........................................................31-365.4 Borders ..................................................................................................31-345.5 Capital ...................................................................................................34-365.6 The Changing life of Druze and Chechens......................................................36-425.7 Agriculture of Not .................................................................................38-395.8 The caravan and salt trade .....................................................................39-42

Chapter 6: Discussion of Findings .........................................................................42-47

Chapter 7: Conclusions ..........................................................................................47-48

Bibliography............................................................................................................49-523

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1. Topic

Azraq, meaning blue in Arabic, is the name of an oasis that once existed in the Eastern

Desert of Jordan. The 27 sq km oasis has been the home to endemic species, millions of

migrating birds from Eurasia to North Africa, as well as the Gazelle, Oryx, and Onager

(RSCN Site 2012). The only standing body of fresh water in Jordan, Azraq oasis was a

unique habitat for a region that receives less the 100mm of precipitation annually. For

nearly 250,000 years the Azraq oasis has existed in various forms and conditions (RSCN

Site 2012). Some of the newest inhabitants to Azraq are Homo sapiens; today Bedouin,

Druze, and Chechens call Azraq home, and stories of their migration to the oasis and the

innovative methods these three communities interacted with the wetland are testaments to

the human condition. The Bedouin being the oldest continual inhabitants were semi

nomadic in nature, whereas the Chechens and Druze communities fled to the shores of

Azraq in the beginning of the 20th century and made it their permanent homes.

As the global forces of development gradually began to incorporate more rural areas

around the globe, Azraq too was part of this process. The region once known as Arabia

gradually became fragmented, one of those parts would be called Transjordan, and by

1946, Transjordan was transformed into the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Furthermore, as Azraq became more integrated into modernity through development

projects: roads, pipes, pumps, and capital all began to transform the ecosystem of Azraq,

leading to the disappearance of oasis in 1993. For the inhabitants of Azraq development

has meant a switch in daily routines and habits –the Bedouin have transitioned from

semi-nomadism to a more sedentary lifestyle. The Chechens and Druze once depended

directly on flora and fauna of the oasis. Today wage labor and government assistance are

their primary sources for livelihood. While Azraq has slowly integrated into a more

global market in which access to modern conveniences are evermore apparent,

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inequalities in standards of living, unequal access to resources, and degradation of

biodiversity have also accompanied a more modern Azraq.

This thesis explores the phenomenon of development in the case of Azraq both the

physical i.e. pipes, pumps, capital, and the social aspects of development. I aim to study

how development has altered resource use and distribution and what this has meant for

the ecosystem. By implementing a political ecological framework, I aim to explore

changing relationships between man and environment, and the institutions that have

conducted these changes.

Azraq is labeled a poverty pocket by the government of Jordan, and thus the target of

many development projects to revitalize its economy (IUCN 2009, 2010). I see

environmental degradation such as the drying of the wetland, and social issues such as

unemployment interconnected in that development and modernity have reconstructed

reality for Azraq. Understanding poverty as an outcome of development begs us to take a

more critical analysis of what development means both in its physical and its socio-

economic state (Mosse 2010). By striving for a more historical, phenomenological,

exploration of development I aim to contribute a more holistic understanding of reality

and the power relations involved in constructing it.

Thus in my thesis, a goal for me has been to understand the whole while keeping in mind

the particular. Likewise, I see this as a goal for human ecology; to make sense of totality.

It is this whole or totality that we are a part of, we can call it an ecosystem, a region, or

planet Earth, and one of human ecology’s endeavors is to understand what role humans

have in this totality –what it means to be human in various environments and conditions.

Albeit, I argue like many authors that the legacy of anthropocentrism has gotten us where

we are today. Which is a world of extreme inequalities, and bioregions in crisis (Keil et

al 1998). In the case of Azraq, I began to realize the simple truth that these people were

not always in a “poverty pocket”–what happened to the oasis and the people then? Before

the processes of modernization, capitalism, or development (what ever one wishes to call

global forces of change) how did the communities of Azraq survive? What were their

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daily habits by which they sustained themselves? And how has development augmented

these quotidian habits to create a new reality for the people of Azraq? I take development

as the nexus in which reality has been created therefore, I ask the following:

1.1 Research Question

How has development manifested in Azraq, Jordan?

Chapter 2 Methodology

2. Theoretical Considerations: Phenomenology

Phenomenology is an endeavor to understand peoples learned experiences that construct

their realities, but it is also an epistemological perspective that puts those experiences in

the center searching for meaning of phenomena (Flood 2010, Wilson 2007). Thus for this

thesis, because I examine how development has manifested in Azraq, Jordan, I see

phenomenology as a method that can provide alternative perspectives to traditional

development thought, which emphasizes economic growth by means of industrialization

and western institutions. I put development as the phenomenon of inquiry and my

participants as the individuals who have experienced the phenomenon.

While there is criticism of phenomenology because of its relativist perspective and the

difficulties in choosing appropriate individuals for inquiry, (Creswell 2007; Bryman

2008) I argue that using phenomenology as a theoretical perspective to investigate groups

of individuals’ experiences in regard to a particular phenomenon gives a presence or

voice to individuals experiences. Another critique to phenomenology is that it doesn’t

seek to necessarily give quantitative factual descriptions to experiences. Rather the

emphasis is on the lived experience, what it means to have experienced a given

phenomenon (Wilson 2007).

Additionally, I use phenomenology because it attempts to emphasize the relationships

amongst humans and their physical environments, which is the central endeavor of this

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thesis (Creswell 57, 2007; Merleau-Ponty 1958, Wilson 2007), to explore how the

phenomenon of development has reshaped reality for residents of Azraq. As Flood

states:

“Meanings are constructed by people as they engage with the world they are interpreting.

The researcher’s task is to analyse the intentional experiences of consciousness to

perceive how a phenomenon is given meaning and to arrive at its essence” (Flood 8,

2010).

Phenomenology also lends it self well to political ecology in that it can help to

understand alternative ontologies in given ecosystems and the power relations involved.

Bryan Bannon explains this using Merleau-Ponty’s past work by pointing out that a

phenomenological perspective can be useful to gain further insight into how individuals

perceive themselves in their environment (Bannon 2011).

The inquiry into perceptions of reality becomes key in that although development often

manifests itself in terms of physical objects, these objects have recursive relationships

with the surrounding environment (Bennett 2010).

With this spirit I aim to build on knowledge that looks at totality, rather than merely the

human. I also aim to build on the author, Jane Bennett; her emphasis on objects

problematicizes the nature/human dichotomy so prevalent in Western thought. I use

Bennett’s concept thing-power, because it draws attention to the importance of

recognizing that things (i.e. roads pipes, pumps, capital etc.) have the ability to co-shape

human life. This is a dramatic turn from the anthropocentric views most ontologies

portray. But accommodating a perspective on things may be a more holistic way for

situating humans into their environments. Here also I believe it is necessary to let the

reader know that while I aim to show the inter-relationships of people to their ecosystem

and the meanings that come from that, I do not aim to de-emphasize power relations

between people. Rather, the interplay between people and things can be understood as an

inquiry to power, culture, and sustainability.

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2.1 Analytical Tools Used

In this thesis I take a holistic approach by using a mixture qualitative research tools. To

elaborate then on what I mean by qualitative tools, I point out what is most often

considered qualitative data: text, interviews, observations, etc., and explain my reasoning

for utilizing them (Bryman 21-22, 2008).

Qualitative research for Bernard (2006) and Bryman (2008) puts significance on words

and statements, often leading to interpretivist and constructionist ontologies. For my

research, because I examine how development has manifested in Azraq, I contend that an

ontology of constructionism suits my theoretical considerations best. This is because

constructionism lends itself to the notion that reality is a social construction, and that it

can lead to a multitude of interpretations (Wilson 2007).

Additionally, for my research, I used a variety of tools including semi-structured

interviews, text analysis, and participant observation. Creswell states that using tools

such as interviews and participant observation supplies me, the researcher, with data that

can be analyzed and interpreted in various ways, and that phenomenological inquiries are

built upon these methodological tools (Creswell 46-65, 2007).

I spent four months in Jordan and a total of two months in Azraq, Jordan. While in

Azraq, I held an internship position at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature

(RSCN), located next to the wetland in Azraq. My internship provided me with a

backdrop for participant observation within the RSCN organization in which I worked

alongside RSCN managers, tour-guides, guards, and other staff; this allowed me to

conduct semi-structured interviews with the staff members as well. Nouris, a

maintenance man at the wetland reserve introduced me to relatives who were informants

that provided me with historical information regarding the Druze settling in Azraq.

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My accommodation while in Azraq was at the RSCN lodge; my experience there

provided me further contact with locals for interviews and participant observation. Also,

through my time at the organization I was welcomed into many homes by community

members from the three main ethnic segments of the community, Druze, Chechens, and

Bedouin. Through my stay at the RSCN lodge, I came to know Shakker, a local from the

Bedouin community, and a major informant who provided me with several interviews.

Hazim, the site manager for the RSCN wetland reserve also provided valuable insight

into Azraq life. Likewise, Hamouda and Ziad, guards for the wetland reserve, introduced

me to local Bedouin with whom I interviewed.

Through my time interning at RSCN I was able to access historical, and organization

documents. Additionally, I utilized documents and reports from international

development organizations such as the United States Agency for Development (USAID),

which has had a presence in Jordan since the 1950’s. The International Union for the

Conservation of Nature (IUCN), also conducted two development projects in 2009 and

2010, as well as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which has extensive

connections with Jordan; these sources contributed to my text analysis.

Sylvie Janssens, a fellow researcher in Azraq, also assisted me greatly in finding potential

interviewees and introducing me to Um Jadooh and her family. Additionally, Sylvie

assisted me to meet with Mohammad Al-Hawi, the manager of the Water Authority of

Jordan (WAJ), as well as Othman a key informant from the Chechen community, and

Sallah from the Druze community. With these contacts I conducted semi-structured

interviews with Chechen and Druze elders, which heavily contributed to building my

historical analysis of development in Azraq.

Chapter 3 Framework of Study

In this section I provide an overview of authors and theoretical concepts that have guided

my method of analysis and have shaped the way I view and analyze particular

phenomena in regard to development and Azraq. I begin by discussing the theoretical

significance of political ecology and then I add Jane Bennett’s concept of thing-power to

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show how emphasizing things is complementary to political ecology thus leading to a

stronger understanding.

In the spirit of human ecology a multi-lens approach can add needed perspectives to

lingering issues of unequal resource use, and degradation of biodiversity. With this in

mind I continue on to discuss local and global knowledge and the power dynamics

involved when the two meet. Finally I conclude the framework section with a discussion

of scale, and the pros and cons of examining phenomena in the particular while keeping

in mind the global.

3. Political Ecology

David Harvey:

It is fundamentally mistaken... to speak of the impact of society on the ecosystem as if

these are two separate systems in interaction with each other. The typical manner of

depicting the world in terms of a box called ‘society’ in interaction with a box ‘labelled’

environment not only makes little intuitive sense.... but it also has just as little

fundamental theoretical and historical justification. Harvey 23, 1993

Harvey’s quote above, introduces a starting point for my framework of understanding

social and ecological relations, and I take his quote to mean that while I write social and

environmental as separate concepts, I keep in mind that these two are intimately

intertwined into the ecosystem, and the relationship they have is one of the fundamental

phenomena political ecology endeavors to explore.

What’s more, a fundamental component of human ecology is the understanding that

resources are disbursed according to social-cultural relations and norms (Paulson and

Gezon 2005). I also argue that it is important to explore what methods of resource use

are favored over others and who has the power in deciding these answers. Indeed,

political ecology is more than merely adding the environment to society, it is as much

about understanding access to knowledge, and whose knowledge is considered important

(Escobar 2008). But I contend that it is more than knowledge, it is as much about

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institutions of knowledge –and, embedded within institutions of knowledge is the

ontology of life –the how, and why of our daily activities.

Additionally, Jane Bennett argues for an ecological understanding that alters the Western

dichotomy of nature and human, toward one which also gives presents to things. Thing-

power as Bennett calls it, is an acknowledgment that humans are not at the apex of their

own agency; rather, things get in the way (Bennett 2010). For Bennett things are

physical material, they are the substances that humans often attempt to control,

sometimes create, and sometimes ignore. An important point to underscore is that

political ecology strives to point out that humans often create and alter those things that

inhibit some and enable others. Interestingly, I see that contemporary political ecology

and Bennett’s thing-power are quite complementary. As political ecology strives to

understand power, decision making capability, and the recursive affects those decisions

have on humans, these recursive affects are often manifested through things, thus also

being a part of the ecosystem and playing a role in human activities.

As Human Ecology endeavors to explain how living beings affect other living beings and

the recursive affects these have on the environment, (Bates and Tucker 2010) there

remains a vast amount of nonliving matter in the world, and this too, I argue has a place

in understanding relationships of power. There has been a long debate in the realms of

philosophy and social the social sciences as to whether things deserve a proverbial spot-

at-the-table in discussions on agency (Durkheim, Merleau-Ponty, Bourdou, Latour).

While I do not go into this debate, I do contend that presenting things in human

ecological inquiries leads to a more rounded analysis. As Bennett says:

“A lot happens to the concept of agency once nonhuman things are figured less as social

constructions and more as actors, and once humans themselves are assessed not as

autonoms but as vital materialities” (Bennett 21, 2010).

How then to look at the whole picture? Again Bennett uses the term assemblages to

conceptualize a whole functioning convergence of things and people.

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“Assemblages are ad hoc groupings of diverse elements, of vibrant materials of all sorts.

Assemblages are living, throbbing confederations that are able to function despite the

persistent presence of energies that confound them from within. They have uneven

topographies. Because some of the points at which the various affects and bodies cross

paths are more heavily trafficked than others, and so power is not distributed equally

across its surface” (Bennett 23-24, 2010).

For this thesis the assemblage can be seen as Azraq, the ecosystem, and all the linkages

or threads that contribute in shaping its existence, and as Bennett says, power is unevenly

distributed (Bennett 2010), which is the central focus of inquiry political ecology. For

this thesis the inquiry of how development has manifested itself in Azraq is an

exploration into the complex realm of physical infrastructure and societal configurations

–an investigation into the recursive relationship of roads, pipes, and pumps and change in

resource use that has accompanied this infrastructure. Again, as Bennett argues that

human agency is strung between human and nonhuman forces (ibid 31, 2010). While

Bennett goes deep into the exploration of human agency, Efficacy, Trajectory, and

Causality it is not in the scope of my research to delve into these concepts but rather to be

mindful of the interplay between human and nonhuman objects and the co-shaping power

that nonhuman objects have over us.

3.1 Institutions and Power

To add another dimension to human and nonhuman realms, using Agrawal’s

environmentality, we can understand development as a process in which the individual is

guided to act in their environment in specific ways, leading individuals to re-

conceptualize resource use in particular manners. Environmentality provides insight into

converging modes of socioeconomic reality. Through this process the local is guided to

undergo a socio-cultural transformation; a transformation in terms of institutions,

methods of decision-making, and resource distribution. As Agrawal articulates:

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“[G]overnment equally well denotes the conduct of conduct that affects social relations

within communities and efforts by subjects to shape their own actions. In all these cases,

the effort is to govern to shape conduct” (Agrawal 11, 2005).

The change in conduct explained by Foucault (Foucault 2008) and elaborated by Agrawal

also helps to understand how power/knowledge works on a given population.

Power/knowledge plays a direct role in explaining resource use, and the institutions and

individuals who have the capacity to decide on these matters. As Foucault elaborates that

market oriented development interventions around the globe are meant to bring freedom

and democracy, they also have a contradictive aspect in which development policies

focus on the economic, and these interventions are also intrusions of freedom (ibid 2008).

“[M]echanisms of economic intervention have been deployed to avoid the reduction of

freedom that would be entailed by transition to socialism, fascism, or National Socialism.

But is it not the case that these mechanisms of economic intervention surreptitiously

introduce types of intervention and modes of action which are as harmful to freedom as

the visible and manifest political forms one wants to avoid? (Foucualt 69, 2008)

These interventions that often manifest as development policies have the ability to alter

socio-economic realities in regions such as Azraq. I see environmentality as a conceptual

tool to explain the changes in power/knowledge institutions that restructure ways of

utilizing resources in Azraq (Agrawal 2005).

The axiom that societal structure guides resource usage holds true, and by societal

structure I mean both physical structure (e.g. roads, buildings, pipes, capital etc.) as well

as metaphysical, (e.g. value system, class structure, mode of production) (wolf 1997;

Mosse 2010; Bennett 2010). Here again I refer to Bennett, the emphasis she places on

things has a role in power/knowledge; for if we start to question how things affect us, we

then must ask who has the power and authority to alter our physical surroundings, and

who decides if this is desirable (Bennett 2010).

Albiet, Agrawal points out, that while “power/knowledge, institutions, and subjectivities”

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guide productive possibilities, they are nevertheless, not fatalistic, in that there remains a

creative interrelationship between power/knowledge and the individual. Rather the point

is that institutions of power/knowledge have the ability to transform physical,

environmental, and social realities (Agrawal 2005). Rather than leading to uniform

policies and outcomes, environmentality balances itself between humans’ creative

abilities to co-shape reality and a Foucaultian perspective on power. Power that requires

individuals to carry out daily actions and tasks in which local community members have

filled positions which require them to participate in new methods of social organization

and governance.

3.1.2. Local/Global Knowledge

“A related issue is the local character of much local knowledge. This is providing a

problem in development contexts where agencies seek generic solutions to problems of

poverty, sustainability and so on. We see the scale problem as Cleveland and Soleri point

out, in the increasing focus of natural resources development in diverse regions with

marginal and fragile environments always from those where high production is

achievable using a standard technology, usually including high-yielding varieties. By

definition local science is geographically and culturally specific, infrequently extending

to wide regions (Sillitoe 8, 2009)”.

As discussed earlier in regard to power/knowledge, this section discusses the idea that

different knowledges exist, and various development processes determine which are

deemed important, useful, or correct. Furthermore, I also stress that as different

knowledges are deployed, ontological assumptions are augmented and physical realities

are altered; knowledges have a transformative power all to their own (Goonatilake 2006).

Specifically, for Azraq this has meant a transformation in daily habits and resource use

with the arrival of a system of pipes, pumps, capital, and roads.

Sillitoe underscores one of the fundamental differences between local knowledge and

global knowledge. On the one hand local knowledge is diverse and demarcated to a

specific region. I agree with Geertz and Sillitoe in their analysis that the specificity of

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local knowledge is due to the diversity of ecosystems our planet holds. Local knowledge

is a product of human labor yielding innovation imbedded in culture, it is the sum-total of

what constitutes a way of living (Geertz 1983, Sillitoe 2009, Escobar 2008). Most

importantly, local knowledge is predicated upon the local nature and resources that a

people have within their surroundings. Furthermore, I see the process not as stagnant or

linear, rather as dynamic and transformative (Geertz 1983; Sillitoe 2009; Escobar 2008;

Briggs et al 2007).

To reiterate, human’s creative ability to manipulate its physical environment to create

alternative forms of living is the basis of local knowledge. From a human ecological

perspective, I argue it is important to underscore the dynamic relationship humans have

with their physical environment, that as much as we humans use ecosystems to create our

culture, also our ecosystem has feedback loops, which exert a force upon us, creating new

opportunities, risks, barriers, and cultural realities (Becker and Jahn 68-83, 2008) A

question for political ecology is who is more vulnerable to risks and who has access to

opportunities.

One dynamic to the question of local knowledge is the concept of consumer

proleternization. This concept takes a critical view of economic development in which

individuals who were once isolated from global forces of capitalism have become

integrated in a wage labor paradigm. Heyman states: “Proletarianization is a social

science term (originally from Karl Marx) that refers to the historical process by which

people lose control of the means of production –land, tools, resources, and so on”

(Heyman 118, 2005). Heyman goes on to articulate that as this process unfolds,

households and individuals lose once necessary skills, raw materials, and social relations,

which were once requisite for quotidian activities (Heyman 1990, 2005). Thus looking at

the process of consumer proletarianization as a phenomenon in which communities loose

local knowledge for livelihood helps to bring a fuller understanding of inequality and

power.

Briggs notes that very often the concept local knowledge is viewed by scholars and

development agencies as overly romanticized fantasies of locals somehow being “in

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harmony with nature” (Briggs et al 242, 2007) while ignoring the potential of local

knowledge as a source for creative solutions to issues of development. Rather than

seeing local knowledge as stagnant, emphasizing local capabilities and technologies can

have an empowering affect, argues Briggs et al (2007). Briggs et al use the case of

Bedouin in Egypt as an example in which locals test and re-test methods of grazing and

plant use, and that second hand knowledge is often considered unreliable by locals until

verified through methodical practical experiments by the individual. Their research cuts

at the argument that local knowledge lacks methodical scientific principles (ibid 2007).

Yet, while it is not useful to over generalize about local knowledge systems due to the

multiplicity of ways peoples engage with their particular environment and understand the

world, I argue that one feature of local knowledge is the scope of specialized knowledge

it carries (Escobar 2008, Monfreda 276-285, 2010). The essence of local knowledge is

that it is of a particular spatial location. In the case of Azraq the three communities had

specialized knowledge of plants, animals, seasonal climatic patterns, and resource

distribution; fundamentally their understanding helped shape labor patterns, customs, and

resource usage, a sum total of daily habits.

Interestingly, global knowledge or science is built from a history of understanding the

physical mechanics and workings of the natural world. Global knowledge is

characterized by wrote, highly systematized data collection, its dependence on industrial

technology, as well as its conscious efforts for progress in the realm of economic growth

(sillitoe 2009, Jin 264-318, 2008).

While I take the view that intercultural exchange of knowledge has been a continual

phenomenon in human history, the contemporary dynamics of knowledge exchange by

way of global and local knowledge has unique characteristics. Namely that modern

capitalism buttressed by development policies is a conscious concerted effort to engage

the local and integrate it into the global (Jin 264-318, 2008, Monfreda 276-285, 2010). I

argue that viewing encounters between the local and the global as a political process

allows us to bring to light power structures, that may otherwise be taken for granted.

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3.1.3. Scale

Another concept I see as helpful to building my framework of understanding is scale,

which is useful in understanding complex webs of power in a globalizing world. Paulson

and Gezon argue that “ignor[ing] ways in which nonlocal policies and capital flows

influence and perpetuate resource-use patterns at local levels” (Paulson and Gezon 8,

2005) often leads to focusing the causes of environmental degradation onto locals.

While widening the scale to the international level can make for difficult analysis, I

believe it is fundamental to include these actors in researching the local, namely to point

out that the local is an imagined concept, that is embedded with presumed connotations

and stereotypes, which in itself is a relation of power.

The local is created in juxtaposition to the global. While I see the concepts local and

global are useful in conceptualizing localities of place and scale, I also argue that these

terms are politically-economically-culturally embedded with preconceived notions.

Much of the development literature on Jordan I’ve researched has referred to the local as

natural and traditional; a location that must be guided, conserved, and managed (USAID

2010, UNDP 2007, IUCN 2008 RSCN 2010).

The local is often characterized by words and concepts that bring the reader to imagine a

locality in need of development, and void of the modern. In light of this, the local is not

New York City, or Copenhagen; rather, it is a location lacking in modern technomass

(Hornborg 2009) computers with high-speed internet, air conditioners, paved streets and

roads, a modernized school system, and a vibrant relationship to the globalized financial

market.

The local is the antithesis of the globalized world, the spaces of the Earth that have not

come to be fully encompassed or exploited by the processes of globalization (Hornborg

2009, Harvey 1996; Desai 2006). We can understand the process of globalization as the

gradual encompassing of the ‘local’ and ‘the particular’ to an ever-increasing

interconnectedness based on a spatiotemporal compression (Appaduri 1996). I believe it

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is also important to underscore that this process is predicated upon unequal exchange of

goods, services, labor, and natural resources (Hornborg 2009).

Chapter 4 Background

In this chapter I discuss the historical, and ideological aspects of development and the

major actors who have been proactive in pushing development policies in Jordan.

Then, I give a brief historical summary of Jordan, a geographical overview of the Azraq

region, and the three major communities of Azraq: Bedouin, Chechen and Druze.

4. Development

Development is a concept that has captured the imagination of academics, politicians, as

well as the average resident of Azraq. What is development then –an ideology, progress,

modernization, literacy, electricity, plumbing, agriculture, modern economic markets

(Agrawal 1997)? While the concept development is often nebulous, there are certain

concepts or characteristics affixed to it, such as economic growth, and a push for

industrialization, urbanization and a mechanization of agricultural technologies (Diawara

362, 2000). Indeed, Peter Little does well in articulating the ontological assumptions that

development often is accompanied by a belief in market orientation and mechanization,

which in turn augments social relations (Little 1996).

While it is not in the scope of my research to delve into the multiplicity of meanings for

development, I will spell out that development, for this paper refers to specific policies,

which have brought physical infrastructure into Azraq, and guided it to a market-oriented

community. Practically, I use development as a word that encompasses the

implementation of water pipes, pumps, roads, and capital as well as institutions of

resource administration. Combined, I will use the word development as shorthand for

these processes in this thesis.

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One of the predominant actors of development in Jordan has been USAID (United States

Agency for International Development). USAID has carried out numerous projects in the

country, and spent billions of Dollars executing projects (Tarnoff and Nowels 2004).

Interestingly, the agency explicitly states its goals:

“Building on the success of the Marshall Plan, President Harry S. Truman proposed an

international development assistance program in his 1949 inaugural address. The 1950

Point Four Program focused on two goals: creating markets for the United States by

reducing poverty and increasing production in developing countries, and diminishing the

threat of communism by helping countries prosper under capitalism1.” (USAID 2012)

USAID development reports from the 1960s indicate some of the first so-called reform

plans to modernize and develop the Azraq region in the Eastern desert. Modernization in

the form of commercialized agriculture and commercialized fish farming were two

proposals that had been studied (USAID circa 1961).

“Engineering studies in the Eastern desert of Jordan, funded by the Untied States, have

shown that there is enough water in the area for irrigation of tens-of-thousands of dunam2

of land. As well as 500 dunam for the construction of pools for fish farming. Many can

benefit from land development in farming or raising livestock, and the ponds could

produce 160 thousand Jordanian Dinar annually, this is a new economic resource for the

country” (USAID circa 1961).

From the above quote, the desired goals for development are expressly stated, growth for

domestic markets, and increasing production. This normative perspective in which

USAID speaks, creates a stark paradigm of the “correct” way for living, and helps guide

discourse on areas that are not “developed”.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) also has had a role in development.

While the current model puts more emphasis on social development UNDP nevertheless

works in conjunction with other development organizations such as the International 1 Website: http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/usaidhist.html accessed March 2012.2 One Dunam equals one 10 acres or 1000 m².

19

Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which strive for economic liberalization.

This is expressed in UNDP’s project statement for Jordan 1992-1998, which states the

IMF’s stragegy for Jordan by:

“ i) Liberalizing the domestic economy by eliminating distortions that hinder sound

economic growth and performance. ii) Furthering natural resources explorations,

utilization and conservation, particularity in the areas of oil and gas as well as water. iii)

Strengthening export promotion by opening new markets and consolidating traditional

markets” (UNDP 1997).

On a practical level the desired objectives of these projects very often involve the

industrialization of agricultural process, expansion of physical infrastructure such as

roads, water pipes, and demarcated farmland. Examining the UNDP sponsored report:

Food and Nutrition Security in Jordan towards Poverty Alleviation, explicitly

underscores the goals the UN seeks, those being increased agricultural production, and

standardization of agricultural produce to be suitable for export. The report sites: “[T]he

revitalization of the rural economy by improving the marketing of agricultural products

which suffer from weak supply-demand links, high post harvest losses, low prices, and

absence of quality control and standardization” (UNDP 9, 2010).

In the 1980s an interesting sub-discourse began to emerge around the environmental

dangers of market driven development in the 1980s (Escobar 2008). Conversationalist

theorists began to speak out about the importance of ‘green development’ or ‘sustainable

development’ (Agrawal 1997). One of the first major contestations of development came

from the Brundtland Report (Our Common Future) published in 1987. In the forward

Gro Brundtland stated:

“These links between poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation formed a major

theme in our analysis and recommendations. What is needed now is a new era of

economic growth - growth that is forceful and at the same time socially and

environmentally sustainable.” (Our Common Future 14, 1987)

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Interestingly, the concept of ‘economic growth’ did not leave the semantic playing field;

it was merely joined, rather paradoxically, to the concept of ‘sustainable development’.

While the Brundtland Report acknowledged that some responsibility for environmental

degradation landed on the shoulders of Northern wealthy countries, there was little

discussion regarding the merits of development projects that fundamentally alter

societies’ institutions that guide resource use.

There are of course many critics to the growth as development paradigm; Gardner and

Lewis argue that development as a concept creates a linear course for nations to follow, a

world where the North is advanced and the South is “locked in static traditionalism which

only modern technology and capitalist relations of production can transform” (Gardner

and Lewis 1996). Indeed the above quotation from USAID demonstrates this view all

too well. From my analysis then, mainstream development’s perspective that non-market

orientated societies are poor, and in need assistance, creates an unequal power structure

between the developed and developing.

Furthermore, Becker and Jahn assert that development “is the focal point of a semantic

field, surrounded by mutually supportive concepts such as progress, modernization,

growth, evolution, or maturity” (Becker and Jahn 70, 1998). What’s more, Agrawal

contends that “[development] has successfully, and ubiquitously, colonized the

imagination of intellectuals interested in human welfare” (Agrawal 463, 1997).

Synthesizing the aforementioned, I contend that development discourse guides the

individual to see methods that lead to market orientation as mutually reinforcing

processes that lead to betterment and well-being ignoring questions of power and

decisions making capability.

On a historical level, I see development as a transformation of colonialist policies, which

view non-Western methods and values as inherently inferior and in need of quantitative

as well as qualitative betterment (Monfreda 276-285, 2010). I clarify by stating that

development policies come to the ‘local Third World’ in hopes of altering ways of living

that will fit models of western nation-state modernity, which inherently feed into market

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driven ventures. Practically, for Azraq this means a conversion from subsistence living to

wage labor, and a colonialization of local knowledge –a colonialism of the self.

4.1 Jordan

Less than one hundred years ago, the area now known as The Hashemite Kingdom of

Jordan, had a population of approximately 200,000 inhabitants. Today the population has

reached 6 million inhabitants. Additionally, less than one hundred years ago, of the

200,000 people who lived there, 80 percent of them were nomadic, with various herding

patterns stretching from current day Southern Syria to Northern Saudi Arabia, and over to

current day Israel and the Sinai. These migration patterns followed rainfall, which

allowed for grazing of the Nomadic Bedouin animal herds. Of the 10 percent that was in

settled communities, their income came from agriculture and trade (Alon 2007).

The Ottoman Empire had administered the Transjordan prior to their defeat in WWI.

However in the 1920s the Transjordan became an Emirate and a British protectorate

(Salibi 2006). The British wished to make the nomadic Bedouin settle and create a

modern state of the various tribal confederations that made up the population of the area

(Alon 2007). This marked a seminal moment in the history of the whole region. Over the

course of British administration, the tribes gradually became integrated in modern,

western institutions, which bore no resemblance to the institutions and traditions of the

Arab inhabitance. After 90 years of Western involvement, Jordan is still coping with the

two paradigms of thought –tribal-Bedouin, Arab-traditional based vs. Western-

technological-progress based.

4.1.1 The Azraq Basin

The Azraq Basin can be understood as a geographic depression with the Azraq oasis

being the lowest point. Precipitation runoff feeds the oasis and the Al-Qa’ (Al-Qa’ is the

Arabic word used for the mudflat surrounding the oasis) thus making the basin renewable

in essence. Five-percent of the basin is located in Syria with the remaining in Jordan, and

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a fraction in Saudi Arabia (Abdulla, Al-Khatib, Al-Ghazzawi 2000). What’s more,

because the oasis is recharged by precipitation runoff, the 5% that is located in Syria is a

major component for water recharge levels. However, Syria has built a series of dams,

which inhibit the flow of water from the Syrian mountains to the Azraq basin (Alraggad

and Jasem 2010). Accordingly, hydro-flow studies also point to a decline in precipitation

levels in the Eastern desert, thus bringing into to question how renewable the Azraq basin

is, and for how long (Abdulla, Al-Khatib, Al-Ghazzawi 2000).

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(IMAGE: RSCN 2010)

4.1.2 The Oasis

“[B]ig losses began to be noticed around 1900, when the last of the Roe Deer, Addax

Antelope and Crocodile were recorded. The Wild Ass was killed off by 1920 and the

Fallow Deer by 1922” (Mountfort 59, 1965).

The Azraq oasis (and villages) is located 100 km Southeast of the capital, Amman. This

was once an area which contained hundreds of species, and was a one-of-a-kind oasis for

its size and diversity of plants and animals (Nelson 1975). The oasis water came from a

variety of springs feeding in to a myriad of marshes and pools. These pools were fed by

underground recharging aquifer springs. Surrounding these bodies of water was a vast

mudflat (Al-Qa’), which received its water from seasonal rains (RSCN 2010).

Expeditions to Azraq in the 1960s reported seeing “a glimpse of heaven,” and that “the

place [oasis] was literally crawling with birds” (Mountfort 51, 1965). Local elders

remember seeing Oryx, and Gazelle, coming to the shores of Azraq as well. Today the

oasis is now known as the Azraq Wetland Reserve, and is managed by the Royal Society

for the Conservation of Nature, or RSCN.

The communities of Azraq

4.1.3 Bedouin

The Bedouin have been continuous patrons of the Azraq Wetland, and beginning in

1950s the government of Jordan began a policy of Bedouin Settlement to discourage

them from practicing their semi-nomadic pastoral lifestyle (Baban, Al-Oun, Shahbaz 159-

24

173, 2003). Three principal tribes navigated to Azraq wetland: Rwala, Sirhan, and Beni

Shakher (‘Ajmia 1999).

Before the process of settlement began, the Bedouin would herd sheep, goats, camels,

and donkeys to the wetland as a place known where food and water could be found.

Tribes would spend as much as three months at the Wetland in accordance with rainfall

patterns (Mohammad, interview by author, Jan. 2012, Baban, Al-Oun, Shahbaz 159-173,

2003). After leaving the wetland, the tribes would follow specific herding patterns which

had much to do with where the grazing land was located, but also according to the

customs and laws of tribal land distribution. Bedouin land distribution custom and law is

an elusive topic in academia partly due to the lack of standardization in the practice

among regions in the Arab world, but also because these laws and customs were orally

transmitted (Fischbach 2000, Knowles 2005, Baban, Al-Oun, Shahbaz 159-173).

4.1.4 Chechen

The Chechen community of Azraq comes originally from Chechnya in Russia, and is

Sunni Muslim. Their story of migration began in the 1890s when angst and

disillusionment with the political and economic situation pushed many in Russia toward

an open dialogue of communism. The Chechen population had been a continual target of

central government dominance, in what one Chechen informant described as a five

hundred year legacy of religious and cultural repression of the Chechen population by the

Czar (Othman, interview by author, Feb. 2012, ‘Ajmia 1999). Talk of a communist

revolution highlighted the already contentious relationship shared between the Chechen

minority and the Russian population at large.

For fear of even further religious repression that might be suffered under communist rule,

six hundred families packed up their lives and chose to migrate to Mecca of modern-day

Saudi Arabia. Of the six hundred families, only 200 were allowed to actually leave the

country. After two years of journey through Georgia, Turkey, and Syria they had arrived

to the village of Zarqa’ in modern day Jordan. Although their original plan was to

immigrate to Mecca, fifteen Chechen families realized that they would need to relocate to

25

an area that had sufficient water resources to support their Water Buffalo that they had

brought with them from Lebanon (Othman, interview by author, Feb. 2012).

In 1901 the fifteen family Chechen community settled along the southern side of the

Azraq wetland, thus adding a new species to the wetland ecosystem –water buffalo.

Additionally, the Chechens were the first contemporary inhabitants of Azraq to be

permanently settled (ibid 2012). However, as stated earlier, the Bedouin tribes were

nomadic pastoralists who called Azraq their home during the winter before proceeding

with their herding routes in the spring.

4.1.5 Druze

The Druze community of Azraq originally comes from Jabal al-Arab (Arabic for Arab

mountain) North of Azraq in Syria. The Druze of Azraq found refuge in the once remote

wetland of Azraq during the Arab uprising against French colonial forces in Greater Syria

in the 1920s (Greater Syria is modern day Lebanon and Syria). Druze rebels fighting for

independence and French withdrawal from Syria were outmanned and out gunned in the

battles that ensued. Hundreds of families (as well as fighters) fled the fighting to Azraq

(‘Ajmia 45, 1999).

“In the course of 1932 most of the Druze exiles in Najd left for Transjordan where they

again concentrated in the village of al-Azraq. Meanwhile, a number of important chiefs

who had accompanied Sultan al-Atrash in his exile submitted to the French authorities

and received permission to return to the Jabal. The encampment in al-Azraq in time

became a permanent Druze settlement in Transjordan” (Firro 298, 1992).

By the late 1920s there had come to be two new demographic additions to the Azraq

wetland, the Chechens and the Druze; both of which fled to Azraq to escape social-

cultural-religious domination. The fear of religious and cultural repression due to a

communist revolution in Russia pushed the Chechens out of their homeland. Likewise,

the Druze community was forced out of their homeland due to resistance of direct French

26

colonialization. Additionally Bedouin tribes were also patrons of the Wetland, who made

it their home for the winter months of the year.

Chapter 5 Presentation of Findings

In this Chapter I present the data and interviews I collected while in Azraq. I have

broken this section into four parts: Pipes and Pumps of Azraq, From Oasis to Wetland

Reserve, The Changing Life of the Bedouin, and The Changing Life of the Druze and

Chechens. In the next chapter I present my discussion of the data presented in this

section.

5. Pipes and Pumps of Azraq

In the late 1920s vast pockets of oil had recently been found underground in Iraq, and in

1933, the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), which was British owned, had completed a 955

km pipeline to transport the oil from Kirkuk, Iraq to Haifa, in what was then known as

Palestine, but now Israel. This pipeline ran through the Eastern Desert in Jordan passing

the Azraq oasis. In 1948 however, the Nakba3 occurred, which is the day of Palestinian

remembrance for the loss of homeland and the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians (this

day also is called Yom Ha'atzmaut, meaning independence day in Hebrew). These

regional events had the affect of stopping the flow of oil through the pipeline (A’jeema

1999).

The government retrofitted this pipeline later in the 1960s to begin water abstraction to

Irbid, a town in northern Jordan, however this pumping was considered minor ( Nshhead,

interview by author, Nov. 2011). According to Mr. Nshhead, manager of RSCN-Azraq

project “They [the government] began real pumping in 1983, this is the exact time of real

pumping, because before that it was very minor.” The ‘real pumping’ that Nshhead

refers to, is the pumping that began from Azraq to Amman and Zarqa’ for domestic

consumption.

3 Nakba is the anniversary to commemorate the displacement of Arabs living in Palestine in 1948. It is celebrated on the 15th of May. The word means catastrophe in Arabic.

27

“Then later a lot of private funds and people came in and started pumping their own

wells, and some of them used to be permitted but now there is still a lot of unlicensed

wells” (...) “With pumping, and water for drinking, and legal and illegal artisan wells for

agriculture, water levels started to drop down an amount of 25 million cubic meters a

year, and here we have a total drying of the original oasis by 1993” (Nshhead, interview

by author, Dec. 2011).

In fact, an interview with Mohammad al-Hawi, the manager of the Water Authority of

Jordan (WAJ), revealed that currently, it is calculated that more water is abstracted for

estate-farms in the surrounding Azraq area than for domestic use in Amman and Zarqa’.

The estate-farms are owned by wealthy individuals who generally live in large population

centers, such as Amman. One such interview with Mr. Yeaheah the Azraq wetland site

ecologist, revealed that Mr. Kurdy, the owner of one of the largest shopping centers,

Mecca Mall, in Jordan also owns one of the largest farms in the area.

“My family also sold a lot of their land to Mr. Kurdy, but before that my family had

water buffalo that would graze on the land and we got cheese and those things from

them” (Yeaheah, interview by author, Jan 2012).

What’s more, Mr. Yeaheah reported that many locals cannot afford the license for a legal

well. The cost for a well license is 358 Dinar (Yeahyeah, interview by author, Dec.

2012) and 56% of the families in Azraq earn less than 3004 Dinar per month (IUCN

2009), thus making the financial barrier to obtaining a well-license difficult. In

conversations with others, a common assertion is that bribing local officials to ignore

illegal pumping is a common practice.

Additionally, talking with locals from Azraq and officials working in government

administration I have noted a general consensus amongst the public that wealthy

landowners who have estate-farms escape governmental oversight because of their

political power. This is expressed in The Azraq Basin National Dialogue Project report,

4 To understand the relation of currency, 300 Jordanian Dinar equals 326 Euros. Website: http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert/?Amount=300&From=JOD&To=EUR. Accessed May 2012.

28

which cites nonlocal agriculture production as one of the main causes of desertification in

Azraq (Froukh 2007). The report goes on to state that:

“[A]round 60 million m3 is beginning pumped in a year, 45 million of it is for agriculture

and 15 million are to the cities of Amman and Zarqa’. While the estimated safe pumping

amount is 20-25 million m3 this leads 40 million m3 of feebleness. This situation lead[s]

to the aridness of the springs and the oasis as well as the decrease of the underground

water and poor water quality as well as the increase of water saltiness in some wells”

(Froukh 2007).

Thus the disappearance of the wetland can be attributed to 3 main reasons –excess

abstraction by nonlocal and locally owned farms that produce water-intensive crops such

as watermelon, grapes, and tomatoes. Secondly, over pumping of ground water for

domestic use to the capital city Amman, and Zarqa’. A third factor is the modern day

border between Syria and Jordan that cuts through a portion of the Azraq drainage basin.

Thus Syria was able to construct dams enabling them to utilize water resources that

would have previously flowed into the Azraq water basin.

I speculate that there is an additional reason attributed to climate change in the region.

Many locals as well as reports indicate that precipitation levels have decreased in the

Azraq basin. Since the water basin is fed by rainwater this too affects water levels, while

interviews with locals suggest that rain levels have decreased, I have noted that reports do

not sufficient historical data on precipitation levels to clearly define this as a significant

factor to desertification in Azraq.

5.1 From Oasis to Wetland Reserve

After the oasis suffered from total drying, the National Environmental Strategy for Jordan

sought to rehabilitate Azraq oasis into a wetland reserve because of its importance for

wildlife (RSCN 2010). In 1992 The RSCN funded by the GEF (UN Global

Environmental Fund) and UNDP, developed a project to restore a portion of the oasis and

create the Azraq Wetland Reserve. Finally in 1994 the project to restore 6% to 10% of

29

the wetland had begun, and by 1998 2.5% had been rehabilitated (USAID 2007, RSCN

2009, 2010; Nshhead, interview by author, Nov. 2011). However, this section to be

restored would be only for wildlife conservation, and tourism rather than for the local

population’s direct alimentation.

Furthermore, GEF funded a visitor center and wetland trail for touristic functions, this

along with other socio-economic programs have been conducted by RSCN to boost the

local economy and attract tourists to the wetland. Revitalization from an oasis to a

wetland reserve has meant a re-imagination of the oasis, now it is seen as a reserve to

conserve nature, and measures to protect the fragile portion that remains is a primary goal

for the RSCN. This is expressed by the two meter-high fence that protects the wetland

reserve and the three-member team of guards who patrol the perimeter, keeping out locals

who are in search for fodder for firewood, as well as Bedouin in search of green

vegetation for their herds.

The site manager of the Azraq Wetland Reserve, Mr. Hazim, stated that there are 50

employees who all come from the local communities. These positions vary from night

patrolmen, tour guides, and janitors. Additionally, speaking with Mr. Hazim, it became

apparent that the Reserve is geared toward international tourism, but more so the RSCN

organization in Azraq is seen as a tool for economic development for local community

members. Mr. Hazim states:

“No organization will pay like RSCN, like social security, savings accounts, and health

insurance, it’s a chance for ladies to be cultivated, they have a lack of knowledge, we get

them involved and build their capacities, by employing them, and empowering them.

Because there are no opportunities outside of Azraq, and we are helping them become

productive ladies. RSCN also gave them the opportunities to have a carrier, and be

attractive to men to get married, if she is recruited, or employed, I will change my mind,

she will help me to economize our living standard” (Hazim, interview by author, Dec.

2012).

30

Mr. Hazim continued to reinterate the importance for women to become part of the

workforce and that RSCN strongly encourages this. Interestingly, Mr. Hazim did not

recognize knowledge or experience from non-wage labor as legitimate skills or methods,

which would be seen as attractive for marriage. I suspect this is partly due to the fact that

in current-day Azraq, income is a central concern for residents, and past knowledge that

would have been necessary a generation ago is less significant to procuring a livelihood.

5.2 The Changing Life of The Bedouin

To discuss the process of sedentarization of nomadic Bedouin we need to examine more

closely regional, national, and international factors that brought about this change. But to

also understand the complex and discursive relationship colonialism and modernization

has had with the current situation in Azraq today. One of the outcomes of creation the

modern nation state of Jordan has been that the communities of Azraq have gone though

a systematic change in resource usage, for the provision of daily economy, altering

nutrition patterns, labor practices, as well as ownership, distribution, and access to

resources.

Ajmia (1999) and Alon (2007) argue that nomadic practices are a result of dealing with

the given environment a population lives within. Since the desert environment lacks

sufficient rainwater and fertile soil for intensive agriculture, a way of coping with this is

to practice seasonal nomadic herding of animals, although it is not the aim of my study to

speculate why the Bedouin had practiced nomadism, but rather to discuss the relationship

the Bedouin once had with Azraq.

5.3 Borders

During the 1930s, The Bedouin’s migration patters came to be affected by the changes in

spatial conceptionalization of place, i.e. modern nation state borders, which were

imposed via colonialism (Baban, Al-Oun, Shahbaz 2002).

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While modern boundaries and borders served the purposes of colonial rule for

administration and domination, they are less suited for pastoralists who depend on

following rainfall patterns to feed their herds. These rainfall patterns were not congruent

with modern nation state borders, thus altering traditional access to grazing lands and

severing pervious migration routes.

Mohammed a Bedouin man of Azraq, whose families once practiced nomadism but now

permanently resides in Azraq, spoke of a time when they would prop their tents around

Azraq during the winter months (November to Feburary). Their time in Azraq wetland

would be a time to rest, and prepare for their journey in the spring. He went on to tell me

that his herd of goats would number between 100 to 250 head. This depended on the

amount of rainfall, which would determine the foliage available to feel their animals

(Mohammed, interview by author, Azraq, Jordan, Jan. 2012)

Sitting in his black and brown tent constructed of sewn together burlap sacks of rice, with

his wife sitting next to me he began to tell me that the rains don’t come anymore, that

rain patterns have changed. Interestingly he blamed the shortage of rains on climate

change, which he attributed to fossil fuel consumption. I then asked him if that was why

he didn’t practice herding anymore.

His wife said that “the government didn’t want us to move so much, we get in the way”

(Unknown, interview by author, Azraq, Jordan, Jan. 2012). I understand her statement as

referring to the construction of modern infrastructure (roads, highways, cities, large scale

farms), which restricts the ability for large amounts of people to navigate herds of up to

250 head goats across the desert to grazing lands. Another factor that Mohammed

touched on was that much of the grazing land has been converted to agricultural lands,

specifically in the Jordan River Valley (ibid 2012).

In a conservation with another local Bedouin, the cleavages between state oriented goals

and traditional grazing patterns can be seen in his statement: “Some tribes would travel

very far, some as far as Saudi Arabia, but things have changed. Now it’s difficult to travel

32

without a car, and no there’s no grazing land and also if you want sheep, now you have to

buy feed (alif), it’s very expensive” (unknown, interview by author, Dec. 2011).

According to Mohammed, his, along with other tribesmen’s destination for grazing was

the Ghour (Arabic for the Jordan River Valley), which now is the predominant

Agricultural area in Jordan (Mohammed, interview by author, Jan. 2012; USAID 2010).

Therefore his, along with other nomadic Bedouin’s grazing lands are no longer available

to them for their animals’ consumption. Indeed, much of the previous grazing land in

Jordan has been converted to Agricultural land, especially in the Ghour. There are

several factors that have led to increased agriculture, according to USAID, a leading

factor has been a law providing land ownership to anyone who brings land under

agricultural cultivation for 10 years.

“[T]he government instituted a policy in the 1960s that granted land ownership to any

individual who could prove continuous occupation or cultivation of the land for 10 years,

which led to a massive land grab by the Bedouin tribes and a huge expansion of farming

in the Highlands” (USAID 2012).

Although, this period of property allocation formally inserted borders dissecting

traditional grazing patterns some nomadic Bedouin tribes continued their routes

regardless (Skakker, interview by author, Dec. 2011; Mohammed, interview by author,

Dec. 2011). In conversations with locals, nomadic Bedouin’s restriction of access to

grazing land was a gradual process that was entangled with various other processes of

modernization, industrialization, and nation state construction. Rather than an abrupt

stoppage of nomadic lifestyle, evidence shows that it was actually a process that took

decades rather than years, and indeed, nomadic herding is practiced into the present,

although the percentage who continue to practice a nomadic husbandry lifestyle is a mere

fraction of the population (ibid 2012).

However slow the process of sedenterinization has been for nomads, it has been marked

by a transition of dependence from rainfall patterns, to the ability to buy feed for their

animals, access to vehicles, and fields to graze their animals.

33

Indeed, there are mixed feelings regarding ways of the past with the current day. Mr.

Shakker, who works at the RSCN Lodge as a receptionist, stated that his heritage comes

from the bini Shakker clan, which according to him was once one of the most powerful

Bedouin tribes in the region. While today he works for a monthly salary, from my

research there are many Bedouin who do not have access to wage labor like Mr. Shakker.

Many Bedouin now reside permanently around Azraq, and continue to live in tents.

Shakker explained that these Bedouin conduct a variety jobs; some continue to raise

livestock, others participate in agriculture, while many are dependent on government aid

(Skakker, interview by author, Dec. 2011. Jan. Feb. 2012). An IUCN survey of Azraq

reported that 3% of the population engages in animal husbandry, while 28% depend on

government work, and another 20% depend on aid programs (IUCN 2009). Accordingly,

Mr. Shakker reported that now many Bedouin travel from region to region in Jordan in

search for seasonal labor especially in the agricultural sector.

“Many of the Bedouin now are nomadic travelers for employment, they move from

community to community in search of a job for a few months. Now it’s time for harvest

olives, and there are some Bedouin families who come to Azraq to pick the olives in the

farms and then go on” (Shakker, interview by author, Dec. 2011. Jan. 2012).

For sure wage labor is a new concept for once nomadic Bedouin, while Shakker seems to

be accustomed to and a proponent of it, others lack his zeal. He pointed to the example

that in the 1970s the Jordanian government provided subsidized housing for the Bedouin

living in Azraq in hopes that they could be settled, however, he went on to say that many

had left the housing complexes for tents. “Those Bedouin were used living that way

[referring to tents], they didn’t understand why you should be in a house, when you can

be out in nature (...) they are used to it and they didn’t want to change it” (Shakker,

interview by author Dec. 2011).

5.4 Capital

34

Alon and Knowles also point out that due to sparse population of Jordan during

colonialism, and the difficulty of imposing a hierarchical imperialist system in the region,

the British employed a more inclusionary colonialism. “[T]he central government

allowed tribal groupings to retain a significant degree of autonomy in their internal

affairs” (Alon 2, 2007; Knowles 2005). While Alon refers to this as a lassie-faire

colonialism, I would point out that nevertheless, British colonialism was responsible for

systemic changes to the daily life of individuals who inhabited Jordan. What’s more,

these changes were built on the premise of imperialist ambitions.

One fundamental change for Transjordan, which the British administered, was to

demarcate land and distribute property rights. This was done in attempts to sedentarize

nomadic Bedouin, but also to encourage agricultural development (Fischbach 2000).

“British colonial land policy was based on two fundamental assumptions. The first was

that all land was owned by someone. The second was that land should be managed

efficiently in order to maximize its productive potential. (...) The British colonial

administrators took steps both to determine who owned the land and thence to encourage

the owner to utilize it to its fullest, British-determined productive capacity” (Fischbach

79, 2000).

Again here it becomes evident that nomadic pastoralism and the goals of colonial British

administration were at odds. Today in Azraq the process of land demarcation is an on

going process in which certain actors have been favored as opposed to others.

What’s more, to ensure loyalty, the British employed a system of providing local Sheiks

(leaders) with handsome salaries and prestigious titles in return for allegiance. A sort of

pyramid scheme emerged where British colonialism backed by their ability to expend

relatively large sums of money to receive a trickle down of loyalty (Alon 2007; Cole

2003). Interestingly this legacy has carried on into the contemporary political scene in

Jordan. Jordan is by all measures considered a rentier state (Muasher 3, 2011) meaning

the government receives most of its revenue from international donors rather than from

taxes. Marwan Muasher explains the currnet-day political realities of rentierism:

35

“Much research has been done on the creation of rentier and semi-rentier systems in the

Arab world, whereby the state relies on rents from such non- productive sources as oil or

external assistance. Such rents, however, are also specifically utilized to provide

privileges to the political elite in exchange for its loyalty. These groups, developed by

many Arab systems over decades, support the existing order because it occupies a

privileged position that would be compromised by merit-based systems, rather than ones

based on clientelism and patronage.” (Muasher 3, 2011)

Thus with this stated, it becomes more apparent that Jordan’s colonial legacy still

persists, and continues to affect political relations, and resource use. Knowles and

Tomaira argue that a political elite has built up around the inflow of foreign capital; this

capital has had various affects on Jordan in the past 50 years, and has lead to the

construction of roads and electrical lines, consolidated land, and brought it under

cultivation for various market oriented ventures (Tomaira 2008, Knowles 2005). With

this in mind, I also would point out that many of the estate-farms I visited in Azraq,

seemed to be holiday homes, hobby farms, and medium sized olive orchards rather than

market oriented businesses, nevertheless, this phenomenon is an expression of a

reorganization of resource usage. But more than that it also represents a new method by

which individuals acquire land and wealth. Again Tomaria points out, that while the

features of a rentier state do not necessarily represent the traditional sense of a neoliberal

market economy, the rentier state in the case of Jordan nevertheless has reorganized how

individuals conduct economic transactions (Tomaria 43-46, 2008).

5.5 The Changing life of Druze and Chechens

Although the three communities may have come from geographically distant places, their

methods for daily economy, custom, and life style began to intermingle, as well as with

the wetland itself.

Remoteness was one reason why the Druze and Chechens had arrived to Azraq. It was

far enough away from the dangers and threats that they had experienced in their previous

36

homes that there was at least a spatial barrier between them and the lives they once knew.

In addition to the remoteness of Azraq there was the obvious fact that Azraq was a desert

oasis, 27 km squared. This was an optimal location for settlement because there was the

basic provision necessary for life in abundance –water. The oasis was a resting point for

millions of migrating birds on their annual trip from Europe and Asia to North Africa

(RSCN 2012). The bird population, wild game animals such as Gazelle and Ibex, as well

as fish were present in the wetland and were used by the local communities for their daily

diet (RSCN 2010).

In addition to the native animals at the wetland the Chechens had brought water buffalo

with them to Azraq. According to RSCN as well as interviews with locals the water

buffalo intergraded into Azraq wetland feeding off the reeds, which grew along the banks

of the water, and the water buffalo were a source of yogurt, cheese, meat, and milk for

the Chechens (RSCN 2010; Othman, interview by author, Jan. 2012).

Likewise the Druze had also brought cattle to the wetland. Due to the great distances and

thus time needed to travel prior to the current infrastructure, venturing to a larger town

where provisions might be located was not an option for the Chechens and Druze. Self-

sufficiency was a priority and a necessity for survival. There were sufficient amounts of

alif, which are reeds along the banks of ponds the cows ate (Othman, interview by author,

Jan. 2012) and water for cattle to survive, therefore like the Chechens, the Druze also

began to produce their own cheese, yogurt, milk, and slaughter meat from the cattle they

raised. Indeed, the Chechens and Druze both raised animals for dietary purposes, which

provided them with a certain degree of self-sufficiency (Othman, interview by author,

Jan. 2012; Yeahyeah, interview by author, Feb. 2012).

In one interview, Othman, a Chechen man described the relationship his community had

with the Druze. The Chechen explained that the water buffalo give birth and thus nursed

their young at opposite times of the year than the Druze’s cattle would nurse their young.

A sort of exchange would take place, when the Chechen’s water buffalo were unable to

provide milk for production, because the milk would be necessary for the new born

buffalo, the Druze would provide Chechens with dairy products. Similarly, the Chechens

37

would provide the Druze with dairy products while their cattle were nursing, ultimately

ensuring that both communities had access to dairy products. The two communities

considered this a sort of exchange, no money was used for this process, rather products

were exchanged for similar products, yogurt for yogurt, cheese for cheese, etc. (Othman,

interview by author, Jan. 2012).

5.6 Agriculture Of Not

Prior to modernization arriving to the wetland neither the Druze nor the Chechens

practiced any organized commercial agriculture. Indeed, in the interviews I conducted

amongst the Druze community no one reported any farming activities prior to

modernization/development projects arriving in Azraq area. According to my informants

from the Druze community, farming was not practiced for a few reasons. Firstly, the soil

had never been under cultivation (at least in contemporary times), thus making the

process quite difficult to begin agriculture. Secondly, there was a lack of knowledge in

regard to agricultural practices; since the community was new to the area there was no

local experience in planting, soil quality, precipitation levels, or irrigation techniques.

Thirdly, there was a lack of technology such as irrigation tools and pipes, nor were there

plows or other agricultural equipment for tilling the soil. Fourthly, according to Um

Jadooh, a Druze elder with whom I spoke to various times: “people didn’t think of

farming because we had survived without it in the past so no one tried, and we didn’t

have anything to make agriculture, so we couldn’t”.

From my research I have noticed that staple vegetables in Azraq consist of tomatoes,

potatoes, eggplants, and zucchini, and cucumbers. The homes that I visited and the

individuals I spoke to told me that the majority of these staples are purchased rather than

grown in individual gardens. Interestingly, prior to the arrival of modern infrastructure,

such as roads, the Azraq communities did not have access to the same dietary options as

38

they do now; rather, they depended on a variety of edible plants that grew wild in the

wetland and surrounding desert. Um Jadooh an elder from the Druze community recalls:

“We never had tomatoes or zucchini or things like that, if they’d come, they’d come from

Amman or from Syria, but we never had them here, how could we bring those things? It

was too far to get them” (Um Jadooh, interview by author, Feb. 2012).

Instead of farming, my informants explained that there was a bountiful selection of plants

that grew wild in the desert. From interviews with elders, I compiled a list5 of 10

different plants growing wild, which all three communities said they had once gathered to

supplement their diets. One of the more common, called qtaf, was used for teas, but also

the leaves would be used as a salad. Likewise, houmaeth from the spinach family, was a

common dietary product found wild in the desert used for salads as well for various other

dishes.

Furthermore, Um Jadoo, recalled that a plant called shourfata, was also found growing

wild in the desert, and was used for its medicinal purposes. She recalled that they would

boil and strain it then drink the substance. “There was no other medicine, we used it for

all kinds of illnesses” (um jadoo, interview by author, Feb. 2012).

Radah, the daughter of Um Jadooh, recalled that rashad was a local plant that would grow

wild and was used as dietary supplement, which would come in the spring after the rains.

Although Radah reported that rashad was also planted and farmed in Syria, she recalled

they would gather the plant in its wild form rather than planting it in Azraq. Accordingly,

Radah stated that due to decreases in precipitation, rashad is in less supply in the wild

from the past (Radah, interview by author, Feb. 2012).

5.7 The Caravan and Salt Trade

5 The list of plants comes from Sallah and Um Jadooh, both from the Druze community, and Othman from the Chechen community. In the meeting with Sallah, there was a group of 4 locals who also contributed to the list and discussed the uses of the plants. While I do not have all the names of participants from the interview with Sallah, I do have transcripts.

39

The Druze also engaged in salt extraction from the oasis, which was one of the most

important economic activities prior to the 1990s. In the 1920s the British and the French

attempted to expel the Druze from Azraq shorty after the community took refuge in one

of the desert castles (Nouris’s uncle, interview by author, Jan. 2012). Some Druze

families fled to Saudi Arabia where they learned the practice of salt extraction ((Nouris’s

uncle, interview by author, Jan 2012). Later in the 1920s these Druze returned to Azraq

to begin salt extraction in the mud flat (Al-Qa’) surrounding the oasis.

However, as WWI ended, and British colonialism began to expand in Jordan, the first

cars began to appear in Azraq. Although, there were no roads to Azraq at this time,

Othman stated that cars began to make their way to Azraq to bring salt to Zarqa’ and

Amman to sell. Before the construction of roads to Azraq, Othman reported that it would

take 12 hours to arrive to Zarqa’ with a horse, or two days with an ox and carriage.

“Before the car it was very very difficult to get salt to Zarqa’ and Amman, but with the

car it made our life much easier” (Othman, interview by author, Feb. 2012).

Salt extraction became a major industry for the Druze, but also for the Chechens and

Bedouin alike. Before modern roads and cars, caravans coming from Syria on their way

South toward Saudi Arabia would stop in Azraq and trade salt for other provisions locals

would need such as wheat, sugar, and spices (Sallah & Othman, interviews by author Jan.

Feb. 2012).

“We depended on this caravan. It was very difficult to go to Zarqa’, because Zarqa’ was

a very small village. And no cars or special things to go to other towns. So we used to get

help from the Bedouin’s caravans, which came from northern Syria to Saudi Arabia,

they’d take table salt with them to sell it in Syria and Saudi Arabia then we’d get wheat,

and tea, and sugar when they pass Azraq, we’d take from them what we needed.”

(Othman, interview by author, Jan. 2012)

By the late 1960s roads and cars had transformed trade routes thus leading to

opportunities for the expansion of the salt market. In 1973 the Azraq Cooperative

40

Society was established, approximately 95% of Azraq’s residents were members of this

society, “which allowed an annual quota of 70 sacks for each member of the family, with

an additional 120 sacks for the head of the family6”.

By 1978 a fully industrialized salt production factory had been constructed. Members of

the Cooperative Society took loans from banks using land as collateral, while others

received small government grants and loans to pay for the construction of the factory

(Sallah, interview by author, Jan. 2012). What’s more, the Society supported the local

community by bringing in the first pharmacy and clinic.

“I remember when I was young I went to the Pharmacy that was established by the

society, and there was also a clinic with a doctor that would come every couple of weeks”

(Sallah group, interview by author, Jan. 2012).

The construction of the salt factory meant that production increased and Iraq was the

primary market for the increased production. An agreement was made between officials

of the salt factory and Iraqi businessmen to trade salt for petroleum, and the people I

spoke with said that this arrangement was beneficial for locals in Azraq because of the

lack of affordable alternative fuel sources. According to Salah access to affordable oil

had become more necessary because more people had begun to heat their homes with oil.

Oil was also necessary for the growing use of motorized industrial devices, such as water

pumps, electricity, generators, and cars (Sallah group, interview by author, Jan. 2012).

Due to the Cooperative Society’s dependence on exporting salt to Iraq the 1991 Gulf War

severely affected trade relations between Azraq and Iraq. However after the first Gulf

War had ended exports to Iraq began to increase again. Albeit with the second Gulf War

in 2003 exports to Iraq practically came to a halt, which severely affected Azraq’s

economy (Shaker, Salah, Salah’s friend, Husien, interviews by author, Jan. Feb. 2012).

Several people spoke of various other factors that led to the complete closure of the salt

factory. Community members mentioned the opening of a new salt factory by the

6Website: http://www.aaas.org/international/ehn/waterpop/jordan.htm Accessed April 2012.41

Jordanian Potash Company located next to the Dead Sea. A friend of Sallah stated that

this factory received beneficial treatment from the government because of political

connections, while others said that this new factory could produce salt that was of higher

grade thus allowing it to be exported to European markets, where as Azraq salt was not

certified for export to Europe thus restricting its market reach.

To summarize, the Druze depended heavily on salt extraction from the 1920s into the

early 2000s, first by trading salt with the caravans that passed through Azraq. Later as

roads, cars, and capital flowed into the community new methods of trading emerged. The

road and car allowed for trading with far off partners, namely Iraq. Also, as capital

became available by way of loans, the community’s ability to produce increased amounts

of salt was facilitated by the salt factory, which was established by the Cooperative

Society. However, these new forms of trade were vulnerable to external influences.

Chapter 6: Discussion of Findings

6. Discussion

How has development manifested in Azraq then? One method to viewing development is

to see it as a complex web of reality in which resource use and distribution have gone

through rapid transformations.

With the population of Jordan growing7 at 3% annually and urbanization leading to more

demand of water, the Jordanian government has seen Azraq as a source to quench the

thirst of these challenges. Communities of Azraq also suffer from scarcity of water, this

is expressed in the IUCN report which states that 15% of house hold income goes toward

paying for water consumption (IUCN 2010). For sure the idea of paying for domestic

water is a revolutionary concept for Azraq compared to the past.

While the Jordanian government provides 2 m3 of water free of charge to certain residents

who could prove that they had lived in Azraq for a given amount time, the amount of

7 Website: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/jordan_statistics.html. Accessed April 2012.42

individuals who receive this free water is extremely low. Perhaps the most significant

change this has brought is that community members need to have a source of income to

support the basic necessity of water consumption. Where as before the wetland was seen

as a body of water there for use without governmental distribution and thus without a

monetary fee, the infrastructure of pipes and pumps constructed by the government has

created a prerequisite of capital in order for individuals to utilize water resources in their

homes. Although, this is less the case for individuals who own estate-farms because of

the lack of governmental oversight and regulation of their farming activities.

The coming of pipes and pumps to Azraq has indeed meant a change in how community

members have interacted with water. While pipes have brought a great degree of

convenience to residents, it has also meant increased usage and increased waste.

Modernity has also meant an institutionalization of water resources in which the central

government has attempted to regulate access and control. Yet as the government has

sought to regulate water resources, it has failed to utilize the Azraq basin in a sustainable

manner, one in which the basin can recharge in a natural rate.

Instead, I have come to the conclusion that new social relations have been created with

the coming of new technologies and infrastructure. Capital has been used by wealthy

investors to purchase land and use Azraq’s water resources often times unregulated.

While the government sees Azraq as a national resource, wealthy actors are able to access

this resource at higher rates than others.

Interestingly, prior to the advent of modern infrastructure, proximity was a major

deciding factor to access. The Chechen, Druze, and Bedouin would interact directly with

the oasis by sending their cattle into the marshes to gaze, hunt at the wetland, or gather

plants from the surrounding area. Capital has allowed for individuals from outside the

community to directly impact the local ecosystem of that they are not a part of. This

scenario begs us to delve deeper into the question of accountability and resource usage.

I argue that it is helpful to view pipes and pumps as expressions of power/knowledge in

which knowledge systems are changed and thus altering resource usage and distribution.

43

As Agrawal speaks of environmentality as a concept that deploys a certain

power/knowledge guiding the individual to act in given ways within their environment;

physical knowledge, i.e. technology, i.e. pipe and pumps are embodiments of a

deployment of power/knowledge.

Thing-power then can be seen as the physical infrastructure i.e. pipes and pumps in

Azraq. These technologies have been the facilitators of transformation in which water

resources are able to travel great distances to urban populations. While pumps have

allowed for water abstraction and allocation to farms and homes alike. Physical

infrastructure has been a contributing factor to the ecological changes unfolding in Azraq.

Pipes and pumps are a web of connection in which the government of Jordan and

development organizations have deployed a system of governing, and shaping what it

means to live in Azraq. Connecting the two realms of the physical, and the social, I

contend, brings about a greater analysis; for if we place emphasis on the physical, on

pipes and pumps, we must also seek to understand the embedded power relations within

these technologies. Pipes are merely plastic or steel, but understanding the social-

economic powers that deployed these pipes helps to understand access and distribution to

water.

To explain further, while my research is not representative of the entire population of

Azraq, the experiences and observations that comprise my research indicate that

development has been more beneficial to some while marginalizing others. Working for

the RSCN for example provides opportunities and capital for a fraction of the population.

As well, the politics of rentierism have privileged some Bedouin tribes allocating them

capital and resources, while I noticed it has marginalized others.

For citizens of Azraq, relations of power have translated into a stratified populace in

which particular individuals in society can escape governmental oversight and regulation

either through bribes or governmental favoritism. This can be seen in regard to estate-

farms in the Azraq area, which are mostly owned by wealthy individuals living outside of

Azraq. As capital gradually became concentrated amongst an elite in the country, those

44

individuals were able to purchase land in Azraq and utilize water resources at exuberant

rates with little governmental oversight.

For the oasis that has been transformed into a wetland reserve, my research suggests that

people interact in a fundamentally different manner with it by altering the relationship

between the community and the wetland resources. My findings indicate that while

RSCN employees may receive relatively generous pay and benefits, the amount of jobs

created by RSCN is a mere fraction compared to the population. Where less than a

generation ago, the communities engaged directly with resources either by animal

husbandry, gathering of plants, or salt extraction, fundamentally I argue that households

and individuals underwent a process of consumer proletarianization. This process has

meant a loss of access to resources and an emphasis on wage labor in which certain

segments of Azraq are vulnerable to unemployment and thus dependent on governmental

welfare or further assistance by development organizations. What’s more, I have also

noted that local knowledge has been marginalized or rendered irrelevant. An expression

of this is made clear by looking at the RSCN’s goals of empowerment through

employment. While today employment is a benefit, questions remain of why wage labor

employment is preferred to past methods of livelihood.

Additionally some, like Mr. Shakker have taken to work in tourism at RSCN, but other

community members seem to be struggling between two realities, the traditional way of

living, nomadic herding, for example, has become increasingly difficult. Now, open

access to grazing land has become evermore scarce, leading most Bedouin to purchase

feed or rent land for grazing. Yet, not all Bedouin are equal. The legacy of colonialism

and modern-day clientalism or rentierism has provided privilege and a steady flow of

capital to many tribal leaders, leading to a consolidation of much land (Knowles 2005).

The tribes and individuals who are favored have gained access to resources and

knowledge that others lack, leading to major gaps in equity amongst the Bedouin.

Examining access to resources, the Bedouin have perhaps seen the largest change in

patterns of living from their nomadic past. Today individuals who identify as Bedouin

engage in various occupations in which few have access to capital, which is now a

45

prerequisite for animal husbandry, because of historical colonial legacies that favored

some powerful Bedouin tribes in exchange for loyalty to the government.

Another factor that has decreased the ability of nomadic Bedouin to continue their

journeys to pasture land has been the implementation of modern infrastructure. As

Bennett might say, things got in the way. These things, roads and the expansion of

agriculture fields, have given a new meaning for the land and thus for the people who

once traversed it. Serious questions of power are lacking in the decisions that have

brought about the radical changes to the lives of the Bedouin.

Development has also manifested in bringing more diversity to daily diets in which

individuals are more dependent on market oriented consumer products. Where as in the

past local residents would harvest wild plants, raise livestock, and produce dairy

products, current day residents depend highly on purchasing fruits and vegetables and

other foodstuffs for alimentation. This again can be seen as a process of consumer

proletarianization by which previous knowledge and skills have been lost or are unable to

be utilized because of a reorganization of resource access and distribution. While today’s

diet may be diversified, much of the basic foodstuffs in Azraq come along with a price

tag, thus requiring an income for families to eat. Consumer proletarianization shines a

critical eye on this process, namely because of a lack of jobs many residents have become

dependent on governmental welfare. This is apparent in the IUCN’s appraisal of

employment in Azraq, which states that 20% of the population relies on unemployment

aid (IUCN 2009).

As for the Salt industry, the mechanization of salt production by way of an industrial salt

factory gave way to expanding production for export. The deployment of roads and use

of vehicles allowed for increased opportunities for trade partners allowing for an

expanding accumulation of capital. However, the Salt Cooperative and members were

vulnerable to external factors that impacted trade relations and access to markets. The

growing debt from the factory and lack of opportunities for trade eventually led to the

closure of the factory.

46

Examining this process with the theoretical tool of scale, in the good times one could

argue that members of the Salt Cooperative benefited financially from increases in trade

which was facilitated by industrialization and modern infrastructure, while on the other

hand, powerful regional and international forces –the 1991 and 2002 Gulf Wars, as well

as the opening of a second salt factory next to the Dead Sea, were out of their control.

Cooperative members lacked positions of power, which could have allowed for

continuous salt trade with alternative partners. Using scale allows us to critically

examine power relationships, begging us to re-evaluate development, and whether market

oriented policies truly lead to the outcomes that serve the population at large.

Chapter 7: Conclusion

7. Conclusion

In conclusion, from my interviews and time spent in Azraq development has manifested

in a various degrees and manners. Modern infrastructure of pipes, pumps, and roads,

have meant a heightened standard of convenience in which water can flow into homes,

and consumer goods can enter Azraq with ease thanks to roads and motorized vehicles.

These conveniences are expressed in monetary terms, and are dependent on the continual

flow of capital, which comes most often from wage labor, something that is in short

supply in Azraq.

In this thesis I have endeavored to understand how development has manifested in Azraq.

I set out doing this by locating myself in the community and engaging with locals to

understand through a phenomenological perspective what development has meant. I also

strove to use political ecology as a framework to bring to light overlooked issues of

resource allocation, and environmental degradation.

I have concluded that development has manifested through information, technology, and

capital entering Azraq; while information, technology, and capital flowed into the

community, it also restructured how individuals live. A generation ago manual labor,

gathering plants, animal husbandry, dairy and meat production was the nexus of life.

47

Today, market orientation has trivialized traditional methods of living, and restructured

daily eating habits, which depend more on access to finance. Development, in its pursuit

to modernize the local has neglected to envision a scenario in which local knowledge has

value. While sustainable development literature has professed its goal of protecting

biodiversity, and local culture, these have become banal concepts in Azraq, overused

with few results.

Along with the conveniences of modernization have come sever environmental

degradation as well. The influx of technology and knowledge especially the expansion of

agricultural land has altered Azraq’s ecosystem in a much faster and more pronounced

manner than the communities’ local technologies/knowledge has done in previous

generations. These new technologies and knowledge reorganized methods of interaction

with resources and prioritized resource access for some while restricting others. Thus

shaping the individual to interact in certain ways with the ecosystem and ultimately

adopting new patterns of livelihood. Development’s objective is modernity, but so far

this has meant rapid environmental degradation, large amounts of inequality, and a re-

imagination of social-economic patterns.

The nonhuman phenomena: pipes, pumps, roads, and capital are objects that are wielded

by humans, understanding that these things co-shape our lives, that there are often

unforeseen consequences, when pipes for example, are deployed can help bring about a

more humble development. A development that sets equity ahead of market orientated

policies, but also gives legitimacy to local knowledge in that locals’ experiences with

their ecosystem can add to a holistic development.

As I look to further possible research in the field of development and political ecology, I

turn to Escobar and a question he has asked about development, he asks: “Whose

knowledge counts? And what does this have to do with place, culture, and power”

(Escobar 4, 2008)? As the flow of global knowledge has infiltrated Azraq and

restructured its reality, it has been as much about the access to global knowledge as it has

been about whose knowledge is considered valuable.

48

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