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

by Richard Tapper

• ISBN13: 9780521583367
• ISBN10: 0521583365
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-09-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Richard Tapper’s book, which is based on three decades of ethnographic fieldwork and extensive documentary research, traces the political and social history of the Shahsevan, one of the major nomadic peoples of Iran. The story is a dramatic one, recounting the mythical origins of the tribes, their unification as a confederacy, and their decline under the Pahlavi Shahs. The book is intended as a contribution to three different debates. The first concerns the riddle of Shahsevan origins, while another considers how far changes in tribal social and political formations are a function of relations with states. The third discusses how different constructions of the identity of a particular people determine their view of the past. In this way, the book promises not only to make a major contribution to the history and anthropology of the Middle East and Central Asia, but also to theoretical debates in both disciplines.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	viii	(2)
Preface	x	(3)
Acknowledgments	xiii	(2)
Note on transliteration	xv	(1)
Glossary	xvi
1 Writing tribal history	1	(34)
Anthropology, history and `tribes'	1	(4)
`Tribe' in anthropology and the Middle East	5	(5)
The tribes of Iran: classifications and comparisons	10	(8)
Historians and the tribes: the problem of extrapolation	18	(6)
The Shahsevan	24	(3)
A note on sources	27	(8)
PART I The Safavid state and the origins of the Shahsevan	35	(58)
2 `Shahsevani': Safavid tribal policy and practice	39	(19)
Background: Azarbaijan and the early Safavids	39	(4)
The Qizibash tribes	43	(4)
Shahsevani: Safavid military and tribal policies	47	(4)
Malcolm's version	51	(7)
3 Shahsevan traditions	58	(14)
The `noble' tribes: nineteenth-century traditions	58	(4)
Later `noble' traditions	62	(5)
Traditions of the other tribes	67	(5)
4 Moghan and Ardabil in Safavid times	72	(21)
The tribal and nomadic population of the region	73	(11)
Shahsevan nomads in Moghan	84	(9)
PART II The rise of the Shahsevan confederacy	93	(54)
5 Badr Khan Sari-Khan-Beyli	95	(16)
Ardabil and Moghan under Russian and Ottoman occupation	95	(8)
Nader Shah in Ardabil and Moghan	103	(8)
6 Nazar `Ali Khan Shahsevan of Ardabil	111	(18)
The Khanates of Azarbaijan after Nader Shah	111	(7)
Qara-Dagh and Kazem Khan	113	(1)
Qura-Bagh and Panah Khan	114	(1)
Qobbeh and Fath `Ali Khan	115	(1)
Ardabil, Moghan and the Shahsevan	115	(2)
Sarab and the Shaqaqi	117	(1)
The rise of the Qajars	118	(6)
Gilan and Hedayatollah Khan	119	(1)
Agha Mohammad Qajar in Transcaucasia	120	(3)
The Shaqaqi debacle	123	(1)
The successors of Nazar `Ali Khan Shahsevan	124	(5)
7 The Shahsevan tribal confederacy	129	(18)
Organization of the early Shahsevan	129	(8)
Formation of the Shahsevan confederacy	137	(3)
Consolidation and fission of the confederacy	140	(7)
PART III The Shahsevan tribes in the Great Game	147	(70)
8 The Russian wars and the loss of Moghan	149	(20)
The Russian conquest of eastern Transcaucasia	149	(3)
The first Russo-Iranian war	152	(7)
The second Russo-Iranian war	159	(7)
The aftermath of the wars	166	(3)
9 The Shahsevan nomads in the mid-nineteenth century	169	(21)
Economic conditions in the region	169	(5)
Pastoral economy and society	174	(5)
The Shahsevan chiefs	179	(7)
Shahsevan tribal organization	186	(4)
10 Nomads and commissars in Moghan	190	(27)
The troubles begin	190	(5)
An attempt at settlement	195	(9)
The Russians increase the pressure	204	(5)
The closure of the frontier	209	(8)
PART IV The end of the tribal confederacy	217	(132)
11 Pastures new: the effects of the frontier closure	221	(27)
Azarbaijan at the end of the nineteenth century	221	(3)
Pastures and production	224	(8)
Markets	232	(2)
Settlement	234	(3)
Changes in Shahsevan tribal organization	237	(5)
Banditry	242	(6)
12 The Shahsevan, the Constitution, the Great War and after	248	(35)
Azarbaijan and the tribes up to the Constitutional Revolution	248	(4)
The Belasovar affair	252	(2)
The Tribal Union and the sack of Ardabil	254	(5)
Yeprem Khan's defeat of the Shahsevan	259	(3)
Shahsevan versus Cossacks: the 1912 campaign	262	(7)
The Shahsevan during the Great War	269	(4)
Inter-tribal relations in the time of the khans	273	(5)
The rise of Reza Khan: the end of the Shahsevan revolt	278	(5)
13 Settlement and detribalization	283	(32)
Reza Shah and the tribes	283	(1)
The first years of peace among the Shahsevan	284	(4)
Compulsory settlement	288	(6)
After Reza Shah: Soviet occupation and the Democrats, 1941-6	294	(4)
Developments from 1946 to 1966	298	(4)
The twilight of the chiefs	302	(7)
Postscript: 1966-95	309	(6)
14 Conclusion: Shahsevan identity and history	315	(34)
On ethnicity and identity	315	(2)
The Shahsevan confederacy: contested origins and political change	317	(17)
From royalists to bandits	318	(9)
From tribalism to feudalism	327	(3)
From patriotism to pastoralism	330	(4)
The Shahsevan tribes: cultural identity and historical continuity	334	(9)
Concluding remarks: tribes and states	343	(6)
Appendices	349	(40)
1 The Shahsevan of Kharaqan and Khamseh	349	(7)
2 Lists and histories of Shahsevan tribes	356	(19)
3 Some Shahsevan voices	375	(14)
Bibliography	389	(23)
Index of topics	412	(5)
Index of places, peoples, persons, dynasties, parties, companies	417	(8)
Index of authors quoted or discussed	425	(2)
Index of tribal names	427