Arabian Oasis City: The Transformation of 'Unayzah (CMES Modern Middle East Series) Paperback – July 1, 1989

The media images of Saudi Arabia concentrate on camels, dunes, huge crowds of pilgrims at Mecca and Madinah, and large installations dedicated to the oil industry. Outsiders see almost nothing of Saudi life (though we hear a lot about women not being able to drive, chopping of heads etc.) Without much tourism, without films that tell about life there, without any Saudi neighbors (I've met one Saudi in my entire life and that was 45 years ago), a book like ARABIAN OASIS CITY can provide a major change in the way you view the country. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the area that would become Saudi Arabia still moved in traditional ways. It had never been much part of the larger empires that rose and fell in the Middle East. The appearance of the kingdom that became known as "Saudi Arabia" (in the 1920s) meant a gradual changing of the society and economy. Up to the 1930s and the beginning of oil production, change proceeded slowly. The two anthropologist-authors here interviewed many people (in the 1980s) who could remember those times very well. Through their memories, plus the straightforward writing of the authors, who do not embellish their text with jargon or footnotes, a picture emerges of a very stable society devoted to agriculture, animal husbandry, and trade. Farmers raised wheat and 30 kinds of dates on land that they owned or leased (some leases ran even to 500 years, surely one for the Guiness Book of Records !) Many craftsmen practised their trades and men drove herds of animals up to Syria or Palestine for sale. Both women and men sold produce and various craft items in the bazaar. Women also worked on farms as laborers. A network of trading/merchant families lived in many parts of the Arab world and even in India, expediting business for the people back home in `Unayzah, the central Saudi city that is the focus of this study. We look at family patterns, levels of indebtedness, and the market as a center of social and political interaction. "For a very long time and until not too long ago, `Unayzah had a complex economic structure and its population had a high degree of occupational specialization. It was a center tied into various networks that operated locally, regionally, and at an international level." (p.81) Having established what once existed, the authors spend the rest of the book telling what happened as Saudi Arabia transformed itself thanks to the flow of oil money that became a flood after the oil price rise of the 1970s. We may say that five major changes occured. They investigate each thoroughly---secular education, new technology and new infrastructure, salaried employment especially in the government, the arrival of a vast, cheap workforce of expatriate laborers, and a cash economy. These affected family life, friendship patterns, male-female relations, daily behavior, expectations of the future, and attitudes towards nearly everything, especially work. The sub-title given to the book, "the transformation of `Unayzah" is thus very accurate. The research was done by a man and a woman working in tandem but separately in accordance with Saudi mores. The result is satisfying if you are looking for a descriptive work on how Saudi society has changed over the years. There is little or no theoretical content, little relating to the vast body of anthropological research that has gone on over the years. Some books err in having too much theory and not enough content. Not this one. The authors make a vague nod in the direction of theory with a discussion of a "rentier" model gleaned from several works, but only in the last ten pages. Frankly, it seems to be tacked on to what othewise is a solid descriptive work. They want to make the point that the present avoidance of manual labor by large parts of the Saudi work force is a function of the economic conditions prevailing since the `boom' of the 1970s and not something that is traditional in any way. I would say in conclusion that this book must be read by anyone who is concerned with Saudi Arabia or the changing societies of the Middle East. And, I think, that should include nearly everyone !

This book reports on a study the 2 authors did in Unayzah, a mid-size city in central Saudi Arabia. The study was particularly well planned in that the authors, an American man and a Saudi woman, were able to combine the views of both outsiders and insiders, men and women into a single seamless whole. Through interviews with local people, the authors present a history of the development of Unayzah from an agricultural and market center before oil wealth to the city it is today. They describe the early transport industry and the work women did in agriculture and the market as well as the longstanding importance of education in this city. They also describe the tremendous changes that have taken place since oil wealth, particularly with the importation of foreign labor and the construction of modern housing in new areas. Early in the book, the authors suggest that they will make a distinction between "transformation" of economy/society and "development". As the book unfolds, they do not focus on arguing for this distinction explicitly, although many facts gradually build to support their case. Descriptions of changes in family life in Unayzah present some interesting comparisons of the pros and cons of abandoning or adapting tradition in favor of "modern" customs. This book is a must for anyone who would like to learn more about modern Saudi society.