From the Publisher
“The borderland of Egypt and Libya has been explored by four generations of anthropologists who produced among them some of the most innovative ethnographies. Thomas Hüsken thus stands on the shoulders of giants, but has also gained his own honourable position in this elite. After twenty years of living in and writing about the region, he has now produced a study for our times. His account is thick and rich, and brings out the Bedouins’ complex political and economic conditions. In eloquent and unaffected language he also addresses the challenges of fieldwork in difficult times.” (Emanuel Marx, Author of the book Bedouin of Mount Sinai)
“Thomas Hüsken’s admirably rich study of the Libya-Egyptian borderlands operates at multiple levels. It affords a highly textured account of the inner workings of tribe and kinship politics and the manner in which the latter mediates cross-border dynamics. It also delivers a fascinating exposé of the manner in which state authority has been constituted differently by virtue of the mutual embeddedness of state actors with tribal authority on the two sides of the line. The practical organization of smuggling through kinship associations, and the moral ambiguities surrounding the trade, make an especially valuable contribution to the field.” (Paul Nugent, Professor, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
“In recent years, particularly since the Arab spring, the notion of "tribalism" has made a remarkable comeback. However, many discussions of the phenomenon in political sciences and other fields are based on mistaken assumptions about tribal modes of organization that are basically rooted in evolutionary thinking. With its rich ethnographic data on tribal politics, based on long-term fieldwork under difficult conditions in the Egyptian/Libyan border region the book offers a welcome and necessary counterweight to such conceptions. This book is scholarship of the highest level. It is theoretically innovative and essential for anyone interested in regional politics after the collapse of the Libyan state. It is relevant for anthropology, political science, cultural geography, sociology and related disciplines. With its critique of euro-centric assumptions about post-colonial statehood it is also highly relevant for political decision makers.” (Wolfgang Kraus, Professor, University of Vienna, Austria)
