Nation-building and communities in Oman since 1970: The Swahili-speaking Omani in search of identity

African Affairs

Volumn 106, Issue 424, 2007, Pages 479-496

  Valeri, Marc ^a  

^a UNIVERSITÉ DE LA ROCHELLE   (France)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ETHNIC GROUP; IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION; MODERNIZATION; NATIONAL IDENTITY; STATE BUILDING;

AFRICA; ASIA; EAST AFRICA; EURASIA; MIDDLE EAST; OMAN; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; TANZANIA; ZANZIBAR ISLAND;

EID: 34547902176     PISSN: 00019909     EISSN: 14682621     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adm020     Document Type: Article

References (56)

1. John Peterson, Oman in the Twentieth Century: Political foundations of an emerging state (Croom Helm, London, 1978).
2. Marc Valeri, Le sultanat d'Oman: Une révolution en trompe-l'oeil (Karthala, Paris, 2007 forthcoming).
3. Introduced by Ibn Khaldûn, the notion of 'asabiyya, usually translated by 'group feeling' or 'esprit de corps', is understood as populations tied by blood links or behaviours, acting as a group or defining themselves as such, and most of the time - but not necessarily - organized to achieve common goals (like taking positions of power). See Ibn Khaldûn, The Muqaddimah: An introduction to history, chapter 2 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1980).
4. Clifford Geertz, 'The integrative revolution. Primordial sentiments and civil politics in the new states', in Clifford Geertz (ed.), Old Societies and New States: The quest for modernity in Asia and Africa (Free Press of Glencoe, London, 1963), pp. 105-57.
5. Dale Eickelman, The Middle East and Central Asia: An anthropological approach, 4th edn. (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, 2002), pp. 131-2.
6. Frederick Bailey, Stratagems and Spoils: A social anthropology of politics (Blackwell, Oxford, 1969);
7. Jean-François Médard, 'L'Etat patrimonialisé', Politique africaine, 39 (September 1990), pp. 25-36.
8. For the whole paper, as the actors themselves do in the three languages (Arabic, English and French), the vocabulary of 'return' will be used to account for the settling process in Oman, from the 1960s until now, of individuals and families who claim Omani ancestry and who previously lived in East Africa. Yet, this lexique dealing with the 'return to the native country' only partially covers the facts, as most of them had personally never set foot in Oman before their 'come back'. Nevertheless, we keep this explicit vocabulary which witnesses both their will to appear distinct from the African societies (especially their former slaves) where they lived for decades and the complexity of their symbolic ties with Oman since their re-settlement on this territory.
9. John Middleton, The World of the Swahili: An African mercantile civilization (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1992).
10. Mark Horton and John Middleton, The Swahili: The social landscape of a mercantile society (Blackwell, Oxford, 2000);
11. Derek Nurse and Thomas Spear, The Swahili: Reconstructing the history and language of an African society (University of Philadelphia Press, Philadelphia, 1985);
12. Thomas Spear, 'Early Swahili history reconsidered', The International Journal of African Historical Studies 33, 2 (2000), pp. 257-90.
13. Bradford G. Martin, 'Arab migrations to East Africa in medieval times', The International Journal of African Historical Studies 7, 3 (1974), pp. 367-90;
14. John Middleton, 'The immigrant communities (3): The Arabs of the East African coast', in Donald A. Low and Alison Smith (eds), History of East Africa, vol. III (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1976), pp.489-507.
15. This phenomenon took a special dimension under the rule of the Omani Sultanate of Zanzibar: See Jonathon Glassman, Feasts and Riot: Revelry, rebellion, and popular consciousness on the Swahili coast, 1856-1888 (James Currey, London, 1995).
16. Frederick Cooper, Plantation slavery on the east coast of Africa (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1977);
17. Glassman, Feasts and Riot;
18. Mohammed Reda Bhacker, Trade and Empire in Muscat and Zanzibar: Roots of British domination (Routledge, London, 1992);
19. Abdul Sheriff and Ed Ferguson (eds), Zanzibar under colonial rule (James Currey, London, 1991).
20. Edward A. Alpers, Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa: Changing patterns of international trade to the late nineteenth century (Heinemann, London, 1975);
21. Cooper, Plantation slavery on the east coast of Africa;
22. Abdul Sheriff, Slaves, spices and ivory in Zanzibar (James Currey, London, 1987).
23. Norman Bennett, A history of the Arab State of Zanzibar (Methuen, London, 1978), p. 85 et seq.;
24. Cooper, Plantation slavery on the east coast of Africa.
25. Colette Le Cour Grandmaison, 'Rich cousins, poor cousins: Hidden stratification among the Omani Arabs in eastern Africa', Africa 59, 2 (1989), p. 178.
26. If the loaded term 'Manga' has borne various meanings since the 17th century, in the 20th century it referred to the most recent Arabic-speaking immigrants of Omani origins who enjoyed lower status than the Omani who had settled several generations before and who considered themselves at the same time as an Arab aristocracy and as an integral part of the Swahili society.
27. Marriages between Omani men and African women were so frequent that in Oman nowadays the Arabic word khal ('maternal uncle'), used in a derisive way, designates an Omani who lived in Africa. In that sense, khal indirectly refers to the notion of externality, as opposed to 'amm, the paternal uncle.
28. Le Cour Grandmaison, 'Rich cousins, poor cousins'.
29. Different identity feelings usually coexisted. Many considered themselves at the same time 'Omani', 'Arab', 'Zanzibari' and 'Swahili'.
30. Horton and Middleton, The Swahili, p. 186.
31. See also Cooper, From Slaves to Squatters: Plantation labor and agriculture in Zanzibar and coastal Kenya, 1890-1925 (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1980).
32. Michael Lofchic, Zanzibar: Background to revolution (Oxford University Press, London, 1965).
33. John Peterson, 'Oman's diverse society: Northern Oman', Middle East Journal 58, 1 (2004), p. 46.
34. Ibid.
35. The decree n.1/72 established that the child whose father was Omani would automatically get Omani nationality, but also the child whose mother was Omani and the father unknown, and the descendent of an Omani who had never had another nationality. The latter case applied directly to the Omani who lived in Africa before 1970, as, most of the time, the decolonized states did not bestow citizenship rights on them.
36. John Townsend, Oman: The making of a modern state (Croom Helm, London, 1977), p. 127.
37. These figures are estimates based on fieldwork in Oman, since the official documents never mention figures dealing with religion and tribal or ethnic groups.
38. To give a comprehensive name to all the Omani who moved back from Africa is rather problematic, as there is no official or widely accepted term in the Sultanate at the moment. As a consequence, in the following pages, the neutral 'Swahili-speaking Omani' will be used most of the time, together with 'back-from-Africa Omani'. Even if the term 'Swahili' is unambiguous in Oman, its use here might bring some confusion with the Swahili populations of East Africa themselves. As for the word 'Zanzibari', it appears too restrictive, even though it is used widely in the Anglophone literature on Oman.
39. Throughout the 19th century, Sultan Sa'id had chosen Baluchi contingents in order to assert his control on the East African coast.
40. Mandana Limbert, Of Ties and Time: Sociality, gender and modernity in an Omani town (University of Michigan, unpublished PhD dissertation, 2002), p. 263.
41. Interview, Muscat, 23 May 2003.
42. Most of the Ibadi scholars of the early 20th century were renowned for their knowledge in 'secret sciences' ('ilm al-sirr): See Valerie Hoffman, 'The articulation of Ibadi identity in modern Oman and Zanzibar', The Muslim World, 94, 2 (2004), pp. 201-216.
43. Al-Shabiba (Muscat), 6 May 2003.
44. Interview, Muscat, 8 January 2003.
45. Interview, Muscat, 29 January 2003.
46. Interview, Nizwa, 27 May 2003.
47. Muscat waited until 2005 to establish official diplomatic relations with Tanzania, since the latter's 'African socialism' ideology served as a foil to Oman.
48. 'Nearly 1,300 stateless residents to get UAE citizenship', Agence France-Presse, 28 December 2006.
49. 'Back Cover: Letter from Muscat' available at http://meionline.com/ backcover/print256.shtml (11 February 2005).
50. Marc Valeri, 'Le sultanat d'Oman en quête d'un second souffle', Les études du CERI, 122 (December 2005), pp. 1-35.
51. Interview, Muscat, 30 May 2003.
52. Interview, Muscat, 9 June 2003.
53. Interview, Ibra, 2 June 2003.
54. Interview, Muscat, 9 June 2003.
55. Interview, Muscat, 9 June 2003.
56. Olivier Roy, 'Patronage and solidarity groups: Survival or reformation?' in Ghassan Salamé (ed.), Democracy Without Democrats? The renewal of politics in the Muslim world (I. B. Tauris, London, 1994, pp. 270-81.