YEMEN ETHNOGRAPHY
Dr. Najwa Adra
Najwa trying unsuccessfully to churn butter, with friend. Photo: Daniel Varisco, 1978
Dr. Najwa Adra has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Yemen,
beginning with 18 months of research in 1978-79. She conducted additional academic
research in 1983 and 2005, and field research connected to consulting assignments
in 1984-1986 and 2001-2003.. Her research topics include: the anthropology
of dance, tribal identity and customary law, the impacts of television on
a rural community, women’s oral poetry, reproductive
health, and women’s roles in agriculture. For details on lectures, conference
presentations and reviews, please click academic cv.
Below are selected articles and papers on the ethnography of Yemen.
For those available in pdf format, click on the title to download pdf.
(Some of these were scanned horizontally, so if necessary, please rotate view
or adjust “page setup” before printing.)
Tribal Identity and Customary Law
2011
Tribal Mediation in Yemen and its Implications to Development. In AAS Working Papers in Social Anthropology, Volume 19. Austrian Academy of Sciences.
2006
The Gulf and Yemen Law: Customary. Yemen. In The Encyclopedia of
Women and Islamic Cultures. Suad Josepth, ed. Volume II:418-419. Leiden:
Brill.
1998
Dance and Glance: Visualizing Tribal Identity
in Highland Yemen. Visual Anthropology, 11:55-102.
l993
Tribal Dancing and Yemeni Nationalism: Steps to Unity.
Revue du Monde Musulmane et de la Méditerranée, 67(1):l6l-l68.
Translated into Arabic in, Al-Yaman Kama Yarah al-Akhar. L. Taminian
and A. al-Auj, eds. Pp. 327-338. Sanaa: American Institute for Yemeni Studies
(1997).
1985
The Tribal Concept in the Central Highlands of the Yemen Arab
Republic. In Arab Society: Social Science Perspectives. N.S.
Hopkins and S. E. Ibrahim, eds. Pp. 275-285. Cairo: The American University
of Cairo Press.
1983
Qabyala: The Tribal Concept in the Central Highlands of the Yemen Arab Republic.
Doctoral Dissertation in Anthropology, Temple University. University Microfilms
International.
The Impacts of Television and Social
Change
1996
The ‘Other’ as Viewer: Reception of Western
and Arab Televised Representations in Rural Yemen. In The Construction
of the Viewer: Media Ethnography and the Anthropology of Audiences. P.
I. Crawford and S. B. Hafsteinsson, eds. Pp. 255-269. Højbjerg: Intervention
Press.
1984
Affluence and the Concept of the Tribe in the Central Highlands of the
Yemen Arab Republic (co-authored with Daniel Martin Varisco). In Affluence
and Cultural Survival, R. F. Salisbury and E. Tooker, eds. Pp. 134-149.
Washington, DC: The American Ethnological Society.
Women’s Oral Poetry
2008
Oral Poetry, Women’s Empowerment and Literacy
in Yemen. Unpublished paper presented at the panel, The Diversity
of Yemeni Poetry. Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association. Washington,
DC, November 23, 2008.
2004
Literacy Through Poetry: A Pilot Project for Women
in the Republic of Yemen. Women’s Studies Quarterly,
32(1&2):226-243.
Gender
See also "Women's Oral Poetry" above
2008
Invited participant. UNIFEM/UNDP/Gender at Work initiative
on Gender and Democratic Governance in Development, New York, NY, December
11, 12. Contributed to A
User’s Guide to Measuring Gender-Sensitive Basic Service Delivery
2006-2007
Articles for The Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures.
Suad Joseph, ed. Leiden: Brill:
The Gulf and Yemen Law: Customary. Yemen. Volume II:418-419, 2006.
Body: Female. Yemen. Volume III:47-48, 2006.
Economics: Agricultural Labor. Yemen. Volume IV:136-137, 2007.
Economics: Land Reform. Yemen. Volume IV:215, 2007.
1986
Situation Analysis - Women. UNICEF, Sanaa, Yemen Arab Republic
(with Bilqis al-Dabbi). Includes, Bibliography of Women and Children in YAR,
and an annex, The Situation of Children in YAR.
1983
Local Perceptions of Breastfeeding, Fertility and Infant Care in Al-Ahjur,
Yemen Arab Republic. Report prepared for the Population Council, Cairo,
Egypt.
1983
The Impact of Emigration on Women’s Roles in Agriculture in the
Yemen Arab Republic. Report prepared for FAO, Rome.
For further information please
contact:
Dr. Najwa Adra
22 High Pine, Glen Cove, NY 11542,
USA
1-516-676-9157
najwa.adra@gmail.com