Interpreting the nomad: An analysis of Lois Beck's Nomad book

Throughout history, nomads have been portrayed in the works of travellers, colonialists, missionaries and academicians. However, both the conflict between nomads and settlers and their contradictory lifestyles led to a misinterpretation of the nomadic peoples in the aforementioned works. At present, works on the research and interpretation of nomads have been assigned to the field of social sciences. Yet, the social scientists' perception towards the phenomenon of nomadism seems to be as misleading as the authors mentioned above. Accordingly, this study purports that rather than focusing on the phenomenon of nomadism itself, it is necessary to question how nomadic people have been depicted and perceived by others. Therefore, in this thesis, Lois Beck's field research in Iran on the Qashqa'i Qermezi nomads has been analyzed as the source for this study. Moreover, the work of Julia Huang, Lois Beck's daughter, on the Qashqa'i Qermezi Nomads has been scrutinized as a comparative framework for this analysis. Hence, in the first chapter of this study information about the Qashqa'i people's historical, social, political and economic features has been taken into account. Likewise, In the second chapter, Beck's Nomad book has been summarized. In the third chapter, it has been presented an analysis of how otherization through time has turned into academic works as a discursive practice. In the last chapter, Lois Beck's "Nomads" and Julia Huang's "Tribeswomen of Iran: Weaving Memories Among Qashqa'i Nomads" books have been analyzed with regard to Iran's social, political and historical conjunctures. Moreover, in this section it has been investigated whether internal leadership dispute between members of the Qashqa'i Qermezi tribe existed like Beck had claimed. To conclude, this thesis proposes that the way that the nomadic peoples were perceived and interpreted through history is as important as the study of the phenomenon of nomadism itself. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to the field of social sciences and humanities a new perspective in order to comprehend how nomadism has been portrayed and interpreted in modern historiography. Key words: Qashqa'i, Qermezi, Nomad, Nomadism, Iran