Poetry and Politics in Contemporary Bedouin Society

This book shows how colloquial Bedouin poetry remains a vibrant art that has manifold modern functions: commenting on world affairs (such as the Arab-Israeli wars, the Gulf War, the American invasion of Iraq); criticising the domestic policies of Arab states; and, highlighting poverty, discrimination, the corrupt practices of officialdom, and compliant local media. Each of the forty-one poems presented within this book is transliterated and translated into English verse, with historical and cont