article

Hamula organisation and Masha'a tenure in Palestine

Man (N.S.)21 (2)Published In 1986 • Pages: 271-295

By: Atran, Scott.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Based on historical sources, the author examines the Palestinian land tenure system (MASHA'A) and assesses its vulnerability to outside interference and land dispossession. The MASHA'A was a system of communal land tenure in which land was redistributed every one to five years, depending on region, in order to share risk among cultivators. Atran discusses cultivation practices and the social composition of the villages. In the second part of the article, he focuses his attention on the history of two hill villages and shows the close 'organic' relationship between village social organization and agrarian regime. He argues against claims that this system was unproductive and susceptible to land alienation.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Real property
Acquisition and relinquishment of property
Avuncular and nepotic relatives
Clans
Community structure
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Palestinians
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2005
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Middle East
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Middle East
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard ; 2004
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1840-1944
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Israel and Occupied Territories
NotesAdditional notes
Scott Atran
Includes bibliographical references (p. 292-295)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
sf 80000548
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Palestinian Arabs