Rwala Bedouin

By William Young

Variant spellings in western sources: Rwalah, Ruwalla, Rualla. The ethnonym is a collective plural in Arabic. An individual man belonging to this society is called a Rweili, Rweli or Ruweili.

The Rwala are Arabic-speaking nomadic pastoralists who live mainly in southeastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. They graze their livestock on the rocky plateaus there that are lightly covered with grass and shrubs during the rainy seasons. They speak Arabic and refer to themselves as baduw, that is, people of the bādiya,] or "desert." For the Rwala this word means more than "Bedouin" or "nomad." It designates a quasi-genealogical category. All baduw are believed to be descended from a common but unknown Arab ancestor and "share blood," whether or not they all raise livestock in desert pastures. A Rweili who abandons pastoralism nevertheless remains baduw if he maintains ancestral traditions and genealogies and continues to forge marriage alliances with other baduw families.

For at least the past 250 years the Rwala have migrated seasonally across a large grazing territory that is roughly bounded on the west by Wādi Sirħān, an arid, 200 mile-long depression which straddles the international border between Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Their territory is bounded on the south by the Nafūd desert, which is a barrier to pastoral migration because it lacks drinking water. The northern extent of their migrations was determined less by ecological than by social and political conditions. They moved northwards during summer toward Damascus and, at times, as far as Homs, when their relations with settled populations and the rulers of northern Syria were good. The eastern boundary of this territory ran roughly parallel to the Iraqi border, extending south towards the town of Sakāka (in Saudi Arabia). In some years, however, various segments of the Rwala would migrate farther east, sometimes as far as Karbalā in Iraq. Their "grazing territory" ( dīra) did not have sharp boundaries and the Rwala never claimed exclusive grazing rights to this large area. They allowed other tribes to exploit it as long as they did not interfere with the Rwala's own grazing needs. Their relationship to land has been altered by the creation of nation-states in the 20th century and the establishment national boundaries across their customary migration routes. Rather than curtailing their movements, national boundaries have changed their economic motivations. They continue to migrate but not just for livestock raising. Since 1970 they have made more money from commerce and wage labor than from pastoralism.

Lancaster estimated that in 1978 there were between 250,000 and 500,000 Rwala, of whom most were living inside Saudi Arabia. There is no census of their highly mobile population.

The Rwala speak a Central Najdi dialect of Arabic that is very similar to the dialect of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Some features of their dialect, however, are also characteristic of the North Najdi variety spoken in and around the northern Arabian town of Hāyil (Ingham 1995).

The Rwala have various origin legends. Some say that they originated near the town of al-Wajh on the Red Sea and moved eastwards into Najd (central Saudi Arabia); others say that their ancestors moved southwestwards from Iraq into the desert to escape the oppression of the rulers near Baghdad. At any rate, they had reached the southern portion of their current territory by the late 18th century (Lancaster 1981:127). Their genealogies begin with the biblical figure Ishmael (Arabic: Ismā`īl) and link them to the other Bedouin groups of Arabia, especially the other members of the `Aniza confederation who also live in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The Rwala distinguish themselves from non-Bedouin groups in the region who farm or raise sheep and goats (rather than camels). Such neighbors are called "villagers" ( garāwne) if they stay constantly in fixed housing and "shepherds" ( ra`iyya) if they combine farming with livestock rearing and spend a few months out of the year in tents, migrating for short distances with their animals. The Rwala do not marry these "non-Bedouin." Members of a third social category, the šwāya or "herders", are classified as Bedouin and are marriageable; however, because they specialize in small stock rather than camels they cannot migrate for long distances. More importantly, prior to the introduction of the automobile they could not use riding camels for warfare or raiding, and this made them politically dependent on large tribes of camel pastoralists such as the Rwala, Fad`ān, and Huweitāt. Until the 1920s such small dependent groups paid protection money, or khūwa, to the Rwala. Those Rwala who collected khūwa from a dependent group were obliged to protect it from raids launched by other Bedouin; if they failed to do so, they had to compensate the dependent group for its losses.

In the 1980s many Rwala were granted plots of land in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, on which they built cinderblock housing. But such groups of houses did not become completely permanent settlements. Sedentary households have kept their tents and camel herds and use them for pastoral migrations for at least part of the year. Fully migratory households live in nomadic camps that vary in size according to the season. During the rainy season, when migratory households can obtain water from rain pools and are free to disperse in search of pasture, the camping unit ( farīg consists of ten tents or less. After the rains slacken and migratory movements are made less often, some ten to thirty tents may collect near a water source, forming a larger unit called a naja`. During the dry season a much larger camping unit ( nazal) of from thirty to three thousand tents is formed around a well (Lancaster 1981: 8, 10, 14; Musil 1928: 77).

In addition to pastoral production and trade, an important economic activity during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century was livestock raiding. Raids re-distributed surplus camels from livestock-rich tribes to livestock-poor tribes. Until the introduction of the repeating rifle, in the late nineteenth century, raiding was not especially bloody. After 1900, however, fatalities due to raiding greatly increased, while at the same time the economic value of camels as beasts of burden decreased. Cars became more useful for transport than camels; hence the economic motive for livestock raiding declined. Raiding acquired a much more political character and Rweili fighters became involved in the struggle for control of what became Saudi Arabia. When the Saudi state was established, raiding was discouraged and, by 1935, abolished. It had already lost its economic dimension.

From 1912 to 1932, Saudi Arabia adopted a policy of settling nomads and distributed land to Rweili families. Since these lands were sparsely watered and poorly drained, they were not very good for agriculture. Most Rwala made little effort to cultivate them and put their efforts into transporting and marketing sheep. Many men also sought jobs with the Saudi National Guard.

Up until the 1920s the Rwala produced milk, leather, and meat from their camel herds. A small number also raised sheep and goats. Hair from livestock was also spun into yarn and woven into cloth. In addition, some Rwala also owned date groves in the towns of Khaibar (in the Hijāz/western Saudi Arabia) and al-Jawf (northern Saudi Arabia). Their date groves were cultivated by slaves or peasant share-croppers, however; the Rwala themselves had no training in agriculture. They obtained the bulk of their diet - grain - from nearby sedentary cultivators. In the 1960s camel herds were sharply reduced in size by drought, overgrazing of pastures, and disease, and for this reason many Rwala reduced their subsistence production. However, many Rwala still keep small camel herds, which they continued to milk until at least 1981.

In the 1970s some Rwala obtained low-interest loans in the 1970s from the Saudi government - which began encouraging agriculture at that time - and started small farms, but these were barely viable from an economic viewpoint. Many also worked as livestock merchants, trucking in sheep from Syria and Turkey and feeding them locally until they fattened and could bring a good price in Saudi or Jordanian markets.

As late as the 1970s, women were expert weavers and leather workers. They spun yarn out of goat's hair or camel's wool and wove cloth by hand on horizontal looms. The hand-made cloth was used for making saddle bags and rugs. Women would also tan camel's hide, sheep skins and goat skins; the leather was used for making large water and food containers. The Rwala also made buckets and portable drinking troughs for livestock out of leather. Men carved a variety of implements - tent poles, mortars, trays, serving dishes - out of wood.

Prior to the introduction of the automobile, in the 1920s, the Rwala rented their camels to travelers in the area and, in addition to providing transport, served as guides and guards. They also sold leather, meat, and other pastoral products in local markets and obtained dates, grain, cloth, and manufactured goods from sedentary merchants. Subsidies given to leading sheikhly families by the Ottomans during the 19th century were invested in the livestock trade, in which less wealthy families also participated. Some luxury consumption of manufactured goods was financed by the extraction of khūwa payments from towns and dependent tribes. Political leaders would distribute food and gifts to their supporters and peers in order to persuade them to refrain from raiding the towns under Rweili protection. After raiding lost its economic significance and the collection of khūwa was prohibited by the governments of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, in the 1930s, this political dimension of Rweili trade disappeared.

Prior to the 1960s the principal division of labor was between women's work (cooking, child care, and the provision of shelter) and men's work (care and herding of large livestock, providing security, and engaging in raids against enemy groups). Each married woman was in charge of a tent (Musil 1928:49). The tent was made of large panels of goat's hair cloth woven by semi-sedentary livestock breeders, who sold the tent cloth to the Rwala. Women household members would sew these panels together and erect the tent, which was at least 12 meters long and 4 meters wide. The work involved in striking and erecting the tent was exhausting during the migratory season, when the household moved frequently. While the women guided the burden camels from an old camp to a new camp, some of the men would herd the other livestock in the desired direction. Other men would ride ahead searching for pasture and keeping a lookout for enemy riders who might raid them and seize their camels. Men had to know how to break young camels to the saddle, brand them, treat their diseases, and butcher them. Both sexes carried water when necessary; women would carry small water containers themselves after filling them at nearby wells or rain pools. When water sources were distant, men would fill larger water skins at wells and bring them back to camp on camel back.

Prior to 1970 most Rwala did not own land. A small number of politically prominent families - especially the Sha`lān family - were granted land in Syria by the Ottoman authorities in 1902 and so became large landowners. In exchange for this gift they were required to collect taxes from their fellow tribesmen, which they did with varying degrees of success for about twenty years. After WWI the French colonial government in Syria confirmed their holdings, but when a Ba`thist government took power in the 1960s it confiscated most of the Sha`lān family's land. In the 1980s some Rwala owned agricultural and residential land in Jordan and Saudi Arabia that was granted to them by these governments. Land is not a primary source of income, however, and there is no complex or developed system of land tenure.

Like all societies, the Rwala recognize kinship by descent, kinship by marriage, and ritual/fictive kinship. A ritual kinship tie is created when two otherwise unrelated babies nurse from the same woman. This "milk siblingship" creates an incest taboo, so the two may not marry when they become adults.

The Rwala claim patrilineal descent from a common male ancestor. There is no agreement about his name but all agree about the general structure of the overarching genealogy that contains the Rwala "tribe" ( `ashīra). The node in the genealogy that joins the Rwala with other patrilineal descent groups is marked by the eponym "Rweili." This genealogy links the Rwala to the Swālme, Wald `Ali, Shajā`a, `Abdalla, Hassana, and Masālikh tribes, all of whom belong to the larger Jlās tribal bloc ( gabīla). The Jlās, in turn, belong to the wider `Aniza confederacy, which also includes the large `Amārāt, Fad`ān, and Sbā`a tribes gabāyil. Jurally, the genealogy is the basis of a classic segmentary system. Each named descent group is responsible for the behavior of its members, and if a group member is attacked his close kin mobilize to protect him or seek revenge for his murder.

Within the "tribe" ( `ashīra) there are "sections" ( fukhūdh). These are in turn sub-divided into "minimal sections" which are identified by the names of eponymous ancestors. A minimal section has a genealogical depth of about five generations; it's members are described as "father's brothers' sons" ( awlād `amm). The members of an individual's minimal descent section must be consulted when the individual decides to marry. A woman from the minimal descent section cannot be given in marriage to an outsider without the consent of her awlād `amm. When such exogamous marriages occur they often are arranged in order to establish or continue an alliance between two minimal sections. If a group member attacks an outsider and is found guilty by a tribal mediation process, the entire minimal section must pay a fine to the injured party.

Kinship terms among the Rwala, like those of all other Arabic speakers, are of the "Sudanese" type. Terms for cross cousins and parallel cousins are distinct. Relatives through the mother are distinguished from relatives through the father. Terms for affines do not consistently distinguish between generations; a man may refer to his wife's kin as arħām, literally "wombs" - i.e. "the people who have given us a woman/womb."

Patrilineal descent group endogamy is frequent. Although one stated ideal is for a man to marry his father's brother's daughter, in practice this is not common; most marriages are between more distantly related patrilines. Women marry between the ages of fifteen and twenty, while men are usually between twenty and twenty five. One reason for the age difference is that the costs of the marriage must be paid by the groom and his family. Men often have to wait for marriage until they have saved the money needed for marriage payments.

Marriage costs consist of two different payments: Siyāg or "marriage price" and jihāz or "gift to the bride." The marriage price is theoretically given to the bride's parents. Part of it, called ba`īr il-kū` "the camel of the elbow," is the price of a male camel given to the bride's mother in compensation for her mother's milk when the mother nursed the bride during infancy. (The Rwala say that the mother leaned on her elbow as she lay on one side to nurse her child; cf. Musil 1928:139-140.) A huge marriage price is often demanded but in practice the groom pays only a little of it. Requesting a large marriage price is a symbolic statement about the high social standing of the bride and her family, not an actual requirement for marriage. It can also be used to discourage an unwelcome suitor. The bride's parents do not refuse him directly but simply ask for a marriage price that they think he cannot pay. The "gift to the bride," on the other hand, is always paid. It consists of jewelry, the cloth for the bride's tent or, for wealthy sedentary families, the actual house itself, all of which becomes the bride's personal property.

As Muslims, the Rwala permit polygyny. A married man's co-wives have the right to equal shares of his time and property. Each should have her own tent, although if they are married to a poor husband he may not have the means to provide them with separate tents. Divorce is permitted, and divorced people can remarry without stigma. As Muslims, men have the right of unilateral divorce. A Rweili woman, however, can also initiate a divorce by leaving her tent to take up residence in a parent's or sibling's tent and refusing to return. The husband, who depends completely on his wife for cooking, child care, and shelter, may feel compelled to address her grievances. If he does not, he feels mounting social pressure to either reconcile with her or divorce her.

Marriages are frequently arranged. One reason is that individuals do not have much opportunity to search for and chose their own spouses because of the separation of the sexes. Another reason is that the choice of a marriage partner has social consequences for the individual's natal family; they require him to obtain their consent or else forgo their financial and social support. A spouse must have a good reputation, and his/her family should be part of the suitor's social network so that a good evaluation of the family's assets and behaviors can be made before marriage negotiations start. Differences in wealth alone are no barriers to marriage, but differences in reputation are. Also, the Rwala refuse to marry people who are not baduw, i.e. "Bedouin."

The smallest domestic unit is the household, that is, the group of people inhabiting a single tent ( beit). At a minimum it consists of a young married man and his wife; unmarried people do not have dwellings of their own. A new household is created during the marriage ritual, when a separate tent is erected outside of the bridegroom's parents' tent for the newlyweds. They only use this small, ritual tent ( ħijra) for sleeping, however; during the day the bride joins the women in the groom's parents' tent, while the groom sits with the men. After the wedding the groom buys the goat's-hair cloth that his new wife needs for constructing a tent of their own. Residence is virilocal; the newlyweds pitch their new tent next to that of the husband's parents (Musil 1928:49, 61, 228-229).

As Sunni Muslims, the Rwala say that they apply the inheritance regulations that are stipulated by Islamic law. According to Islamic law, when a man dies his property is divided into shares, with a daughter receiving a share that is half that of a son's share and a wife commonly receiving one-sixth of the inheritance or less, depending on whether her deceased husband has siblings, on whether his parents are still alive, and on how many children he had. In actual practice these calculations can be complex and require some guidance from literate religious experts. We do not know to what extent the Rwala actually apply Islamic law. In many Muslim societies women are frequently persuaded to forgo their shares of an inheritance in exchange for continued social and economic support of their brothers. Whether the Rwala actually apply the Islamic regulations is difficult to judge.

The Rwala strive for good personal reputations, stressing the values of generosity, bravery, autonomy, stoicism, modest dress, and separation of the sexes. Children are trained at an early age to give away food and belongings when requested, to inculcate generosity. They are also allowed to make key personal decisions (about education, work, and marriage) during adolescence, without being overruled by the parents; autonomy, even from parents, is encouraged. Babies are left to feed themselves from a common bowl by the age of two, so that they learn to care for themselves early in life. Physical punishment is very rare; instead, disobedient children are fiercely teased until they behave correctly. Women and girls do not cover their faces but only wear a long kerchief that covers their hair, necks, and throats.

Among themselves, the Rwala insist on an ethic of social and political equality. No Rweili willingly submits to the authority of another Rweili, which means that leaders must rely on their powers of persuasion and generosity in order to influence the behavior of their "followers." However, this egalitarian ideology is situated in the context of a regional hierarchy, according to which people of "slave" origin and other social categories lack the "honor" that "noble" Bedouin families have. The lowest ranking groups were called Suluba in the 19th century; they specialized in hunting wild game, tracking lost animals, and scouting for pasture. Each Sulubi family would attach itself to a Bedouin camp and perform these services in exchange for protection. The Suluba had no camels of their own but migrated on donkeys and herded small stock. "Slaves" were usually the descendants of Africans who had been imported from the east coast of Sudan and Ethiopia. They were attached to the households of wealthy Rweili leaders and worked as servants during feasts and other public occasions. Each Rweili camp also had a retinue of blacksmiths ( Sunnā`) who would shoe horses, repair rifles, and do other metal work. They would be paid for their work in kind and so could accumulate camel herds; this did not mean, however, that they could defend themselves from raiders. Finally, a number of "despised" ( huteim) tribes lived in the area who were not large enough to raid other camel pastoralists and who paid khūwa to the Rwala in exchange for protection. After raiding and slavery were suppressed, these exchanges of services for protection ended. However, the stratified social categories and groups remain; Rwala will not marry members of these social categories. Representatives of such categories are still found in most Rweili camps.

The leader of a nomadic camp is called kabīr il-gawm "the senior man of the group." (Note: in Rweili Arabic the /k/ in this expression is affricated; the first term is actually pronounced tsebīr.) People choose to camp around him because he has demonstrated skill in conflict resolution. He helps the households in camp by organizing access to drinking water and giving each herd a turn at the well. Also, he sometimes mediates between the camp residents and government officials. In the 19th century a camp leader would also lead raiding parties against other camps to seize their livestock or take revenge on a group that had attacked a camp member. He had no coercive power, however.

The Rwala have always been able to escape a coercive environment by fleeing into the desert. They could avoid dealing with landlords or employers by sustaining themselves through subsistence pastoral production. Thus they remained outside the coercive political institutions of states and did not develop such institutions on their own. Also, there was no stable economic hierarchy prior to the 19th century, since wealth consisted mainly of livestock and since herds could grow and decline unpredictably due to drought and overcrowding of pastures. Thus no leader could compel anyone to do as he wished, and no criminal could be punished unless an entire descent group was injured by his actions and sought revenge by attacking his kinsmen. Leadership consisted of the ability to attract followers by generously distributing food and gifts and by serving as voluntary mediators in conflict resolution. In the 19th century some leading personalities attracted the attention of the surrounding states and were appointed as "sheikhs." They were able to obtain government subsidies by offering to mediate between the nomads and the state bureaucrats and tax collectors. But even these prominent ("sheikhly") families could not coerce the tribesmen.

In the 19th century a higher political office - that of amīr (commander) - developed, largely out of the need for a military commander who could organize resistance to outside armies on occasion. The amīr had no coercive power but could represent the tribe to the Syrian, Jordanian, Saudi, and Iraqi governments. In the 1980s the amīr resided in Damascus, even though the bulk of his tribe was in Saudi Arabia, because he could preserve his autonomy by keeping his distance from Riyadh.

At the level of the household and camp, the main sanctions on deviant behavior are ridicule, shaming, and withdrawal of social support. The latter sanction, especially, is persuasive, since the individual depends on his family for protection in the rural zones where the Rwala live, far from police stations. One type of behavior, however, can be punished by death: adultery. A husband whose wife has an extra-marital affair has the right to kill her and her lover; her family cannot seek compensation or revenge for her death. At the broader level of relations between camps and between descent groups, there is no "rule of law." Instead, each descent group mobilizes to take revenge on law-breakers (notably livestock thieves, felons and murderers). This has the potential to trigger a long-term feud between descent groups, especially if a revenge attack leads to deaths. For this reason, neutral parties are quick to offer their services in mediating and resolving the conflict.

Since 1800 the Rwala have engaged in occasional battles with outside armies. Wahhabi (Saudi) armies attacked a body of Rweli fighters in 1809 and shortly afterward Ottoman troops from Baghdad attacked them. In both cases the Rwala were victorious. The Ottoman governor of Damascus also sent a fellow Bedouin tribe, the Hasana, against the Rwala in the early 1800s to collect taxes, but the Rwala repelled them.

The Rwala are Sunni Muslims. They observe the five pillars of Islam (declaration of faith, daily worship, almsgiving, fasting Ramadān, and pilgrimage).

Like most other Sunnis, the Rwala do not have a clergy or full-time religious specialists. Those who are literate in Arabic sometimes lead group prayers. Each individual is responsible for his own religious practice (prayer, fasting Ramadān, and pilgrimage). They consider circumcision for boys to be an Islamic obligation. But they don't have religious specialists associated with this rite of passage.

The Rwala celebrate the two central Islamic holidays: the holiday of sacrifice ( `īd al-adħa) and the holiday of breaking fast ( `īd al-fitr) which ends the month of fasting during Ramadan. Other than these religious holidays, the main ceremonies are: boys' circumcisions, weddings, and funerals. Of these, circumcisions were traditionally the most public and most elaborate.

Musil (1928:244-46) reports that, in 1908, circumcision ceremonies lasted three days. On the first day the girls from the boy's camp would decorate his parent's tent with ostrich feathers and ribbons and make high-pitched, trilling joy-cries ( zaghārīt) to call attention to the event. At sunset the young people would assemble in front of the tent to dance. An unmarried young woman, face veiled, would face a line of young male dancers, brandishing a sword. The male dancers sang to her, keeping time with their stomping feet. (Exactly the same dance was performed for weddings - but not for circumcisions - among the Bedouin of Jordan, to the west of the Rwala.) On the next night the dancing was repeated, and on the morning of the third day a camel was sacrificed in front of the tent so that the celebrants would have meat to eat. During the sacrifice the married women of the camp would give joy-cries; then they prepared the meal. A great deal of food was cooked and served to camp residents. After dinner the father would take the boy on his lap and circumcise him. Female onlookers gave joy-cries to drown out his crying. At the same time, young men mounted their horses and acted out a mock battle in front of the tent, to show that the circumcised boy was a warrior among warriors. After the boy had calmed down, he was given presents, some quite expensive. In the evening the unmarried girls of the camp formed two lines in front of the tent, where they sang and danced.

In the early 20th century, weddings lasted for only one night and a day. The groom and his immediate family would go to the camp of the bride and deliver a camel, which was then slaughtered to provide meat for the evening meal. Only a small number of the bride's neighbors shared in it, however. Next, the bride's female relatives and neighbors would pitch a small tent for the groom and, under the cover of darkness, bring the bride to his tent, where the marriage was consummated. On the next morning the bride received a gift from her father-in-law and moved her personal belongings into her husband's parents' tent, thus becoming a member of a new household. Her husband then presented her with the household furnishings that she needed. She did not cook for him for seven days after the wedding, however. On the morning of the seventh day she prepared a meal for him. This signified her economic separation from her parents' household. After this she would construct her own tent to establish an independent household.

All of this changed, starting in about 1965 (cf. Lancaster 1981:52). Circumcision became a private, family affair, and the singing, dancing, and expensive feasting that formerly characterized it was transferred to weddings, which became public events like those in other Arab communities. One explanation may be that the Rwala became more enmeshed in social relationships with sedentary Arabic speakers during the 1960s and faced more social pressure than before to make their wedding celebrations conform more closely to non-Rweili norms. Their low-key, "private" weddings had been a feature of their culture that had set them off from their neighbors. Apparently they no longer wanted to maintain such a high degree of distinctiveness and exclusivity.

The primary arts among the Rwala are decorative and poetic. Decoration was probably more important prior to the twentieth century, when all clothing, cooking implements, containers, and tents were made by hand. During pastoral migrations the women would ride in brightly colored litters, gitab, to which were attached 15-foot-long "wings" made of poles. Women decorated these winged litters with colored tassels and white shells that could be seen from a distance. Women also wove distinctive patterns into the cloth bags and covers for cushions that were kept inside the tent. The decorative patterns in clothing, furnishings, saddles, and camel litters varied from one branch of the tribe to the next and so could be used to identify the owners as members of particular descent groups. Most household furnishings and clothes are now purchased but Rweili women still make yarn decorations for some things, including cars. Poetry is composed and recited by both men and women. Men pride themselves at their ability to memorize long odes and recite them in public, when recounting the history of the tribe and the battles of its most famous fighters.

Some women specialize in herbal medicine and also know how to set broken bones, deal with gunshot wounds and treat snakebite. Some men use herbal medicine on livestock and know how to diagnose and treat some animal illnesses.

Beliefs in the afterlife do not differ significantly from general Sunni Muslim beliefs.

Ingham, Bruce, 1995. "Texts in the Dialect of the Rwalah of Northern Arabia." Pp. 121-140 in Tapani Harviainen and Harry Halen, eds., Dialectologia Arabica- A Collection of articles in Honour of the Sixtieth Birthday of Professor Heikki Palva. Helsinki: Societas Orientalis Fennica.

Lancaster, William, 1981. The Rwala Bedouin Today. London: Cambridge University Press.

Lancaster, William and Fidelity Lancaster, 1986. "The Concept of Territory among the Rwala Bedouin." Nomadic Peoples 20:41-48.

Musil, Alois, 1928. The Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins. Published under the patronage of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts and of Charles R. Crane. New York: American Geographical Society of New York.

This culture summary was written by William Young in June 2007.