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Foodways in Southern Oman examines the objects, practices and beliefs relating to producing, obtaining, cooking, eating and disposing of food in the Dhofar region of southern Oman. The chapters consider food preparation, who makes what kind of food, and how and when meals are eaten. Marielle Risse connects what is consumed to themes such as land usage, gender, age, purity, privacy and generosity. She also discusses how foodways are related to issues of morality, safety, religion and tourism. The volume is a result of 14 years of collecting data and insights in Dhofar, covering topics such as catching fish, herding camels, growing fruits, designing kitchens, cooking meals and setting leftovers out for animals. It will be of interest to scholars from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, food studies, Middle Eastern studies and Islamic studies.
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This book explores how houses are created, maintained and conceptualized in southern Oman. Based on long-term research in the Dhofar region, it draws on anthropology, sociology, urban studies and architectural history. The chapters consider physical and functional aspects, including regulations governing land use, factors in siting houses, architectural styles and norms for interior and exterior decorating. The volume also reflects on cultural expectations regarding how and when rooms are used and issues such as safety, privacy, social connectedness and ease of movement. Houses and residential areas are situated within the fabric of towns, comparison is made with housing in other countries in the Arabian peninsula, and consideration is given to notions of the 'Islamic city' and the 'Islamic house'. The book is valuable reading for scholars interested in the Middle East and the built environment.
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MARIELLE RISSE (Salalah) introduced us to Oman, a country in the Indian Ocean world that was never under foreign control. It is also the only country on the Arabic peninsula that gets monsoonal rains. Risse focused on the two expeditions of the brig Palinurus, which took place in the 1830s and 1850s and were the first explorations by English speakers to the southern coast of Oman, around Dhofar. The expeditions had the goal of investigating whether the Omani coast and hinterlands could be of use to the British government. They also wanted to buy the island Socotra from the Sultan in order to use it for steamship traffic between India and Britain. The surviving accounts of the expedition shed light on the local peoples; they spoke three different languages but left no written records. Risse was able to trace indigenous knowledge through oral history traditions, which were approximately 150 years old by the time they were written down in around 1850. These records reveal that much more water was available at the time, indicating that climate change is already significantly affecting Oman.
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I know that a travel writer, excited about a culture that is new to them, might not want to go into all these kinds of details. But when the writer was in Dhofar, they saw dozens, if not hundreds, …
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