Seasonal Knowledge And The Almanac Tradition In The Arab Gulf

This book is the first in English to survey indigenous knowledge of seasonal, astronomical, and agricultural information in Arab Gulf almanacs. It provides an extensive analysis of the traditional information available, based on local almanacs, Arabic texts and poetry by Gulf individuals, ethnographic interviews, and online forums. A major feature of the book is tracing the history of terms and concepts in the local seasonal knowledge of the Gulf, including an important genre about weather stars, stemming back to the ninth century CE. Also covered are pearl diving, fishing, seafaring, and pastoral activities. This book will be of interest to scholars who study the entire Arab region, since much of the lore was shared and continues through the present. It will also be of value to scholars who work on the Indian Ocean and Red Sea Trade Network, as well as the history of folk astronomy in the Arab World. Daniel Martin Varisco is an anthropologist and historian with research experience in Yemen, Egypt and the Arab Gulf. He has written about Arabic folk astronomy and astrology, traditional agriculture and the history of the Arab almanac. He is currently President of the American Institute for Yemeni Studies.

This book is the first in English to survey indigenous knowledge of seasonal, astronomical, and agricultural information in Arab Gulf almanacs. It provides an extensive analysis of the traditional information available, based on local almanacs, Arabic texts and poetry by Gulf individuals, ethnographic interviews, and online forums. A major feature of the book is tracing the history of terms and concepts in the local seasonal knowledge of the Gulf, including an important genre about weather stars, stemming back to the ninth century CE. Also covered are pearl diving, fishing, seafaring, and pastoral activities. This book will be of interest to scholars who study the entire Arab region, since much of the lore was shared and continues through the present. It will also be of value to scholars who work on the Indian Ocean and Red Sea Trade Network, as well as the history of folk astronomy in the Arab World.

This substantial collection of papers on indigenous astronomical knowledge is quite unequalled in its scope and extent. The authors are drawn from a variety of academic disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, engineering, art history, history of science, history of religion, folklore, and mythology, and bring a variety of academic perspectives to bear upon aspects of celestial knowledge and perception in diverse social contexts from many different parts of the globe. The Americas provide the main geographical focus, with twenty of the 32 papers concerning indigenous north American groups such as the Navajo, Lakota, Zuni and Blackfoot, the Mixe and Tzotzil Maya of southern Mexico, the Andean highlands and the Amazonian region of Peru, and southern coastal Brazil. The remaining twelve articles extend to the Arab world, sub-Saharan Africa, southern India, Java, Melanesia, Australia and Polynesia, with a few addressing broader synthetic themes. For a number of the culture areas dealt with in some detail here, other published information about sky knowledge is extremely scant.

This history of astronomy in Egypt reveals how modern science came to play an authoritative role in Islamic religious practice.

The region of Najd in Central Arabia has always been regarded as inaccessible, ringed by a belt of sand deserts, the Nafūd, Dahana and the Rub’ al-Khāli and often with its population at odds with the rulers of the outer settled lands. It is however the centre of a purely Arabian culture based on a partnership between bedouin camel husbandry and settled palm cultivation. Possibly as a result of overpopulation the bedouin have periodically spread over into the lands of the Fertile Crescent. Because of their isolated position the Najdi dialect is of a very interesting and archaic type showing very little non-Arabic influence, which has led to the reputation of the Arabian bedouin as preservers of the original Classical form and considerable prestige being attached to the Najdi type. Consequently the region is a powerhouse of dialect influence so that Najdi based dialects are spoken all along the Gulf Coast and throughout most of the Syrian Desert. Interest in these dialects has led to a number of recent studies of their oral literature and of the morphology and phonology. Ingham's work concentrates on the grammatical system, syntax and usage and is based on a number of trips to the region over the last fifteen years. The data base includes bedouin oral narrative, ordinary conversation and radio plays.

This fourth edition of the Rice Almanac continues the tradition of the first three editions by showcasing rice as the most important staple food in the world and all that is involved in maintaining rice production. It also breaks new ground in its coverage of issues related to rice production, both environmental--including climate change--and its importance for food security and the global economy. It also further expands coverage of the world’s rice production area by featuring 80 rice-producing countries around the world.

"This volume is the first critical edition of a medieval almanac from the Arabian Peninsula. It presents the Arabic text, an English translation, and a detailed analysis of a thirteenth-century agricultural almanac (dated by internal evidence to A.H. 670-71/A.D. 1271) compiled by the Yemeni sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Umar ibn Yusuf, the third sultan of the Rasulid dynasty (13th-15th cent.). This almanac comprises one chapter of al-Ashraf's scientific treatise Kitab al-Tabsira fi ilm al-nujum (Instruction in the science of astronomy and astrology). Al-Ashraf's is the earliest and most detailed of eight extant Rasulid almanacs." "The almanac as a literary and scientific genre in Arab tradition has received little scholarly attention, although hundreds of manuscripts exist. This study of almanac information draws the reader across the arbitrary boundaries of disciplines into the full array of medieval science and esoterica. Al-Ashraf's almanac contains information on astronomy, astrology, time-keeping, meteorology, plants and animals, agriculture (including tax periods), health, and navigation not only for Yemen but for other parts of the medieval world as well. It is the earliest source to document the dates of the Indian Ocean sailing periods to and from the port of Aden. The almanac provides a view of a medieval trading network extending from North Africa and southern Europe to the Indian Ocean and China." "Information in the almanac is derived from both the general Islamic almanac tradition and ethnographic knowledge of local practice and folklore. Although the almanac is not meant to be a descriptive record of the agricultural cycle, for example, it is obvious that most of the information is based on observation of actual practices and on knowledge of folklore. Details of the Yemeni agricultural cycle, primarily for the coastal region and the southern highlands, are extremely valuable and supplement discussions in extant Rasulid agricultural and tax treatises." "Varisco's extensive commentary explains how the terminology and concepts of al-Ashraf's text are related to those of earlier and contemporaneous scientific texts throughout the Islamic world and uses his own ethnographic research on Yemeni rural economy and folklore to enhance his interpretation of the almanac. One of the rewarding aspects of studying the Yemeni almanacs is that many of the agricultural activities mentioned can still be observed and documented. The study of a medieval almanac as part of a living tradition can be accomplished in Yemen better perhaps than anywhere else in the Arab world. The older generation still retains much of the accumulated agricultural and environmental lore from scores of previous generations. Not only would it be impossible to understand some of the almanac terminology without knowledge of present-day Yemeni dialects, but ethnographic study of traditional agriculture and folk science, despite changes over time, helps in the interpretation of old written sources." "Because al-Ashraf's almanac addresses a wide range of subjects, readers from diverse disciplines will find this volume of value. Not only will it be a basic reference for anyone interested in Yemen, both ancient and modern, but it has much to offer scholars of medieval economy, science, and technology. Varisco's textual approach of combining historical and contextual analysis with ethnographic fieldwork further enhances the appeal and value of this study."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved