by Gisela Vogler (Author)
An exploration of the way of life of the Nomads of Dhofar and the changes since Oman's Renaissance. Dhofar's Nomads bridges two images of Oman: the one passed to us through the renowned travelogues of Wilfrid Thesiger and his fe ted fellow explorers of the Arabian Peninsula in the 20th century, and the less familair version of the same story as expressed by the Omani population who lived through this period. This other side of the coin is locked in an oral tradition that has not yet found sufficient expression in Western descriptions. This is the account of a nomad boy whose life story mirrors the rapid social and economical changes experienced by almost all of the pastoral people of Oman. Mussallem's personal account maps the tensions and challenges encountered by the nomadic population of Dhofar as it went through a process of rapid modernisation during the Omani Renaissance. Spell-binding and informative throughout, with surprises and twists for even the most experienced student of Oman's history, this charming story is essential reading for an understanding of Oman today.
Author Biography
Gisela Vogler- Fiesser is a German art historian and physicist by academic background, and has been visiting Salalah, Oman, regularly since 2013. Her interest in anthropology and the study of heritage and tradition has resulted in publications ranging from a trilingual rendition of a well-known Gaelic poem Eilean Na h-Oige / Island of Youth in 1985 through to her most recent book, A Harris Way of Life (2002), following the work of Marion Campbell, the Harris Tweed weaver who did so much to preserve the Hebridean craft into the modern age.