Summary: Groups variously labeled as nomadic and tribal formed an integral part of Ottoman society, but because their communities exercises a wide degree of autonomy, they are often represented as somehow separate or "other" to urban and settled populations. However, social history of these communities reveal that tribes and their members were involved in the continual transformation of Ottoman society not just as a force of resistance or hapless victims of state policies but also as participants. In this podcast, Nora Barakat deals with the social history of such communities, which appear in the court records of Salt (in modern Jordan) as "tent-dwellers," and their place in the complex legal sphere of the Tanzimat era in which both shar`ia law courts as well as new nizamiye courts served as forums for legal action.
