“I am a child but I am a Bedouin, I go to school but I am a Bedouin”: Learning to Be a Bedouin in a Contemporary World

This essay focuses on how the formation and experience of Bedouinism are tied to maintaining traditional values and confronting concerns of modernity and how Bedouin culture is expressed through gendered activities. I give space to children’s voices as an avenue for understanding the cultural components of the adult world. Children’s activities provide a valuable lens through which cultural identity is represented and transmitted throughout generations. Engaging in play and storytelling, as well as performing daily tasks and rituals, are imbued with cultural significance that mirrors the values, norms, and social frameworks of the community. Specifically, I show how school, which are relatively marginal to children’s cultural identity, provides a space for girls to play with gender.