Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgments; Note on transliteration; Glossary; 1. Writing tribal history; Part I. The Safavid State and the Origins of the Shahsevan: 2. 'Shahsevani': Safavid tribal policy and practice; 3. Shahsevan traditions; 4. Moghan and Ardabil in Safavid times; Part II. The Rise of the Shahsevan Confederacy: 5. Badr Khan Sari-Khan-Beyli; 6. Nazar 'Ali Khan Shahsevan of Ardabil; 7. The Shahsevan tribal confederacy; Part III. The Shahsevan Tribes in the Great Game: 8. The Russian wars and the loss of Moghan; 9. The Shahsevan nomads in the mid-nineteenth century; 10. Nomads and commissars in Moghan; Part IV. The End of the Tribal Confederacy: 11. Pastures new: the effects of the frontier closure; 12. The Shahsevan, the Constitution, the Great War and after; 13. Settlement and detribalization; 14. Conclusion: Shahsevan identity and history; Appendices; Bibliography; Indexes.

Promotional Information

Based on three decades of research this 1997 book traces the political and social history of the Shahsevan.

Reviews

'This book is a study of considerable erudition and practical good sense, the result of extensive documentary research and intensive fieldwork ... much enriched by historical detail and pertinent comment ... it is remarkable how much this demanding but informative study conveys to the reader with great integrity, clarity and judgement.' Asian Affairs 'Frontier Nomads is an impressive work of scholarship, demonstrating the breadth of Tapper's knowledge and his historical as well as ethnographic skills, and his ability to combine them to good effect ... definitely required reading for anyone interested in the history and society of Iran and the relationship between tribe and state in general.' Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies