The Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies is pleased to announce the publication of the latest issue of Currents: Briefs on Contemporary Israel, our bi-annual publication. The Fall 2021 issue features an article by cultural anthropologist and social historian Tomer Mazarib -- "Is the Relationship Between the Bedouin and Fellahin Dichotomous? An Anthropological Case Study."

UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, October 4, 2021 – The UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center’s new issue of Currents: Briefs on Contemporary Israel was published this week, featuring an essay by Tomer Mazarib, “Is the Relationship Between the Bedouin and Fellahin Dichotomous? An Anthropological Case Study.” The brief explores the interrelations between Bedouin and Fellahin (Arabic for “peasants”) living in the village of Yafa (also known as Yafa of Nazareth), in the western Galilee region in Israel. The article documents the daily lives of Bedouin and Fellahin from an anthropological perspective, focusing on how shared communal life both conserves and creates social and cultural differences between the two groups.

Click here to read the latest issue of Currents.

Dr. Mazarib is a cultural anthropologist and social historian specializing in the study of tribal societies in the Middle East, including the history, society, culture, economy, and politics of the Bedouin in Israel. He holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and an MA from the Israel Studies and the Sociology and Anthropology Departments at Haifa University, Israel. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Oxford University, and is a teacher at Yafa High School, a matriculation examiner for history and civics at the Israeli Education Ministry, and a lecturer at Sha'ar la'Adam – Bab Lil'Insan Spiritual-Ecological Center for Coexistence. This article is based on his doctoral thesis: “The Integration Process of the Bedouin Population into Arab Fellahin Villages and Towns in the Galilee, 1700-2016”.

Covering Israel’s society, politics, economy, and culture, Currents aims to disseminate scholarly expertise, cutting-edge research, and innovative analyses of Israel to a wide audience.