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The Bedouin practice of Bisha, or ordeal by fire, is analyzed as a conflict-resolving ritual of reciprocal relationships between the individual, small group, community, and society.
The Bedouin practice of Bisha, or ordeal by fire, is analyzed as a conflict-resolving ritual of reciprocal relationships between the individual, small group, community, and society. Two case studies demonstrate that the ritual reflects the social order, reinforces conformity to collective values, deters behaviors that deviate from culturally acceptable norms, and transforms social structures by resolving conflicts between two or more people and by reinstating a sense of mutually agreed-upon justice. (Bisha ritual, Bedouin Arabs, conflict resolution, cultural sensitivity, mediation, mental health)
This article uses two case studies to examine the practice of Bisha, or ordeal by fire, which the Bedouin Arabs use throughout much of the Middle East to resolve various forms of disputes. A ritual is an authoritative mode of symbolic discourse with reference to mystical beings or powers and evoking those sentiments from which society is constructed (Lincoln 1989:53; Turner 1967:19). The article introduces a conflict-resolving ritual that combines the concepts of redressive (Turner 1967:270) and reconciliation rituals (Collier 1984:133). The analysis focuses on how a ritual reflects the social order, reinforces conformity to collective values (Durkheim 1965), and deters behaviors that deviate from culturally acceptable norms (Gluckman 1954, 1963). Beyond this, the study is influenced by Geertz (1973), Turner (1969), and other anthropologists (e.g., Furman 1981; Pilgrim 1978), who affirm a ritual's capacity to transform social structures.
A conflict-resolving ritual transformation occurs in two ways. The first is resolving conflicts that occur between two or more people in order to reinstate a sense of mutually agreed-upon justice (redressive). The second is restoring stability, order, and harmony to social relations (reconciliation). Finally, as will be discussed, it is important to stress conflict-resolving rituals' particular meanings to participants, and potential therapeutic benefits (Al-Krenawi, In press a; Al-Krenawi and Graham 1996b, 1997; Gibbs 1963a, 1963b; Kiev 1964). Conflict-resolving rituals thus need to be understood systemically (Pincus and Minahan 1973) and ecologically (Germain and Gitterman 1980) in their reciprocal relationships between the individual, small group, community, and society (Al-Krenawi, In press a).
The article begins by discussing anthropological and allied disciplines' theoretical constructs of rituals. It then turns attention to the context of Bedouin society, and then to the Bisha itself. Next it discusses the individual, community, and social significance of two case study examples, and concludes with implications for modern mental health and social service practitioners working with such societies as the Bedouin. Data come from two sources. The first example is derived from the case notes of a clinical intervention between a Bedouin family and a Bedouin social worker, one of the study's co-authors. The second is derived from open-ended interviews with members of two tribes, the traditional healer, and the sheikh mediators who were involved in the case.
THE THEORETICAL CONTEXT
Classical social scientific theory on rituals has tended to reify in two major fields of analysis. On the one hand, there is a sociological orientation that sees rituals through a prism of social structures. Early functionalist thought, as an example, emphasized rituals as critical building blocks to religions, and as essential to maintaining social order (Durkheim 1915, 1965). Consistent with that thinking, major anthropological theorists over the past 30 years (such as Clifford Geertz and Victor Turner) see rituals as endowing "culturally important cosmological conceptions and values with persuasive emotional force, thus unifying individual participants into a genuine community" (Zuesse 1987:405).
A second corpus of thought with strong reference to psychoanalytic theory emphasizes the significance of rituals to the individual, as distinct from the social structures in which they live. Freud, among others, saw rituals' significance in creating and sustaining nonrational, symbolic behaviors and religions (Freud 1918). More recent literature concentrates on the potentially therapeutic benefits of ritual participation (Al-Krenawi, In press b; Al-Krenawi and Graham 1996b, 1997; Gibbs 1963a, 1963b; McGuire 1983).
A third, more recent theoretical tradition sees rituals as fundamental to social life and as helpful in managing the complex and sometimes contradictory web of social roles that constitute a person's day-to-day existence (Rothenbuhler 1998:108-09). Rituals are the forum through which individuals "fold" the "multiplexities" of social life "back into a more or less seamlessly experienced reality" (Rotherbuhler 1998:109). They are "flexible, fluid, and open ended . . . within the flux of daily social and cultural life" (Alexander 1997:151). Some scholars insist that rituals in this construction do not necessarily require a cosmological or theological reference (Grimes 1982). Also, many in this tradition write about rituals in Western, secular contexts. The present analysis concurs with the pervasiveness of rituals in day-to-day affairs. But in contrast to some studies, rituals' mystical aspects are here retained. This insistence is consistent with the norms and beliefs of the traditional society in which the Bisha ritual occurs (Al-Krenawi and Graham 1996b, 1997; Ginat 1987), and thus with the imperative to see rituals "in the native point of view" (Geertz 1973, 1983, cited in Alexander 1997:152).
As the present discussion confirms, rituals' "major variations are still being vigorously debated" (Zuesse 1987:419). Some theorists distinguish between technological and nontechnological forms of behavior, the latter being the purview of rituals, the former of nonrituals (Leach 1968:396). But as the present essay indicates, the Bisha uses the technologies of fire and a metal tool with a long iron handle. Conforming with other theorists' views, rituals are "intentional bodily engagement[s]," integrating the personal, bodily, and social with the transcendental (Zuesse 1987:406). They "are often drawn from sensory experience and passion (the 'orectic' pole) and are made to represent social ideals (the 'ideological' pole)" (Turner paraphrased in Zuesse 1987:411). In contrast to other theorists, the present analysis stresses the enduring, as distinct from temporary, resolution of conflicts (Bell 1992, in Alexander 1997:147).
The conflict-resolving ritual is a combination of two previous constructs insofar as it reinstates a sense of mutually agreed-upon justice (the redressive ritual [Turner 1967:270]) and restores stability, order, and harmony to social relations (the reconciliation ritual [Collier 1984:133]). That is, rituals as "models of" the world may become "`models for' thinking about and living in the world" (Alexander 1997:148). Thus, one should not lose sight of the social action component of rituals, in contrast to their social functional component: they may change the social world and not exclusively maintain the status quo (Guenther 1997:164). The present analysis thus speaks to six conceptual levels. It has, first, a physical manifestation, which is, second, implicitly related to a larger cognitive structure that organizes all sensory experiences. Third, it can be used to advance an individual's utilitarian aims, or, fourth, promote the aims of any dyadic or small group within a group. Fifth, the social values of the group are stressed. Finally, it has a potentially transcendental or cosmological reference (Zuesse 1987:411).
Two final theoretical considerations bear emphasis. First, the Bisha ritual involves the mediation of a third party. That person's participation necessarily presumes a community with shared values, disputants who share a commitment to settle the dispute, and a cultural preference for mediation rather than continued conflict (Cloke 1993; Witty 1980, cited in Greenhouse 1985:91-92). Second, the Bisha ritual is an autonomic ordeal; that is, it "deals with the judgement of success or failure, guilt or innocence" as being dependent upon "involuntary responses such as scalding or blistering of the person or persons tested" in the course of the ritual (Roberts 1965:187). Of four subclasses of autonomic ordeal, the Bisha ritual is defined by the physiological response of burning or scalding, as opposed to bleeding, vomiting, or floating (Roberts 1965:187).
THE SOCIAL CONTEXT
Although originally intended to describe only those who herded camels, Bedouin has come to be known as the general name for all Arabic-speaking, nomadic tribes in the Middle East (Al-Krenawi and Graham 1996a). The Bedouin Arabs have lived in the Negev region for two millennia (Hebrew Encyclopaedia 1954), and are one national, linguistic, political, and geographic entity that ought to be considered distinct from other Arab communities in Israel, and distinct from, although related to, Bedouin communities in other countries. Although there are some Christian Bedouin Arab tribes outside of the Negev, all within it, including the present study's subjects, are Muslim. Tribes remain important to this population's self-identity, particularly as social support networks (Al-Aref 1934; Marks 1974). Each tribe has a leader (sheikh), and major decisions are made by male elders representing the several lineages that constitute the tribe. Traditionally the Bedouin Arabs were a nomadic people, but today they are undergoing a rapid and dramatic process of change to a sedentary existence. Of the Negev's 120,000, 40 per cent now live in villages, and 60 per cent live in unrecognized villages without infrastructure and basic services (Al-Krenawi and Graham 1997).
The social structure is patriarchal. Gender roles are strongly embraced, most marriages are arranged, and women rarely leave the home unescorted (Abu-Lughod 1985; Mass and Al-Krenawi 1994). Family honor is very important, tribal/familial social and economic relationships are interdependent, the collective is emphasized over the individual, and societal change is slow (Hall 1976). Pride is central to Bedouin life, and when Ar (shame) descends upon an individual, family, or tribe, the restoration of pride is key to the integrity of all. Since economic property, property of honor, and sexual property are homologous constructions (Ginat 1984, 1987; Rieder 1984), the loss of pride in one area of life has immediate significance to other areas, thus amplifying the need for immediate and complete redress.
THE BISHA RITUAL
Bisha is one of a variety of traditional rituals that are practiced by lay people and by traditional healers in Bedouin culture (Al-Krenawi and Graham 1996b, 1997; Al-- Krenawi, Graham, and Maoz 1996). Fire has a wide spectrum of representation among indigenous societies. Some associate it with mysticism, others with the sacred flame on an altar of sacrifice (Freeman 1981), others with a source of joy (Lewis and Dowsey-Magog 1993), others with a god (Bonnafe 1973), and others, such as the Bedouin, as a revealer of truth (Abu-Khusa 1993; Al-Krenawi, In press a; Kazaz 1989). Several societies incorporate such ordeals by fire as fire-walking, licking boiling milk, or passing hot skewers through the tongue (Freeman 1981; Lewis and Dowsey-Magog 1993). Like these rituals, the Bisha involves the licking of red-hot metal as an unchallengeable means of substantiating an accusation or erasing a stain of shame upon an individual, family, or tribe (Kazaz 1989). The Bedouin usually apply the Bisha ritual to disputes having civil or criminal origin, or in situations where there is a suspicion of wrongdoing (Abu-Khusa 1993; Kazaz 1989).
Only two Bedouin tribes have the S'er, or divine secret necessary to pass on patrilineally the God-inspired ability to perform the ordeal (Kazaz 1989). The first is the Al-Ayadi tribe, situated in Al-Ismaliah, Egypt. The second is the Bili tribe, whose sphere of influence extends to the Hedjaz, Najd, and some parts of the transJordan (Abu-Khusa 1993; Al-Aref 1944; Kazaz 1989). The process of performing the ritual includes several elements. First, the Mobasha (the man who administers the Bisha) listens to both parties and tries to convince them not to request the ritual. If he concludes that reconciliation is impossible without it, he pronounces that the ritual will be performed and that both parties must accept its results (AI-Aref 1944; Apshtin 1973).
Necessary conditions for the Bisha are fire, a group of people as witnesses, and a ladle about four inches in diameter with a long iron handle. The ladle end of the tool is inserted into a hot, well-stoked fire. Before taking the tool from the fire, the Mobasha gives the accused some water. The accused rinses his or her mouth and spits the water onto the ground. He or she then pokes his or her tongue out for general inspection to show there is nothing on it, and that it is in its natural state (Khamis Al-Krenawi, pers. comm.). The Mobasha takes the metal tool from the fire and shows the witnesses that it is red hot. He orders the accused to put his or her tongue out, and the accused must lick the metal tool. The tongue is then examined by the Mobasha. If he finds it harmed, he declares the accused guilty; but if the metal tool has left the tongue unharmed, the accused is declared not guilty (Abu-- Khusa 1993; Al-Aref 1944; Kazaz 1989).
CASE ONE
The first case involves a 30-year-old man, a truck driver with eight years' formal education, and his 24-year-old wife, who has no formal education and does not work outside the home. The couple has five children, ranging in age from 1 to 6 years. The husband and wife are from the same tribe, have been married for seven years, and have not been married previously. The man was referred by the family physician to the psychiatric ward of a local hospital, where he met with a Bedouin social worker. After several sessions, a therapeutic alliance had been struck, and the man had sufficient trust that confidentiality of treatment would be maintained. He then was able to divulge the circumstances of his problems, which had been a considerable assault to his family honor and which he was very anxious not be conveyed to anyone outside of his immediate nuclear family.
The man explained that his life had become "Jahim" (hell), and that he hated his wife and children. His parents had seen a man passing beside his house at midnight, who they believed was from another family within the tribe. The married man, his parents, and brothers concluded that the wife had been unfaithful. All were upset. He was doubtful about the paternity of his children, and was convinced that his wife was still having a sexual relationship with this person. He divulged that he was so despondent that he had beaten his wife and had quit his job. He complained about being anxious, confused, depressed, restless, physically weak, unable to eat, and having interrupted sleep. After several sessions with the social worker, the man remained agitated, and by agreement sought advice from a traditional healer within his community. The healer recommended the Bisha ritual, to which man and wife agreed, the man wanting his honor restored and the wife the return of domestic stability and the removal of shame from herself and from her paternal family.
The couple went to an Egyptian Mobasha and told their story. The next morning, he performed the Bisha ritual. The woman later divulged that she had no fear in undertaking the ritual, as she was determined to vindicate her name. A few minutes later, the healer addressed the husband, telling him "Ardaak Abiath" (your honor is white; i.e., your wife is not guilty). The husband had tape recorded the entire episode as proof for his family and tribe. The two returned home happily, their problem resolved. The husband resumed his employment, the domestic violence and mistrust ended, and the wife suffered no permanent injuries from the ritual. Within several weeks, the husband's psychiatric treatment was terminated.
CASE TWO
The second case involves a 45-year-old man who had been accused of stealing sheep from another tribe. He belongs to a large tribe of about 500 individuals, and became embroiled in a disagreement with a second tribe of comparable social standing also numbering about 500 people. Early one morning, members of the second tribe noticed that several sheep from their field were missing. They followed footprints from the field, leading directly to the accused man's house. He and his tribe denied knowledge of or any involvement in the incident. The disagreement became the rallying point around which each tribe expressed its honor, and claimed that if left unresolved, the situation would perpetuate Ar. The accused side could not withstand the continued accusations of wrongdoing upon one of their members. The aggrieved side felt with equal intensity that the theft had been a grave humiliation upon their tribal pride. For several days, tribal members on both sides refused to talk to each other. Tensions mounted between the sides. There were several reported brawls between young men of each tribe, and members on both sides had generalized feelings of anxiety.
Cultural norms prohibited the police from being contacted. Instead, an informal mediation system was initiated shortly after the incident, once three sheikhs from different tribes learned about the misunderstanding and decided to mediate separately with important tribal members on each side. After hearing declarations from both sides, they declared a wajah, a three-day period of amnesty, to which each side was obligated to agree by virtue of cultural customs. During the wajah period, the mediators continued to talk with members of the two tribes, and in the process became the conduit through which dialogue occurred. The wajah could have been extended for two or more additional periods, if both agreed to the extension. But an extension was not necessary, for near the end of the first wajah, the aggrieved tribe proposed a Bisha ceremony, to which the accused side soon agreed.
A departure to a Mobasha in Egypt was immediately arranged for the accused man, along with his relatives, members of the other tribe, and the three mediating sheikhs as witnesses. A Bisha was performed, and as in the previous case, the participant later divulged that he had no fear in undertaking the ritual. The man was pronounced innocent, and the Mobasha's declaration was immediately embraced by the sheikhs and by tribal members on both sides. The accusations were immediately withdrawn, and within a week of the initial incident, the final stage of resolution occurred with the sulha, a ceremony led by the three sheikhs and involving the two disputing parties (Landsman 1988). Tribal leaders from both sides met, shook hands, ate a meal together, and agreed to drop the matter entirely.
DISCUSSION
The Bisha needs to be understood on several levels, the first being societal. The ritual reflects the need for some system of justice within the Bedouin community, in the absence of its own formal process, legal specialists, or police forces. Had the Israeli police been involved in either of the above cases, with dissatisfying processes or results to either side, the consequence may have been grave, as discussed below. Indeed, ethnospecific rituals of conflict resolution such as the Bisha may be added to "negotiation," "adjudication," and other recently analyzed forms of dispute-resolution procedures such as "mediation, avoidance, shaming, denial of reciprocity, fighting, and so on" (Collier 1984:109). It also assumes that previous methods have been used first and have failed: e.g., persuasion, argument, compromise, debate, and questioning (Roberts 1965:209).
Key to the Bisha's function is the introduction of a third party. In Arab society (Budman, Lipson, and Meleis 1992; Weidman 1982) and as sociologists argue transculturally, "there is an underlying `social logic' to triads as a means of resolving conflict, and an assumption pervades much of the literature in this area that some form of 'stranger' third party is the most desirable way of handling conflict if escalation and violence threatening to the social order is to be avoided" (Yngvesson 1984:251). In both case studies, the Mobasha acted as a neutral third party. As well, in the second case study, the sheikhs were necessary additional third parties who provided important pre-Bisha mediation, and who ultimately facilitated the Mobasha's involvement. It is common transculturally to find mediators in this role of third party, outside the immediate community but within the culture (Werbner 1972:250).
But what are the social constructs that led marital issues to come to mediation? Gibbs (1963b:553) coins the term "epainogamy to refer to that condition of marriage which is societally supported, praised and sanctioned-indeed, almost enforced." Bedouin society may be so described. Across cultures, autonomic ordeals such as the Bisha have been found to be prevalent within societies that have high political integration, high social stratification, great economic complexity, and patrilineal descent, all of which are common to the Bedouin Arab (Roberts 1965:192-93).
From the individual's perspective, the Bisha has several layers of significance. An accused participant may be uninjured after doing the Bisha ritual for physiologically explained reasons. As Roberts (1965:206) notes,
the walls of the peripheral blood vessels are under the control of the autonomic nervous system which may be influenced by suggestion. Certainly there appears to be a relationship between suggestibility and blistering as various studies in hypnosis have shown . . . [and] that the behavior of scratches on the skin are related to the autonomic nervous system and particularly to the relaxability of skeletal musculature and that these responses are also related to antecedent psychological states.
Perhaps most important, participation in a ritual can change a person's social status, or his relationship with others. The ritual gives a culturally prescribed form, structure, and meaning (Rando 1985). It also integrates parts of the self and binds individuals with their communities and histories (Hoch-Smith and Spring 1978). It enters participants into a common physical and symbolic space in which a shared history and culture are implicit throughout the process. Moreover, the very act of agreeing to a mediation ritual, we argue, creates a predisposition toward reconciliation, just as the involvement in a ritual of healing creates a predisposition to be healed (Csordas 1983). Like the Kpelle Moot in Africa, it provides a sense of mutual support (Gibbs 1963a:6).
Likewise, the process of submission to the transcendent power of a ritual reduces estrangement between two people by allowing both to participate in an activity, to accept its consequences, and implicitly to adhere to the social order and hidden powers the ritual represents. These aspects are further reinforced by the presence of witnesses, who validate the temporal aspects of the ceremony and also its social ecology and ultimate mystery.
Rituals provide unique opportunities for communication and ventilation, necessitating the behavioral expression of thought and feeling (Rando 1985). Like a psychotherapeutic session, they invoke permissiveness: allowing a participant to make antisocial statements, such as the claim of a spouse's infidelity, and to act out antisocial responses to these feelings. These resulting verbalizations and feelings of catharsis are not inhibited by fear of the mediator's response. Like the Western psychotherapist, the mediator is not expected to respond in a hostile manner or with inappropriate affection (Gibbs 1963a:7). But the participants' acting out moves individuals from passivity, helplessness, and emptiness toward integration as an actor in the change process. Rituals, being a right-brain activity, touch the unconscious more quickly than verbalization. This mind/body congruence also enhances the working through of any emotion or problematic condition that inhibits change (Rando 1985). As rituals of mediation they allow explicit and implicit norms to be addressed. The latter are societal expectations such as that husbands and wives should honor each other. The former are framed personally: "I suspect my wife of betraying me," "my husband does not respect me," and so on (Greenhouse 1985:101).
As in Western psychotherapy, the end result of the Bisha ritual is to coax the participant to conform to social norms and accept the rewards of being involved in the mediation (Gibbs 1963a:8). A major goal is the promotion of healing. In both case examples, the resolution of disputes following the Bisha ritual avoided personal distress, marital and family dissolution, violence, and even death. In their stead, the ritual engendered catharsis, psychological release, and improved social functioning on both sides (Doty 1986; McGuire 1983). These in turn led to social harmony and cohesion, further reinforcing a cycle of individual-to-social healing.
According to systems theory, all social relations constitute systems that have boundaries, that change by moving from disequilibrium to equilibrium, and that are influenced by external factors, or inputs (Pincus and Minahan 1973; von Bertalanffy 1971). The couple in case one may be considered a social system whose state of disequilibrium (marital discord) was changed to equilibrium (marital harmony) via the ritual. On a second level, the couple was part of a paternal-fraternal extended familial system that also followed the same disequilibrium/discord-equilibrium/ harmony process via the same input. In case two, the two tribes may be seen as separate systems experiencing a disequilibrium-equilibrium transformation; so they too were part of one transformative system overall, the immediate Bedouin city where both tribes lived.
CONCLUSION
In modern mental health practice, various aspects of rituals have been incorporated in the process of treatment: in dealing with bereavement (Al-Krenawi 1996; Bolton and Camp 1989; Rando 1985), family dysfunction (Al-Krenawi, In press a; Child 1996; Friedman and Pettus 1985), incest healing (Winslow 1990), multiple personality disorders (Vesper 1991), and post-traumatic stress disorder (Obenchain and Silver 1992), to cite five examples. Indeed, some mental health professionals assert that the very act of treatment may be viewed as a ritual (Rando 1985; Wyrostok 1995). While beyond the scope of the present study, modern practitioners may likewise appreciate the healing significance of rituals such as the Bisha, and where appropriate may validate traditional rituals and incorporate traditional healing in alliance with modern therapy (Al-Krenawi, In press b; Al-Krenawi and Graham 1996a, 1996b; Kiev 1964; Kleinman 1986). So too might future research consider how police and court systems undertake their functions in parallel process with informal mediation systems such as the Bisha.
Ultimately, whether the Bisha ritual in the present case study was based on actual or contrived techniques is not the pivotal question. What is significant is whether it worked within the context of a particular problem requiring mediation. In both examples, the ritual restored stability, order, and harmony in the context of a social transformation since Bedouin Arab society saw it as the only valid way to get at the absolute truth and so re-establish equilibrium between people. Werbner (1972:241) conceives of three modes of accusation. The first, which was the initial impetus to the Bisha, arises indirectly out of gossip, and is considered insinuation. The ritual itself quells the insinuation and either leads to or precludes the more direct accusation modes of public denunciation and the subsequent charge (the latter an accusation raised legally within formal Bedouin forums of elders).
Rituals are not relics of our ancient past. Rather, they are persistent and successful human adaptations that remain vital across time and culture (Wyrostok 1995), and are particularly salient to such indigenous populations as the Bedouin. As such, the Bisha can assist non-Western cultures to understand the complexities and prospects of ritual mediation among cultures such as the Bedouin Arabs.
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Alean Al-Krenawi
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
John R. Graham
University of Calgary
Copyright University of Pittsburgh, Department of Anthropology Spring 1999