The Sanusiya: Genesis of a Political Movement
An airmail stamp dating from Italy's occupation
of Cyrenaica. Note that beneath the idyllic desert
scene, two vertical axes (symbols of fascist rule)
straddle the stamp. (issued 8 July, 1936)
Certain historians regard Edward Evans-Pritchard’s example of integrating history with anthropology as a positive of step of broadening the former, and curbing the primacy of political history. Keith Thomas, in particular, was inspired by the argument that history and anthropology had converged, and differed only in the methods of study, and not in the aims.
Evans-Pritchard’s anthropological studies examined a particular culture for its own sake, and to better comprehend its history. He did not attempt to relate it to a European model, or to appropriate it as part of the bigger picture of understanding his own culture.
Evans-Pritchard studied local customs and traditions including the religious practices of African tribesmen to better understand their history, and not his. One of the best examples of this new method was his study entitled The Sanusi of Cyreniaca. In this seminal work, Cyrenaica’s political and military events (from 1911-1943) are explained in the context of an anthropological study of the local tribes, and the genesis of the Sanusi religious order.
This innovative case study examined the obscure Bedouin tribesmen of Cyrenaica focusing on every aspect of their life: practical, economic, spiritual, social, and juridical. This approach resulted in a more complete picture of their life, and helped shed light on the history and leadership of an otherwise little studied region.
Evans-Pritchard’s study is also significant in that it is an account of an indigenous people without being Eurocentric. Having lived amongst the nomadic tribesmen and studied their daily habits, Evans-Pritchard was better able to understand the impact of the Sanusiya on them and to reveal how their religious affiliation was the crucial bond between the rival tribes. Moreover, he closely examined this Order, and described how it metamorphosed into a political movement.
It is no surprise that Evans-Pritchard is strongest at unravelling an indigenous tribal system, and how it interacted with a religious order. For example, he records how tribes petitioned the Sanusi to set up a lodge in their area. The lodges were not simply religious centres. They served as schools, caravan stops, social and commercial centres. The tribes provided the Order with a social system, and in return the Order gave that system a political organisation. This, according to the author, is vital in understanding the subsequent political developments in Cyrenaica.
The strongest and most relevant aspect of his description of the Italo-Sanusi Wars is not military affairs, but in more esoteric matters. His distinction, for example, between the warrior classes, and his examination of the tradition of marabit (spiritual leader) and mujahid (warrior) reflected his skills as an anthropologist. He described in detail how the Bedouins did not expect their religious mentors to lead them into battle, and how on the rare occasion that those two qualities of mujahid and marabit manifested themselves in one individual like the case of Sidi Omar Al-Mukhtar the result was absolute fidelity. This is precisely what historians like Thomas appreciated and acknowledged as original.
The Bedouins were especially suited to conduct guerrilla warfare, and were able to sustain Italian attacks for decades. They inflicted on Italy major losses despite their small numbers. Evans-Pritchard examined topography, local geography, watering rights, grazing, trade patterns, and other aspects of life to bring the tribesmen to life. According to him the key to resistance, was not only their familiarity with the terrain, or unity under one leader, but their ability to subsist under the harshest conditions. The tribesmen’s autarchy enabled them to sustain themselves without reliance on townspeople. Their culture is significantly different from other Arab societies. Unlike the majority of the Arab world, Cyrenaica did not have a native peasant population that was tied to the land, and dependent on city dwellers. Its tribesmen are closest to the Bedouin nomads of the Arabian Peninsula.
The Sanusi of Cyrenaica is not simply a study of the spiritual dimension of a religious organisation. It traces the transformation of the Sanusiya into a political entity, its religious leader into a modern prince, its Order into a government, and its tribes into a nation. Evans-Pritchard sought the political repercussion of the activities, make-up, and leadership of the Sanusiya.
Evans-Pritchard examined the strategies employed by the religious order to establish a political network in Cyrenaica, by locating its lodges outside towns mainly in oases. The Order was clearly established to serve the nomadic tribesmen, and since their domain was the hinterland in the Green Mountains and the Sahara Desert, the Sanusiya followed them. Its headquarter was in remote places, first at Jaghbub oasis, and later Kufra oasis; inaccessible to outsiders, away from the vulnerable coast and foreign intervention, and equally away from the influence of any single tribe.
The Sanusi lodges acted as a conduit between official administrators like the Turks and the tribes. Bedouin sheikhs did not succumb to urban lifestyle. They remained nomads wedded to an ascetic lifestyle, afforded by the desert. The latter was the crucial bond, which enabled them to maintain their lifestyle with minimal outside interference.
As an anthropologist, Evans-Pritchard examined the local tribes and the Sanusi Order not only as a political structure. Both represent a unique lifestyle and value system. These were increasingly under threat due to factors outside their control; the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and its military retreat from Libya; Italy’s determination to establish an empire and colonise a mythical “fourth shore”. The latter’s encroachment led to a direct conflict with the native inhabitants of Cyrenaica, and left the Order with no option but to lead resistance, and organise itself politically and militarily.
In 1911 Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire and started the Italo-Turkish War. The then Italian prime minister Giovanni Giolitti despatched a naval fleet to attack Libya. Conflict with Italy and Italian demands for the Amir of Cyrenaica to relinquish his ‘sovereignty’ elevated the Sanusiya to a new political plane. The Sanusi engaged in secret bilateral talks with regional powers, signed treaties, and sought representation. ‘Sanusiya’ had become synonymous with ‘Cyrenaica’. “It had ceased to have a religious content and had acquired a purely political one.”
Evan-Pritchard’s account of the emergence of an indigenous political movement is heavily reliant on anecdotal evidence he gleaned through his considerable contacts among the Bedouins and the Sanusi clan. This over-reliance on uncorroborated first hand stories, and lack of documented evidence is problematic. Take for example the secret negotiations between Sayyid Mohammad Idris Sanusi and Britain’s representatives in Egypt. These remain sketchy raising more questions than answers. The author, who served as a political officer in the region for many years, and organised these negotiations, maintains maximum discretion.
Anthropology deciphers the cultural keys that rationalise a particular group’s behaviour, be it economic, military, or otherwise. It assists historians particularly where records are scarce, or as in the case of Cyrenaica one-sided.
Cultural anthropology as practised by Evans-Pritchard demystified an otherwise obscure culture for the benefit of historians. His study of rituals, customs, and activities of an Arab Bedouin society did not adopt an Orientalist’s prejudices. Instead, he rendered the Bedouins of Cyrenaica as intrinsically rational, and as subjects rather than objects of history.
Evans-Pritchard’s method resulted in a more comprehensive study of human
behaviour. Therein lies the appeal of his work as the subject of history
evolved from a focus on political elites and examined whole societies.
The relevance of such work, and its application increased in the nineteen
sixties and seventies when the fields of history and social sciences
