Hadhramaut and its Diaspora

The Hadhramis of Yemen have migrated for centuries in large numbers, establishing a diaspora that extends around the Indian Ocean, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States. This migration has deeply affected the host countries as well as Hadhramaut itself. Yet the region has not been able to use its population size, capabilities or resources to wield significant political influence in successive Yemeni regimes. This book examines the people of the Hadhrami diaspora, who travelled as religious scholars, traders, labourers and soldiers, to understand their enduring influence and identity. In doing so, the book explores key aspects of their history, including the impact of Yemeni nationalist movements, the significance of land reforms, the importance of social and tribal origins and how the Hadhrami resisted European domination as a Muslim community. Although a distinctive part of geographical Yemen, Hadhramaut was not regarded as a Yemeni political entity until the twentieth century.This research asks if the recent turmoil in Yemen following the Arab Spring, the growth of Al-Qa'ida and ISIS, and war involving a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, will produce even greater instability in the region or perhaps lead to a united Yemen, a restored South Yemen or even to Hadhramaut as an independent state.

Noel Brehony is currently Chairman of the British Yemeni Society and the Anglo-Jordanian Society. He has also been Chairman of the Middle East Association and the Council for British Research in the Levant and President of the British Society of Middle East Studies. Brehony had a career as a diplomat after completing a PhD from Durham and post doctoral research in the Middle East. He was in Aden in the early years of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen and followed events there until unity in 1990. Brehony is the author of Yemen Divided: the Story of a Failed State in South Arabia and co-editor of British-Egyptian Relations from Suez to the Present Day. He is on the Advisory Board of the London Middle East Institute at SOAS.

Foreword by Muhammad bin Dohry Introduction by Abdalla Bujra and Noel Brehony Hadhramaut in Yemen Chapter One. Hadhramaut in Yemen Politics Noel Brehony and Saadaldin Talib. Chapter Two. Hadhrami "Exceptionalism": attempts at an explanation. Thanos Petouris. Chapter Three. Rural life and land tenure in Wadi Hadhramaut: links with outmigration. Helen Lackner Hadhramaut and the diaspora Chapter Four. Visualising the Homeland: the Atlas of Sayyid Uthman of Batavia (1822-1914). Nico Kaptein. Chapter Five." Revival" of the Hadhrami Diaspora? Networking through Religious Figures in Indonesia. Kazuhiro Arai. Chapter Six. Arab Muslim migrants in the colonial Philippines: the Hadhramaut connection. William Clarence-Smith Chapter Seven. Scimitar for Hire: Yemeni Fighters Abroad. James Spencer. Chapter Eight. Citizenship and belonging amongst the Hadhramis of Kenya. Iain Walker Chapter Nine. Diaspora or network? Hadhrami diaspora reconsidered through the lens of trade. Philippe Petriat Chapter Ten. From Barefoot Doctors to Professors of Medicine in Seventy-Five Years 1940-2015. Adel Aulaqi Research issues Chapter Eleven. Rediscovering Hadhramaut: paradigms of research. Leif Manger. Chapter Twelve. Research Issues on Hadhramaut. Abdalla Bujra. Bibliography Notes on contributors Index