Brooks and the Bakhtiari
Brooks and the Bakhtiari
The Bakhtiari
The Bakhtiari are a semi-nomadic people from the Zagros Mountains in South-West Iran. They traverse their territory twice a year between the summer and winter pastures. These migrations are extremely dangerous and involve the movement of thousands of people and animals. David Brooks visited the group and travelled with the Bakhtiari on their migration several times during the 1960s. Afterwards he returned to the UK to take up a lectureship at Durham University.
He wrote a number of conference papers, book chapters, and other documents based on his experiences which described Bakhtiari life. Many documents remained unpublished at the time of his death.
1. Here is a lecture handout outlining the political structure, economy, administration, and brief history of the Bakhtiari.
▸Read Brooks, D.H.M, Bakhtiari overview lecture handout [pdf]
2. ‘The Bakhtiari’ was a chapter written for ‘Peoples of the Earth’, a series of volumes containing descriptions of various groups from around the world. Bakhtiari life is described by Brooks with particular reference to the annual migrations, organisation, and daily life. A later version of this document was published in Singer, A (ed), (1973) Western and Central Asia, Vol. 15 of Peoples of the Earth, The Danbury Press (Grolier), New York.
▸Read Brooks, D.H.M. (1973) ‘The Bakhtiari’, Peoples of the Earth, Tom Stacey Ltd, London [pdf]
3. ‘The Ascent of Man’ was a 1973 documentary series produced by the BBC. It was written and presented by Jacob Bronowski and follows the ‘development’ of human societies. In 1970, Brooks wrote a series of notes on the Bakhtiari to assist in the development of the programme, and particularly the second episode which was eventually called ‘The Harvest of the Seasons’. He later expressed distaste for the manner in which the Bakhtiari were presented in the programme (see ‘Grass’ 1974 under ‘Brooks and Film’).
▸Read Brooks, D.H.M. (1970) ‘Ascent of Man’, Durham University [pdf]
Unpublished Texts
David also left behind 10 unpublished texts variously on Iran, the Bakhtiari and the disicipline of Anthropology. The papers include observations that were remarkably prescient for the time, especially given what happened subsequently in Iran and the wider Middle-East.
- These texts can be found under Analysis and Thoughts in the Unpublished Texts section.