Steven Caton is Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments A Note on Transcription PART 1. Background1. Doing an Ethnography of Poetry 2. Gabyilah: Ideologies of Tribalism, Language, and Poetry 3. The Social Production of Poetry PART II. The System of Poetic Genres4. The Biilah: Poem as Play 5. The Poetic Construction of Self 6. The Ziimil: Between Performance and Text-Utterance 7. Power, Poetry, and Persuasion 8. The Qasfdah: Individual Talent and the Cultural Tradition 9. Tribal Ideology, the State, and Communicative Practices CONCLUSION: Poetry as Cultural Practice APPENDIXESA. Yemeni Tribal Arabic Phonology B. A Linguistic Theory of Meter C. Transcription of the Sample Balah Poem D. Transcription of the Sample Balah Development Section E. Transcription of al-Gharsi's Poem F. Transcription of a~-Sufi's Poem G. Transcription of al-Ma'lah's Poem Notes Bibliography Index

Steven Caton is Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments A Note on Transcription PART 1. Background1. Doing an Ethnography of Poetry 2. Gabyilah: Ideologies of Tribalism, Language, and Poetry 3. The Social Production of Poetry PART II. The System of Poetic Genres4. The Biilah: Poem as Play 5. The Poetic Construction of Self 6. The Ziimil: Between Performance and Text-Utterance 7. Power, Poetry, and Persuasion 8. The Qasfdah: Individual Talent and the Cultural Tradition 9. Tribal Ideology, the State, and Communicative Practices CONCLUSION: Poetry as Cultural Practice APPENDIXESA. Yemeni Tribal Arabic Phonology B. A Linguistic Theory of Meter C. Transcription of the Sample Balah Poem D. Transcription of the Sample Balah Development Section E. Transcription of al-Gharsi's Poem F. Transcription of a~-Sufi's Poem G. Transcription of al-Ma'lah's Poem Notes Bibliography Index

Steven Caton is Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments A Note on Transcription PART 1. Background1. Doing an Ethnography of Poetry 2. Gabyilah: Ideologies of Tribalism, Language, and Poetry 3. The Social Production of Poetry PART II. The System of Poetic Genres4. The Biilah: Poem as Play 5. The Poetic Construction of Self 6. The Ziimil: Between Performance and Text-Utterance 7. Power, Poetry, and Persuasion 8. The Qasfdah: Individual Talent and the Cultural Tradition 9. Tribal Ideology, the State, and Communicative Practices CONCLUSION: Poetry as Cultural Practice APPENDIXESA. Yemeni Tribal Arabic Phonology B. A Linguistic Theory of Meter C. Transcription of the Sample Balah Poem D. Transcription of the Sample Balah Development Section E. Transcription of al-Gharsi's Poem F. Transcription of a~-Sufi's Poem G. Transcription of al-Ma'lah's Poem Notes Bibliography Index