Community/Autonomy in Daily Life: People and Places (original) (raw)

Abstract

This chapter gives a brief overview of daily life in Dhofar, beginning with a hypothetical ordinary day. The following sections unpack and expand on these events, first explaining chances for establishing and demonstrating autonomy during life stages. Next, the specific connection between autonomy/community and religious benefits through charitable actions is explained. The exertion Gibalis make to create a calm atmosphere is rarely coded by outsiders as “work” but the enormous effort is repaid through hasanat, a spiritual benefit/reward given for positive behavior such as helping others, being generous, refusing to escalate a fight, etc. Lastly, houses, clothes, and common places are described in terms of the practical aspects of the personal/communal dichotomy, e.g. the normal set-up of houses is discussed with an emphasis on personal and public spaces and clothing choices are presented in terms of latitude people have in terms of conforming (or not) to social expectations.

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1. Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman
   Marielle Risse

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Risse, M. (2019). Community/Autonomy in Daily Life: People and Places. In: Community and Autonomy in Southern Oman. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17004-2\_3

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• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17004-2\_3
• Published: 22 June 2019
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• Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17003-5
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