The Ghawarna of Jordan: Race and Religion in the Jordan Valley

Abstract

While research on the lives of African-descended Muslims in the Middle East has expanded dramatically in the past two decades, no study documents the religious practices of the African-descended Muslims in the Jordan Valley. This initial inquiry into the role of race and religion in the lives of the Jordanian Ghawarna, or the people of the Jordan Valley, explores the complicated meanings and functions of blackness and Islam among both men and women in a contemporary Middle Eastern setting. It reviews various theories about the origins of those Ghawarna who are of African descent, charts the effects of racism on their lives, and outlines the ways in which Ghawarna, African-descended and not, celebrate Ramadan, conduct wedding parties, and ward off the evil eye. The findings, based on the original interviews conducted largely with residents in the towns of Ghor al-Mazra‘a and Ghor as-Safi, suggest the usefulness of further inquiry into both rural Islamic practice and racialization in Jordan.