the significance of the course events take in segmentary systems

Arguments about segmentation in the Middle Eastern context still turn on the presence or absence of solidary groups. Yemeni material is used to show that this is largely irrelevant. Segmentation concerns structural principles that apply to groups and individuals alike, to events that “follow the rules” and to those that contradict them. The principles of segmentation underlie a far wider range of events than those dealt with by segmentary lineage theory. [Middle East, Yemen, segmentation, social structure, forms of action]