Handout

Countries and Their Cultures: Ghorbat Kinship

Curated by ACT

The term "Ghorbat" is applied to several non-food-producing, itinerant populations of fairly low status throughout the Middle East and even beyond, in parts of formerly Soviet Central Asia and the Balkans. These peripatetic populations have usually been dubbed "Gypsies." In the 1970s the Ghorbat lived scattered throughout the major part of Afghanistan; 51 percent of the families were entirely nomadic, and 32 percent were entirely sedentary; 17 percent were partly sedentary -- in the summer months, while the men migrated, women and children stayed home. The itinerant Ghorbat manufactured mainly sieves and tambourines but also bird cages and some traditional cosmetics; the peddling of these products in addition to cloth, haberdashery, trinkets, and certain services ensured their subsistence.

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Classroom Considerations
  • Knovation Readability Score: 3 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)
  • The intended use for this resource is Instructional