A not so distant cousin of mine Gavin Maxwell, author of 'Ring Of Bright Water' and a great lover of otters went to the marshes in search of a pet otter. He wrote a book about his time in the marshes. Well worth a read. posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:04 PM on August 6, 2010 [3 favorites]
This is fascinating, thanks for the post. posted by Gator at 2:07 PM on August 6, 2010
Oh one interesting fact of Mars Arab life was the unique position of Lesbians. Often they kept the guest house, made coffee for guests and kept the place clean. posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:09 PM on August 6, 2010 [2 favorites]
one interesting fact of Mars Arab life
Indeed, all of the facts about Mars Arab life are interesting. posted by theodolite at 2:17 PM on August 6, 2010 [3 favorites]
Cool post! I had no idea about any of this. Thank you! posted by small_ruminant at 2:22 PM on August 6, 2010
In 1956 Maxwell toured the reed marshes of Southern Iraq with explorer Wilfred Thesiger. Maxwell's account of their trip appears in A Reed shaken by the Wind It was hailed by the New York Times as "near perfect".
In 1964 Thesiger published Marsh Arabs. Here is an excerpt about the mustarjil. posted by adamvasco at 2:31 PM on August 6, 2010 [2 favorites]
"Marsh Arabs" sounds like something straight out of the His Dark Materials trilogy. Super interesting, thank you. posted by Think_Long at 2:37 PM on August 6, 2010
I think there's a mistake in the article, btw: where it says "Mesopotamians settled in the fertile region in the fifth century B.C., and within a few centuries it had become the site of an advanced Sumerian civilization," I assume they meant the fifth millennium B.C., since the Sumerians were active by 5,000 B.C. but long gone by 500 B.C. posted by homunculus at 3:30 PM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
Oh one interesting fact of Mars Arab life was the unique position of Lesbians.
I had no idea there were lesbians on Mars. Amazing!
Kidding aside, thanks for sharing that, it's a fascinating detail. posted by homunculus at 3:32 PM on August 6, 2010
This was one of the heady justifications for the Iraq war; one of the many projects we were going to inspire democracy with. Guess we forgot. posted by clarknova at 3:34 PM on August 6, 2010
I had hoped this would be well underway by now, but like clarknova says....
I guess restoration isn't as much fun as pallets of money and shooting people. posted by Jimmy Havok at 3:42 PM on August 6, 2010
Thanks for the excellent post, homunculus - and also thanks to the folks who added good info and links. It set me googling further to learn more about this project and the marsh people... it turns out that 60 minutes recently did a segment on Azzam Alwash and the marsh reclamation that has some great footage of people rebuilding homes from reeds - well worth a watch - it looks like some good progress is being made. posted by madamjujujive at 3:50 PM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
*--DL links broken, I've sent NPR a request to repair them. I was sure there was another NPR update on this from earlier this summer, but now I can't locate it.
Meanwhile, the United States' marshes are in peril from the oil industry, and both of our Gulfs have been subject to the #1 and #2 oil releases in the history of the world. posted by eustatic at 7:36 PM on August 7, 2010
posted by homunculus at 1:47 PM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]