The Basseri of Southern Iran are traditionally a nomadic, tent-dwelling people, descended from Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and gypsy ancestors. Amanolahi (2003) informs us that now, however, the Basseri have been detribalised and integrated into the Iranian state. Traditionally, their primary mode of subsistence had been pastoral; herding sheep and goats. They numbered about 16,000 in the 1950s, when research for the classic ethnography, Nomads of South Persia by Frederik Barth was conducted (Amanolahi, 2003). Anthropologists have long observed connections between the primary mode of subsistence and aspects of culture such as kinship, social organisation, and political organisation. The case is no different with the Basseri. This paper will explore some of those connections as outlined in published ethnographic work.

Kinship
Pastoralists have ‘pre-state’ societies and therefore do not have a state, as commonly defined in anthropology (see Scupin, 1995). They are, instead, organised through tribal kinship relations, encompassing, often, thousands of persons. The Basseri were divided into 13 tirehs, with each tireh further subdivided into several oulads.

For most pastoralists, descent is traced through the male (‘patrilinial’) unlike horticulturalists, where matrilineal or matrilocal kinship patterns are common (Nowak & Laird, 2010). The Basseri follow this pattern; membership in an oulad is determined by descent through the male line, and the structure of the tireh is based on connections of descent in the male line (Keesing, 1981). This type of tribal kinship pattern is typical of a segmentary lineage system, in which sub-groups were ideally arranged in a complex structure of complementary opposition and alliances by various groups and sub-groups, though real life often strayed from this ideal (Lindholm, 1986). This tribal kinship organisation, rather than any state-like institution, was used to manage the collective use of land and other resources by the Basseri in their pastoral mode of subsistence. The entire social organisation, in fact, was based upon these tribal kin relationships.

Social Organisation
The Basseri migrated seasonally through a strip of land some 300 miles long; an area of about 2,000 square miles. They settled in one pasture area during summer, when they would also grow some wheat, and were more nomadic during winter (Keesing, 1981). This pattern, with thousands of people moving frequently required, of necessity, a society and social organisation that was flexible and mobile.

Family groups were conceived of as ‘tents’ and were the main units of production and consumption. These tent groups were represented by male heads and held full rights over property. They sometimes acted as independent political units, according to Barth (cited in Keesing, 1981, p. 138). When the group migrated, all of the property of the tent groups – tents, bedding, and cooking equipment – was moved along with the herds. An average family would have 6 to 12 donkeys and somewhat fewer than 100 sheep and goats. In winter, the families separated into small clusters of two to five tents, associated as herding units. The rest of the year, larger camps of 10 to 40 tents moved together. Members of these camps comprised solidary communities, but because of their mobile patterns, quarrelling would sometimes lead to temporary or even permanent fission (Keesing, 1981).

Nowak & Laird (2010) have noted that the Basseri, living in camps of 30 to 50 tents, would strike camp and move every three to four days. The animal herder, a young boy or girl, would leave early in the morning with the herd, while the adults broke camp, loaded their possessions onto pack animals, moved to the new camp, set it up, and prepared for the herds, which would need to be milked upon their arrival.

According to Murdock’s (1967) cross-cultural tabulations (cited in Scupin, 1995, p. 171), pastoralists have a median size of 2,000 people, but in large regions, where villages are tied through economic, social, and political relationships, some tribal populations have denser populations. This indeed appears to be the case for the Basseri as, for thousands of years, they engaged in extensive interaction with surrounding villages and wider state authorities, forming strong trade and political relationships (Keesing, 1981; Amanolahi, 2003). We can see, therefore, that the pastoral mode of subsistence, and the Basseri’s economic and political relations with other societies, had an impact on the size of their society.

At higher levels, the Basseri were divided into 13 tireh, or sections, which were structurally equal, though each tireh might differ significantly in size. Most tireh