Hadramaut is a region in South Arabia along the Gulf of Aden, extending eastward from Yemen proper to the region of Dhofar in Oman. The inhabitants of this land, the Hadramis had long traversed the Indian Ocean, along the ancient trade route connecting the Middle East to the ‘lands below the wind’. Ever since the seventeenth century, the Hadramis had played important roles in Southeast Asia acting as merchants, religious scholars, landlords, advisors to rulers and even becoming local rulers themselves.

There were several factors facilitating their dispersal throughout the Indian Ocean and their success in achieving upward social mobility. First, the ability to travel facilitated by the trade network; second, an extensive network connecting them to an international community of scholars, increasing their own reputation as scholars of international stature.

Of special importance was their membership of the Shāfi’ī school of jurisprudence, which heavily dominated the Indian Ocean rim; third, their command of Arabic secured them the respect of local rulers; and finally, the cosmopolitan nature of the localities enabled them integrate with local communities without having to be anchored to a particular region. The waters of the Malay Archipelago, for instance, were a space of ‘fluid pluralism’ (Reid, 1988).

The study of Hadramaut and Hadrami migration is a fast-expanding academic field. Following the 1995 landmark conference in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), a number of related works have been produced. All of these works placed great importance to the role of Southeast Asia, especially Singapore and Batavia (Jakarta), to the reformation, modernization and finally state-formation in Hadramaut.

At the same time, the Hadramis were also important players in the history of Southeast Asia. Such interconnectedness highlights the imperative for more studies, particularly on the social and cultural effects of their migration to Southeast Asia both on the region and the homeland.

The attached essay examines one such consequence of migration by looking at the relationship between migration and social transformation. In particular, it focuses on the construction of gender and how migration disrupted traditional gender relations among Hadramis.

This is an area of research which has not been adequately studied to date. It utilizes a fictional work criticizing migration as a point of departure in looking at the effects of migration on the traditional order. The text is important, as it is a critique of migration written from the perspective of the Thariqah Alawiyyah (the dominant Sufi order in Hadramaut), thereby, highlighting the disruption caused by migration to traditional structures.

Studying Hadramaut and the Hadrami migration is important in a place like Singapore. After all, beginning since the mid-nineteenth century, the history of Hadramaut is virtually inseparable with the development in Singapore. The centrality of Singapore’s position to Hadrami migrants as site of investments, center of publication and voluntary association, meant that the island played a paramount role in the nation-building and modernization of Hadramaut.

The roles of the migrants in the development of Singapore is also well-documented such as the establishment of business emporiums by the notable al-Kaff, al-Saggof and al-Junayd families. Such an intense level of historical interellation places Singapore as an effective start-point for further studies of and within the broader historical development of the Indian Ocean.

[The essay is available for download here: “Gold and Silver, Branded horses and well-tilled land”: Gender and Hadrami Migration]

Ismail Fajrie Alatas (Aji) was born in Semarang, Indonesia in 1983. He has a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is currently a research scholar, finishing his MA thesis at the Department of History, National University of Singapore. Aji has published and his latest publication is Sungai tak Bermuara: Risalah Konsep Ilmu Dalam Islam (Jakarta: Diwan, 2006).