On the Edge of Empire: Hadhramawt, Emigration,
and the Indian Ocean 1880s-1930s

Linda Boxberger
Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2002. 292 pages.

In the preface of her On the Edge of Empire: Hadhramawt, Emigration,
and the Indian Ocean 1880s-1930s, the author explains that a westerner
could conduct research in the Hadhramawt region only after the unifica-
tion of North and South Yemen in May 1990. Hence, we can conclude
that Boxberger’s work is an effort to add to our knowledge of this under-
researched area. I have seldom read such a wonderfully detailed book,
clearly written and polysonic in its application of diverse research
methodologies, such as archive studies and oral stories collected from
anthropological fieldwork. It gives several important insights into a com-
plex history of one of Arabia’s most fascinating regions.

One often encounters the notion that Arabia has been isolated from
foreign influence, and thus left alone with its own traditions and lifestyles.
This understanding particularly applies to Yemen, as being a mythical land
that has not changed since ancient times. However, this is far from the
truth. Since Yemen could be viewed as what the rest of Arabia would have
been without oil, one could conclude that petrodollars have actually con-
served certain cultural values and social organizations. Yemen, on the
other hand, has experienced communism, civil war, and recently democ-
ratization, unlike other parts of the Arabian peninsula. 

Boxberger’s study covers Hadhramawt’s Qu’ayti and Kathiri sul-
tanates during 1880-1930, a period that is crucial for understanding mod-
ern Yemen. Her study focuses on the British influence, as these sultanates
became British protectorates; the emigration of natives to other parts of
the Indian Ocean region; and the development of modern communication

114 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 21:1



technologies. The traditional culture is discussed in relation to the change
caused by all of these new influences.

Arabs have a long history of traveling throughout the Indian Ocean
region, and these migrations shaped the Hadhrami identity “back home”
to a great extent. Boxberger analyzes the phenomenon of emigration,
which creates conservatism and nostalgia for the homeland, and with
which, I believe, one can find apparent parallels with the global Muslim
diaspora today. Referring to anthropologists’ observations of this phe-
nomenon, she writes: “Hadhrami literary production also extolled the
homeland for its moral purity, contrasting it with the temptations and cor-
ruptions of the outside world … the austere pure homeland was the abode
of pious and worthy spiritual leaders, living and dead, who provided the
anchor to the Hadhramis’ ancestral and religious roots. The outside world,
on the other hand, was a corrupt place where the quest for material wealth
led to the abandonment of ancestry and religion” (p. 45).

This view is applicable to many migrating Muslim groups. What is
also of great interest is Boxberger’s thorough account of how the emi-
grants established religious and cultural organizations, as well as schools,
in their new places of residence. Their incitement and motivation for
doing so, along with their internal debates and power struggles, resonates
with much of what we see today among Muslims in the West. 

One of the major problems with Muslims today is that they lack an
understanding of historical processes in the Muslim world. They might
have a good knowledge of the Islamic scriptures, but they are often totally
unaware of how these texts have been interpreted in various contexts
throughout history. Therefore, Boxberger’s book is important not only for
those with an interest in the region, but also for Muslims in general, in
order to understand previous Islamic debates. The discussion on equality
among all Muslims versus such traditional, privileged, and tribal groups
as the sadah (sing. sayyid) was discussed within reform-oriented groups
in the early twentieth century (p. 53). Various political aspects of Islam
were also widely debated during the First World War, such as questioning
the legality of signing treaties with non-believers and jihad (i.e., Muslim
solidarity and unity against foreign imperialism) (pp. 198-207). 

Having studied the contemporary situation of guest workers in oil
states, I find another interesting analogy in Boxberger’s study: the emi-
grants’ display of their new riches and luxury upon their return to
Hadhramawt. She says: “Competition in the ostentatious display of mate-
rial wealth forced men to migrate in search of fortune and caused the

Book Reviews 115



homeland to suffer the lack of the emigrants’ contribution to society at the
same time that their wives and children suffered the absence of their hus-
bands and fathers” (p. 139). I think that this is still going on in many parts
of the Muslim world. The difference may be that the sultans at that time
were more progressive than Muslim leaders today, because in the early
1920s attempts were made to limit the display of material wealth in order
to protect the poorer native population. For instance, silk and decorated
clothing and certain pieces of jewelry could be worn in public only on spe-
cial occasions. They even regulated the wedding parties and the number of
celebration parties that the returning emigrants could hold!

In summary, Boxberger has provided us with an exemplary piece of
history from a dynamic part of the Muslim world. And, as we all know,
without history the future will be much more complicated.

Soumaya Pernilla Ouis
Human Ecology Division, Lund University 

Lund, Sweden

116 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 21:1