Anthropology Of Folk Professions And Attachment To The Land Anthropological Reading

Abstract

The study under investigation aims at exploring the anthropology of popular professions and their 
adherence to the land. The researcher relied on applying anthropological methods and tools to collect 
the research data. This phenomenon is observed and tracked in two different places which are 
characterized, based on historical, social, and economical grounds, by popular professions. The first type 
of popular occupation is the traditional crafts and professions, while the other is agricultural occupations. 
The current field study revealed that employers of the traditional crafts appear to realize the historical 
and cultural value of their traditional professions, and that is closely linked to the place these professions 
are initiated and prospered. Despite the challenges and difficulties that employers encounter, they could 
preserve and maintain their careers by taking advantage of, in one way or another, adherence to the 
land. They worked on staying in the place where these professions historically originated and were 
associated. Agriculture is particularly considered one of the most popular careers that are attached to 
the land in Iraq. This can be explained in terms of the fact that It is still performed by farmers and peasants 
in villages and rural areas that stretch along the Mesopotamia land using the conventional techniques 
and methods. Nevertheless, the agricultural techniques do not form a direct factor that influences 
attaching the agricultural professions to the land. The present study unveiled two essential factors that 
affect the adhering of agricultural careers to the land: the inheritance of the traditional crafts and 
professions, and property and tenure patterns for the agricultural professions.