ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on general demographic dynamics has demonstrated the relative stability since the 1950s of the already low mortality rates among the Bedouin, with only a minor decline. The relationships between mode of production and demographic regime is more clearly manifested in the longer run. The gradually rising fertility between the mid-1950s and early 1970s is indicative of the gradual change in mode of production. The main method for the analysis of demographic dynamics along the nomadism-sedentarism continuum is a synchronic cross-section of the various groups situated in different phases. An examination of the changing value of children is of particular significance to the analysis of current fertility behavior among the Negev Bedouin. Several aspects of demographic dynamics that are of critical social significance will be considered. These include general demographic trends, child mortality, fertility behavior, and aging. The structural framework for the analysis of demographic dynamics is thus composed of two dimensions: the spatiogeographic-development and the socioethnic one.