ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a 24-month anthropological study in the region, the government of Oman having instructed me to examine the felt needs and problems of that population and to design and implement practical social programs to meet the needs. According to Harsuusi oral tradition, the original section of the tribe was Beit Afarri, living in Wadi Kadrit between Salalah and Hadramaut. Access to government personnel for services and for the resolution of disputes that used to be handled exclusively among Harasiis themselves is beginning to erode an identity based solely on tribal membership, and replace it with a broader one that also includes membership in the Omani state. The Northern Mountains, the Southern Mountains, and the Central Desert Plateau, a flat limestone slab called the Jiddat-il-Harasiis, comprise three distinct geological zones within the land area of the Sultanate of Oman.
