ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses negotiating boundaries and reconstructing landscapes. It is about landscapes as dynamic socio-geographic entities that are constantly being reshaped by political, economic and social forces as well as shifts in moral and value systems. The chapter describes the power of changing economic relations in shaping the socio-geographic landscape of Bedouin women and children. It is part of a wider research undertaken in the town of Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt. A connection between the well-being of women and children and the introduction of economies based on capitalism and market forces has been accepted unquestioningly by governments in the developing world. The introduction of tourism as a new and the main economic activity in Dahab has affected the socio-geographic landscapes within which women operate. Urbanization and sedentarization have worked together to restrict women’s movements. The confinement of women to one particular space – that is, the Interior – only occurred after the introduction of market economy, urbanization and tourism.
