ABSTRACT
The Conclusion situates members’ historical persuasions and representational contentions in the Naqab amid broader forms of affiliation and connectivity in the Middle East. It argues that for the Bedouin, the past, present, and future are not separate. This is particularly the case with genealogical and tribal history projects which join more far-reaching ethno-national and Islamic associations. By way of analysis, it questions whether the notion of visual historicity can provide a novel way to conceptualise people’s diverse relationships with photographs as authenticating but interpretive documents of the past, particularly amongst non-Western peoples like Bedouin whose photographic literacies and access to image-making technologies have grown substantially since the twenty-first century. By way of an answer, the chapter explores what Bedouin visual of historicity might look like.
