Today, around four per cent of Iran's population belong to the Arab ethnic group. While most of them live in the south-western province of Khuzestan, smaller Arabic-speaking communities can also be found among the Khamseh nomads in Fars[1], Khorasan[2], Kerman, Lorestan, Qom and the highlands of Tehran[3] and in some villages in the north of Ilam province[4]. In the two southern Iranian provinces of Bushehr and Hormozgan, the proportion of the Arabic-speaking population is somewhat larger. According to initial surveys by the Atlas Project on the Languages of Iran (ALI)[5], there are around 50 Arabic-speaking villages in Bushehr. According to Nadjmabadi[6], there are twelve villages inhabited by an Arabic-speaking population in the district of Gavbandi, Hormozgan province, alone.
An intensive exchange between the coastal regions on both sides of the Persian Gulf and between the Iranian and Arab populations is already documented for the pre-Islamic period[7]. Particularly from the middle of the 7th century and after the Islamic conquest of the Sassanid Empire, Arab tribes migrated across the Persian Gulf and settled in the southern regions of present-day Iran[8]. According to Nadjmabadi[9], systematic colonisation of the Gulf coast between Kangan (Bushehr) and Bandar Lengeh (Hormozgan) is only documented from the 18th century onwards. However, initial results of a study of the dialect of Bandar Moqam (Hormozgan) indicate that immigration to this region took place earlier.[10] In the chequered history of the region, Arab tribes sometimes controlled the entire coastal region. Niebuhr[11], who travelled through the region in the 18th century, reported that almost all the important ports were under the control of Arab tribes. In the 19th century, Pelly[12] reported that the region between Deylam and Kangan consisted of about three quarters Persians and one quarter Arabs, while further south, between Kangan and Bandar Lengeh, the ratio was reversed. The continuous settlement of Arab tribes, which was probably due to the weakness of the central government, especially during the Zand dynasty (1750-1797), came to an end with the centralisation efforts of Reza Shah (1925-1944).[13] At the same time, since the discovery of oil deposits at the beginning of the 20th century, but especially since the early 1990s, the region has been confronted with a strong influx of people from the highlands who have found work in the oil and gas fields and industrial plants, especially in the Asaluyeh region, which has drastically changed the demographic, economic and socio-cultural situation in the Arab villages along the coast. Despite the influx of Persian settlers, most villages have remained predominantly Arab and Arabic-speaking over the past century.
[1] Dahlgren 2003
[2] Dahlgren 2005, Seeger 2009
[3] www.irancarto.cnrs.fr/record.php
[4] Gheitasi et al. 2017: http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.ilam.
[5] Links: http: //iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.bushehr;
http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.language-distribution.hormozgan; www.irancarto.cnrs.fr/record.php.
[6] Nadjmabadi 2005.
[7] Cf. Nadjmabadi 2005, 2009, Nöldeke 1879, Wilson 1928.
[8] Hinds 1984, Holes 2018
[9] Cf. Nadjmabadi 2005, 2009.
[10] Cf. Leitner et al. 2021.
[11] Niebuhr 2007.
[12] Pelly 1864.
[13] Cf. Nadjmabadi 2005, 2009.
Traditionally, the inhabitants of the Gulf region were farmers, fishermen and pearl divers. In the recent past, the main source of income has been labour migration to the Arab states, which has probably had a significant linguistic impact. There is intensive contact between family members on both sides of the Gulf, today also via social media.[1] However, the Arab minority in the south-eastern Gulf region largely has a different approach to its identity than the more nationalistic Arab population in Khuzestan and, according to Nadjmabadi, consider themselves to be both "Arab" and "Iranian".[2] This is also reflected in their high degree of bilingualism and in the stronger contact-induced influence of Persian on the local Arabic varieties.
Culturally, the Arab minorities are part of a space that extends beyond the political borders of the two provinces. This cultural area is referred to as ǧunubi (southern) or bandari (harbour). It mainly comprises the provinces of Khuzestan, Bushehr and Hormozgan. Despite their different ethnic origins, the inhabitants of this area share certain common practices that unite them and emphasise their ǧunubi identity, such as cuisine, clothing, religious festivals, healing ceremonies, dances and music. The region is characterised by the neyhambune, a southern Iranian bagpipe, which is a common instrument in the Gulf region. The neyhambune is played on festive occasions by many ethnic groups (Persians, Arabs, Lors, Bakhtiars). The local repertoires differ mainly in their lyrics, melodies and basic rhythmic patterns, but use the same melody instrument, more or less similar tonal systems and flexible tuning. In this respect, the neyhambune can be described as a musical marker for the ǧunubi identity, which is used in the musical practices of all ethnic groups and thus unites them. Similarly, many other musical genres, such as zār, neyme (or nehme) and yazle, have a similar identity-forming function within the ǧunubi cultural area.
[1] Cf. Gazsi 2017, 2018.
[2] Nadjmabadi 2005, p. 146.