Photos Tell of Nomadic Life

Nomadic Bedouin tribes of the Arabian Peninsula are the subject of “Razza,” a photographic series at the Grove Gallery at UC San Diego through Jan. 7. San Diego photographer John C. Sant spent three years in the desert documenting the Bedouin tradition of razza-- raiding a rival’s camp.

Although the raid is a hostile event, unwritten Bedu law requires observance of 24 hours of hospitality. Sant’s photographs reveal that the razza, in which the Bedouin take what they need to survive in the desert, often ends over tea.

Sant’s photographs also document the encroachment of the modern world on the itinerant Bedouins. The current generation of Bedouins have seen their life style change from living in goat hair tents and herding sheep and goats across the desert floor to living in concrete-block huts and commuting to work by automobile in nearby towns.