Libya

Libya is an Arab Muslim country situated in north Africa. A country with approximately 6.4 million inhabitants, it had a significant Jewish population at one time, but Jews left due to anti-Jewish riots in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973. Confiscation of property of nonresident Jews took place in 1973 and also affected 45,000 Italians who left Libya after 1973. Libya still has black and Berber populations, the latter largely merged into the dominant culture. Exceptions include the Tuareg, the Blue Men of the Desert, who remain herders and traders and keep traditional ties with kinsmen in the Tibesti and Ahaggar mountains of the Sahara.

The Libyan population are 97 percent Muslim Sunnis. In November 1973, the new code of law mandated Islamic sharia law. Islamic law and faith is pervasive in all customs, culture, and daily life. It defines language, behavior, and dress.

Marriages are arranged by parents with advice and consultation with extended family and lineage. Marriages may link one group with another at some distance or may seal a peace agreement after a feud or cement a trading link. Marriage creates alliances. In a sign of change, in 2010, http://Bestmuslim.com began an online dating and marriage service that has Libyan as well as other Muslim subscribers.

Libyan men network in public—the streets, mosques, cafés, and shops—while the women's networks are at home, a private space. Kin groups live close by in the narrow and winding streets, with some houses joined at the second floor over the street to provide more living space for the extended family. The bridged houses create cul-de-sacs that kin groups sometimes gate off to create a private community. Prominent people and notables have a marabour, a guest room that is quasi-public, where the householder entertains his friends, clients, associates, and supporters. Bedouins separate public and private by camping in kinship groups several miles from other groups.

Both agriculture and Bedouin animal herding are carried out in patrilineal, subsistence, kin-based communities. Communities historically tended to be self-contained, with surpluses traded locally or within the family networks, so their networks and influence in the larger cities or other agricultural areas was restricted. As some became wealthier, they became leaders, but only within their own group. The fortunate support their less-favored kin.

The 1960s brought in rural prosperity and regular jobs that shifted many families from nomadic to sedentary lives. Local political leaders administered state patronage. “Lamb barrel” politics strengthened the traditional structure—family, lineage, tribe, and village. By 1997, only 7 percent of the economy was agricultural, with industry taking 47 percent and services 46 percent.

Social networks drive business in Libya, where the senior person is usually available to all members of the organization. The respect for social status is secondary to the primacy and openness of “family” relationships. Similarly, wasta is influence. Personal and family relationships, mingled with honor and trust, allow for more expeditious action because an influential contact can bend the rules as necessary. Wasta includes reciprocity, [Page 499]as favors are given and returned. Face also matters; acknowledging social rank and personal dignity, are a means of safeguarding family honor and promoting trust.

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