In the Light of Bedouin Homes
This article explores domestic lighting and architecture among a group of settled Bedouin in southern Jordan. It analyzes how light is used to safeguard spaces as part of hospitality practises central to Bedouin culture. By arguing that things are “ecstatic” in the sense that they transcend their own tangibility, the article shows how objects, such as tinted windows, paint and lightbulbs, impose themselves on other objects to shape the preferred visual presence of the world. Such an ecstatic presence is analyzed through the notion of “atmosphere” as the perception of the world through a concomitance of emotions, cultural ideals, and affective material phenomena. The article shows that while boundaries between interior and exterior may be upheld by walls, windows and doors, these boundaries may also simultaneously be permeated by less tangible phenomena to safeguard moral and spiritual aspects of life.