Fertility Transition in the Sultanate of Oman: Anthropological Approaches to Demographic Dynamics

1980年代，阿曼的生育率是世界上最高的。然而，自20世纪90年代中期以来，伊斯兰国家的出生率出现了戏剧性和独特的下降。尽管这些快速的人口转变，我们仍然对阿曼和邻近的海湾国家的生育率转变知之甚少，因为该地区的人口调查仍然很少，有关该主题的人类学研究几乎不存在。在这一背景下，该项目力求调查阿曼地方一级生育率下降的原因、后果和文化意义。我们的目的是描述和解释，通过民族志的重新研究，在阿尔哈姆拉，阿曼北方的绿洲城镇，从20世纪80年代到今天的生育率变化。该项目的重点是不同世代已婚夫妇在怀孕、生育和计划生育方面的愿望、决定和行动。在过去的35年里，生育决策发生了怎样的变化，这些变化背后的因素是什么？我们认为，关于亲属关系和婚姻的新观念发挥了重要作用。该项目采取整体办法，考虑到地方和国家一级的社会文化和宗教变化以及人口、经济和政治变革。我们的方法建立在人类学人口学跨学科领域的方法论和理论工作的基础上。因此，我们的研究结果将对人类学家和人口学家都感兴趣。

In the 1980s, the fertility rate in Oman was among the highest in the world. However, since the mid-1990s the Islamic nation has witnessed a dramatic and unique decline in its birth rates. Despite these rapid demographic transformations, we still know very little about the fertility transition in Oman and the neighboring Gulf states, as demographic investigations within the region remain sparse and anthropological studies concerning the topic virtually nonexistent. Against this background the project seeks to investigate the causes, consequences and cultural meanings of fertility decline in Oman on the local level. Our aim is to describe and explain, through an ethnographic re-study, the fertility change in al-Hamra, an oasis town in Northern Oman, from the 1980s until today. The project focuses on the desires, decisions and actions of married couples of different generations, concerning pregnancy, birth and family planning. How have reproductive decisions changed during the past thirty-five years, and what are the factors underlying these changes? We assume that new ideas about kinship and marriage play an important role. The project follows a holistic approach and considers socio-cultural and religious changes as well as demographic, economic and political transformations on the local and national level. Our approach builds on methodological and theoretical work within the interdisciplinary field of anthropological demography. Thus, our findings will be of interest for both anthropologists and demographers.