Socio-political structure of Khezel tribe of Ilam in west central Zagros from an anthropological perspective

The Khezel tribe is one of the most populous tribes living in the northern regions of Ilam, which in the past had a nomadic way of life, and today they live in Shirvan Cherdavel and Ilam cities, as well as large parts of it in the provinces of Kermanshah, Hamadan, West Azarbaijan and Kurdistan (Chardoli). , Fars and in Iraqi Kurdistan.There is little information about the origin of this tribe. But according to the evidence, its history reaches at least the Safavid period and it has gone through various changes in the later periods. The structure of this tribe is descended from the father and has many tribal, cultural, social and political ties with the neighboring tribes in the past. So that some of these tribes reach a common ancestor, and by its chiefs, treaties were signed to deal with enemy or rival tribes with neighboring. Generally, this tribe had a contract with the Valian (governors) and was considered their allies. It has its own social structure, political hierarchy and power structure. These structures guaranteed the survival of the tribe in times of crisis. In terms of social structure, it consists of Mal-Bane Mal-Hoz, Kheil and Tokhmeh-Tayefah-Tirah and Ile, and in terms of political structure it includes Rish Sefid or Sarmal, Kalin or Kalanter, Kadkhoda, Kadkhoda , head of the tirah and Teshmal respectively (One or two people or more) who were in charge of the head of the tribe jointly and included in the highest level of power Hava negarah or the confederation of the tribe headed by the Vali (governor) (before the first Pahlavi period). The Khezel tribe has 5 tirah, each of these tirah has its own territory and consists of several tayefah. They speak the Southern Kurdish dialect and today they follow the Shiite religion. In this article, we examine the socio-political structure, power hierarchy and the place of religion in The Khezel tribe until the end of the first Pahlavi period, based on field research, that is, on the basis of conversations and narratives that have been narrated by poets and elders in various rituals. The presence in various rituals and also during the archaeological surveys of numerous cemeteries related to the tirah(s) and tayefe(s) of the Khezel tribe and other tribes (which could show the material aspect of this structure) were investigated, and then each of the aforementioned factors was investigated to achieve socio-political structures.

Along with library studies, travelogues and reports written in the past were discussed. In this article, the author has used the emic method (viewpoint and thought of the studied people) and the etic method (researcher's view), are common methods in anthropology, along with library studies and in combination.

The findings of this research show the existence of a systematic socio-political structure in the Khezel tribe, that structures in communication and interaction with each other have been able to maintain the unity of the tribe against other tribes and as a coherent and homogeneous unit both outside and inside and and help maintain order and solve problems