Features of Person and Society in Swat: Collected Essays on Pathans PDF
Preview Features of Person and Society in Swat: Collected Essays on Pathans
Features of person and society in Swat Collected essays on Pathans International Library of Anthropology Editor: Adam Kuper, University of Leiden Arbor Sclentlae Arbor Vitae A catalogue of other Social Science books published by Routledge & Kegan Paul wil be found at the end of this volume. Features of person and society in Swat Collected essays on Pathans Selected essays of Fredrik Barth ‘ Volume II Routledge & Kegan Paul London, Boston and Elenley First published in 1982 by Routledge & Kegan Poul Ltt 39 Store Street London WCIE TDD, 9 Park Street, Boston, Mast. 02108, USA, and Broadway House, Newtown Road, Benicy-om Thames, Oxon RGS 1EN Set in Press Roman 100n 12 point and printed in Great Britain by Biling & Sons Lontted Guiliford, London, Oxford and Worcester © Fredrik Barth 1985 No part of this book may be reproduced in any Form without permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief ‘passages in eriticism British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Barth, Frednit, Selected exsays of Fredrik Barth. (International brary of anthalogy ) Vol. 2: Features of person and society in Swat 1. Bthnology L Series 301.208 © GN325— 80-41524 ISBN 0-7100-0620-9 Contents Introduetion 1 Beologle relationships of ethnic groups in Swat, ‘North Pakistan 2 The system of social stratification in Swat, North Pakistan 3. Sepmentary opposition and the Theory of Games: A study of Pathan organization 4 Role dilemmas and father-son dominance in Middle astern kinship systems 5. Ethnic processes on the Pathan-Baluch boundary 6 Pathan identity and its maintenance 7 Swat Pathans reconsidered ‘Bibliography Index iy 55 a3 93 103 yz. 182 186 Introduction Swat Pathans have figured prominently in my writing, and perhaps at times overmuch in my thinking in anthropology. Swat was my second proper fieldwork, better prepared and more confidently pursued than my first one among the Kurds, yet subjectively still novel and momen- tous, and therefore more formative than subsequent field experiences elsewhere. Perhaps for this reason, Swat Pathans impressed themselves very forcefully an my awareness. I have been variously criticized for casting my analysis of Swat in theoretical moulds adopted from other sources, such as Norwegian entrepreneurs (Ahmed, 1976:9 ff., though my brief study of Norwegian entrepreneurship was made subsequently to my main publications on Swat), or from Hobbes (Asad, 1972:8 ff., though Hobbes had been one of many lacunae in my reading). My ‘own judgment would be to the contrary, that perhaps the experience of Swat Pathans has at times unduly dominated my general under- standing of Man, and thus my theoretically intended formulations. ‘Their remarkable vitality and tndividualism proved both easy to recog- nize und subjectively compelling. The relatively undisguised. harshness of their lives and their explicitly strategic reasoning in their dealings with and understanding of others, seemed to lay bare basie and ele- mentary forces in society. Their yeaming for social independence, for honour and security through self-sufficiency, wore easy to dentify and admire, and seemed to provide « key to what propelled them and guided them in many of their activities event when the collective result sometimes spelled dependence and defeat. Their cultural focus on ‘real’ things — land, gold, and women in their own terms — rather than on more obviously symbolically transformed idioms and prizes, seemed slemental and fathomable. Yet these were all features that appeazed to it uneaslly into the prevailing structural-functional paradigm which dominated the anthropology of the 1950s. To me all these fearues seomed to provide elements for a more realistic and truer paradigm of the (inter-Jrelation of the individual and society for which I was search 2 Ineroduetion ing one which would allow us to identify the goals and rationality of ‘many pattems of individual behaviour without prejudging the ration ality, or functionalism, of many of the collective consequences of such. behaviour! Each of the essays reprinted below was a step in the effort to analyse ‘major substantive features of the social organization of Swat while at ‘the same time uncovering the elements for such a general paradigm. With the hindsight of subsequent fieldwork in other cultures, I would judge the former purpose to have been more folly achieved than the latter, and that it may not have been til the 1970s that my generally intended statements were given a form where the stamp of Swat had been seduced to appropriate dimensions. The essays also address other, more specific, theoretical challenges that I felt arose from the nature of the material. These include an early venture in ecologic analysis, che application of the Theory of Games to the main lineaments of a political system, an analysis of sockal stratification and easte, and the processes at work in ethnic differentia. tion and identity in a situation of social inequality and wide dispersal. A persistent challenge also arises from the large scale and complexity of the sacial system in Swat, posing problems that are still trouble some in anthropology today. The last chapter is new to this volume, and readdresses several of these issues, as well as some that have been taised by others in critiques and commentaries to my analysis of Swat. It is based in part on additional data from brief visits to Swat in 1960, 1974, 1978 and 1979. Fredrik Barth Odo 1 Ecologic relationships of ethnic groups in Swat, North Pakistan The importance of ecologic factors for the form and distribution af cottures has usually been analysed by means of a culture area concept. This concept has been developed with reference to the aboriginal cultures of North America (Kroeber, 1939). Attempts at delimiting culture ateas in Asia by similar procedures have proved extremely difficult (Bacon, 1946; Krocber 1947; Miller, 1953), since the distri bution of cultural types, ethnic groups, and natural areas rarely coin- cide. Coon (1951) speaks of Middle Eastem society as being built on a mosaic priaclple many ethnic groups with radically different cultures co-reside in an area in symbiotic relations of variable intimacy. Referring to a similar structure, Pumivall (1944) describes the Nether- lands Indies as a plural society, The common characteristic in these ‘two casts is the combination of ethaic segmentation and economic interdependence, Thus the ‘environment’ of any one ethnie group is not enly defined by natural conditions, but also by the presence and activities of the other ethnic groups on which it depends. Each group exploits only a section of the total environment, and leaves large pparts of it open for other groups to exploit. ‘This interdependence is analogous to thst of the different animal species in a habitat. As Kroeber (1947:336) emphasizes, culture area classifications are essentially ecologic; thus detailed ecologic consider. ations, rather than geographical areas of subcontinental size, should offer the point of departure. The present paper attempts to apply a more specific ecologic approach to a case study of distribution by utilizing some of the concepts of animal ecology, particularly the concept of a niche — the place of a group in the total enviranment, its relations to resources and competitors (ef. Allee, 1949:516). * Fire published in Americen Anchropologtst (1956), VoL. SB, no. 6, 1079-89. 4 Ecologic relationships of ethnic groups in Swat, North Pakistan Group The present example is simple, relatively speaking, and is concerned with the three major ethnic groups in Swat state, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan.” These are: (I) Pathans — Pashto-speaking (Iranian language family) sedentary agriculturalists; (2) Kohistands — speakers of Dardic languages, practising agriculture and transhumant herding; and (3) Gujars — Cujri-speaking ( lowland Indian dialect) nomadic herders, Kohistanis are probebly the ancient inhabitants of most of Swat; Pathans entered as conquerors in successive waves between A.D. 1000-1600, and Gujars probably first appeared in the area some 400 years ago. Pathans of Swat State number about 450,000, Kohistanis pethaps 30,000. The aumber of Gujars in the area is difficult to esti- mate. ‘The centralized state organization in Swat was first established in 1917, and the most recant accretion was annexed in 1947, s0 the central organization has no relevance for the distributional problems discussed here. Area ‘Swat state contains sections of two main valleys, those of the Swat and the Indus rivers. The Swat river rises in the high mountains to the North, among 18,000-foot peaks. As it descends and grows in volume, it enters 2 deep gorge. This upper section of the valley is thus very narrow and steep. From approximately 5,000 feet, the Swat valley ‘becomes increasingly wider as one proceeds southward, and is flanked bby ranges descending from 12,000 to 6,000 feet in altitude, The river here has a more meandering course, and the valley bottom is a flat, extensive alluvial deposit. ‘The east border of Swat state follows the Indus river; only its west bank and tributaries are inchided in the area under discussion, The Indus enters the area as a very lenge river; it flows in a spectacular Borge, 15,000 feet deep and from 12 to 16 muiles wide. Even in the north, the valley bottom is less than 3,000 feet above sea level, whille the surrounding mountains reach 18,000 feet. The tributary valleys are consequently short and deeply cut, with an extremely steep profile. Further co the south, the surrounding mountain ranges recede from the river banks and lose Height, the Indus deposits some sediment, and the tributary streams form wider valleys. eologie relationships of ethote groups tn Swat, North Pakistan 5 Climatic variations in the area are a function of altitude. Precipita- tion is low throughout. The southem lowaltitude areas have long, hot summers and largely steppe vegetation. The Indus gorge has been deseribed as desert embedded between icy gravels’ (Spate, 1954:382). ‘The high mountains are partly covered by permanent ice and snow, and at lower levels by natura mountain meadows in the bref summer season. Between these extremes is a broad belt (from 6,000 to 11,000 feet) of forest, mainly of pine and deodar. Pathas Kohistan! distribution Traditional history, in part relating to place-names of villages and wninhabiied ruins, indicates that Kohistani inhabitants were driven progressively northward by Pathan invaders (ef. Stein, 1929-33, 83). This northward spread has tow been checked, and the border between Kohistani and Pathan territories has been stable for some time. The last Pathan expansion northward in the Swat valley took place under the Jeadership of the Saint Akhund Sadiq Baba, eight generations ago. To understand the factors responsible for che stability of the present athmic border, it is necessary to examine the specific ecologie require- ‘ments of the present Pathan economy and organization. Pathans of Swat live in a complex, multi-caste society, The land- holding Pakhtun caste is orgenized in localized, segmentary, unilineal descent groups; other castes and occupational groups are ed to them as political clients and economic serfs. Subsistence is based on diversi- fied and well-developed plough agriculture. The main crops are wheat, ‘maize, and rice; much of the ploughed land is watered by artificial inrigation. Manuring is practised, and several systems of crop rotation and regular fallow-field rhythms are followed, according to the nature cof the soil and water supply. All rive is irrigated, with nucsery beds and transplantation Gnly part of the Pathan population is actively engagsd in agriculture, Various other occupational groups perform specialized services in setuen for payment in kind, and thus require thet the agriculturalists Produce 4 considerable surplus. Further, and pethaps more importantly, ‘the political system depends on a strong hierarchical organization of landowners and much political activity, centering around the men’s houses (fegra). This activity diverts much manpower from productive pursuits. The large and well-organized Pathan tribes are found in the lower parts of the Swat valley and along the more southerly tributaries
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