Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans (Routledge Revivals)

Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans (Routledge Revivals) PDF Author: Akbar Ahmed
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136810749
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
First published in 1976, this Routledge Revivals reissue presents an analysis of the Swat Pathans, the people of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, who belong administratively to Pakistan despite being a fiercely independent group, with their own codes and ways of life. Akbar S. Ahmed, who knows the Swat Pathans well through his family connections, presents a clear and sophisticated analysis of their complex society. The study provides an anthropological and critical re-examination of the ethnography of the Swat Pathans and the author suggests specific alternative models of social organization. The book also represents an important contribution to the general debate in the social sciences between the ‘methodological individualists’ and the ‘methodological holists’, and challenges some of the theoretical and methodological premises in anthropology. In particular the author is critical of Professor Fredrik Barth’s study of Swat Pathans, for he believes that the ‘Swat models’ have inadvertently become the basis for generalized, and often incorrect, understanding of models of Pathan socio-political organization in the social sciences.

Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans (Routledge Revivals)

Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans (Routledge Revivals) PDF Author: Akbar Ahmed
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136810749
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
First published in 1976, this Routledge Revivals reissue presents an analysis of the Swat Pathans, the people of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, who belong administratively to Pakistan despite being a fiercely independent group, with their own codes and ways of life. Akbar S. Ahmed, who knows the Swat Pathans well through his family connections, presents a clear and sophisticated analysis of their complex society. The study provides an anthropological and critical re-examination of the ethnography of the Swat Pathans and the author suggests specific alternative models of social organization. The book also represents an important contribution to the general debate in the social sciences between the ‘methodological individualists’ and the ‘methodological holists’, and challenges some of the theoretical and methodological premises in anthropology. In particular the author is critical of Professor Fredrik Barth’s study of Swat Pathans, for he believes that the ‘Swat models’ have inadvertently become the basis for generalized, and often incorrect, understanding of models of Pathan socio-political organization in the social sciences.

Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans

Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description


Pashtun Identity and Geopolitics in Southwest Asia

Pashtun Identity and Geopolitics in Southwest Asia PDF Author: Iftikhar H. Malik
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 1783084960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
‘Pashtun Identity and Geopolitics in Southwest Asia’ brings together Pakistan and Afghanistan as two inseparable entities by investigating areas such as the evolution and persistence of the Taliban, quest for Pashtun identity, the ambivalent status of the tribal region and the state of civic clusters on both sides. In addition to their relations with the United States and the EU, a due attention has been devoted to regional realties while looking at relations with India and China. The study explores vital disciplines of ethnography, history, Islamic studies, and international relations and benefits from a wide variety of source material. The volume takes into account the salient subjects including political Islam, nature and extent of violence since 9/11, failure of Western policies in the region, the Drone warfare, and the emergence of new regimes in Kabul, Islamabad and Delhi offering fresh opportunities as well as new threat perceptions.

Empire and Tribe in the Afghan Frontier Region

Empire and Tribe in the Afghan Frontier Region PDF Author: Hugh Beattie
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1838600841
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
Waziristan, a region on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, has in recent years become a flash point in the so-called 'War on Terror'. Hugh Beattie looks at the history of this region, examining British attempts to manage the tribes from 1849 until Pakistan's declaration of independence in 1947. He explores British attempts to divide the frontier region into separate British and Afghan spheres of influence. In the minds of British policymakers, this demarcation would secure the position of the Empire, and so Beattie highlights the various policy initiatives towards the frontier region over the period in question. Crucially, he analyses how the British perceived the local tribes, what constituted authority within tribal frameworks, and the military and political ramifications of these perceptions. As he also explores the contemporary relevance of this region, taking into account the resurgence of the Taliban in Waziristan, Beattie's analysis is vital for those interested in the history and security implications of the Afghan frontier with Pakistan.

Historical Dictionary of Pakistan

Historical Dictionary of Pakistan PDF Author: Shahid Javed Burki
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442241489
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 727

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Book Description
Pakistan is unlike most other countries in the emerging world. It is one of the two nations – the other being the state of Israel – founded on the basis of religion. Although it was created to provide a homeland for the Muslim community of British India, in its original form it was able to accommodate only about half of the people of Islamic faith who lived in the subcontinent. Pakistan’s birth in 1947 resulted in one of the largest movements of people in human history when some 14 million people left their homes, with 8 million Muslims leaving India for what is now Pakistan and 6 million Hindus and Sikhs moving in the opposite direction. This was the first large-scale incidence of ethnic cleansing the world was to witness. This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Pakistan covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Pakistan.

Revolution Unending

Revolution Unending PDF Author: Gilles Dorronsoro
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231510240
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Having traveled and researched in Afghanistan since 1988, Gilles Dorronsoro has developed a rich and nuanced understanding of the country's history and people. In Revolution Unending he draws on his extensive firsthand experience to consider the political, historical, economic, and ethnic factors that will influence Afghanistan's future. He argues that U.S. optimism about Afghanistan following Western intervention and recent elections fails to appreciate the divisions that continue to define the country. While not underestimating the oft-cited "ethnic factor" in Afghan politics, especially Pashtun dominance, Dorronsoro argues that class and the competition for employment and education are key factors in explaining the country's recent past. The 1990s saw the triumph of religious authorities (the ulema) and the marginalization of the traditional elites. With coalition intervention in 2001 and the subsequent deposition of the ulema-dominated Taliban, the educated elites are back in power. However, as Dorronsoro argues, patching up the country by means of short-term ethnic alliances and a new division of the spoils will only perpetuate the schisms in society. The Afghan civil war, Dorronsoro suggests, is set to continue and perhaps worsen over time.

Geopolitics of the Pakistan–Afghanistan Borderland

Geopolitics of the Pakistan–Afghanistan Borderland PDF Author: Syed Sami Raza
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100029983X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
To understand the historical complexity of the Pakistan–Afghanistan borderland, this book brings together some of the foremost thinkers of this borderland and seeks to approach its various problematic dimensions. This book presents an overview of the geopolitics of the Pakistan–Afghanistan borderland and approaches the topic from different methods and perspectives. It focuses on some of the least debated dimensions of this borderland, for instance, the status of women in the tribal-border culture, the legal status of aliens in the making of the border, material and immaterial manifestations of the border, political aesthetics of the border, and the identity crisis on the border. Given the fact that its authors come from diverse backgrounds, academic and geographic, they make an enriching contribution. Employing their expertise in different theories and methods, they focus on local memories, literature, and wisdom to understand the border. This book seeks to give voice to the plight of local tribal people, their culture, and land on an advanced academic level and makes it legible for the international audience. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Geopolitics.

Fundamentalism Reborn?

Fundamentalism Reborn? PDF Author: William Maley
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 9780814755860
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
A collection of essays tracing the rebirth of fundamentalism in Afghanistan In 1996, the world watched with varying degrees of interest, surprise, and unease as armed, ultra-fundamentalist insurgents overthrew the Afghan government. Within days of their victory, the Taliban, a militant Islamic sect, were issuing draconian religious decrees, restricting women's employment and movement, rounding up Afghans at gunpoint to pray five times a day, and publicly executing political opponents and criminals. Composed of essays commissioned from the foremost experts on the Taliban, this anthology traces the movement's origins, its ascendance, the reasons for its success, and its role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Crucial to the Taliban's staying power as a governing force will be its relations with neighboring countries and with the West. Interestingly, given their intense hatred of Iran, the Taliban were enthusiastically supported by the U.S. government up to the very moment of their triumphant arrival in Kabul. Examining yet another country on the brink of ethnic disintegration, Fundamentalism Reborn? is a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the history, rise to power, and future of the most dramatic manifestation of Islamic fundamentalism since the Iranian revolution.

Kinship, Honour and Money in Rural Pakistan

Kinship, Honour and Money in Rural Pakistan PDF Author: Alain Lefebvre
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136805974
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
International migration is favoured by the governments of many poorer countries despite often well-publicized abuses affecting individual migrant workers. Not only is local unemployment reduced but also it is expected that the migrants will learn new skills, with many even becoming entrepreneurs on their return home. Meantime they are seen as a source of foreign remittances, providing needed capital for economic development. Such is the attitude in Pakistan from where thousands of migrant workers leave every year for the Gulf states especially. An anthropological study approaching this issue from a local (village) level, this book focuses on two areas of the Punjab. Describing the historical passage of rural life from pre-colonial times to the present, it shows how the rural economy of the Punjab was not transformed by the green revolution - on the contrary, it is still a subsistence economy. The resulting poverty combined with Pakistan's labour-market policies forces many Punjabi men to seek work abroad, in turn bringing changes to the economic role of the women left behind. Remittances from abroad have brought further changes on the economic and social life of the villages but not, as expected, to bring economic development let alone capital or entrepreneurialism to the area.

The Thistle and the Drone

The Thistle and the Drone PDF Author: Akbar S. Ahmed
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815723784
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Argues that the campaigns that fall under "The War on Terror" have exacerbated the already-broken relationship between central Islamic governments and the tribal societies within their borders.