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The Geographical Journal, 2003
The Journal of Asian Studies, 2008
Nomadic Peoples, 2007
The Kyrgyz pastoralists of Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor have weathered thirty years of endemic warfare and warlordism, large population outmigrations, and social and health problems ranging from widespread opium addiction to having possibly the world’s highest maternal mortality rate. Yet, despite the odds and the predictions of specialists that the Wakhan Kyrgyz would soon follow their kinsmen into neighbouring countries as refugees, this 1,500 person community continues to follow the innovative pastoral production strategies developed over the past 100 years as a result of having to cope with the demands of year-round residence in such harsh conditions and with little overall land available. However, today, the persistence of the Wakhan Kyrgyz may be reaching its limits and the community has considered ‘repatriation’ to Kyrgyzstan as an alternative to the remoteness of the Afghan Pamirs.
Routledge , 2019
Pamiris, or Badakhshanis in popular discourse, form a small group of Iranic peoples who inhabit the mountainous region of Pamir-Hindu Kush, being the historical region of Badakhshan. Pamiri communities are located in the territories of four current nation states: Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China and Pakistan. This book provides insights into the identity process of a group of mountain communities whose vigorous cultures, languages and complex political history have continued to shape a strategic part of the world. Its various chapters capture what being a Pamiri may entail and critically explore the impact of both trans-regionalism and the globalisation processes on activating, engaging and linking the dispersed communities. The book presents a variety of lines of argument pertaining to Pamiri identity and identification processes. Structured in three parts, the book first addresses themes relevant to the region’s geography and the recent history of Pamiri communities. The second section critically explores the rich philosophical, religious and cultural Pamiri heritage through the writings of prominent historical figures. The final section addresses issues pertaining to the contemporary diffusion of traditions, peace-building, interconnectivity and what it means to be a Pamiri for the youth of the region. Contributions by experts in their field offer fresh insights into the Ismaili communities in the region while successfully updating the historical and ethnographic legacy of Soviet times with present-day scholarship. As the first collection of scholarly contributions in English entirely focusing on the Pamiri people, this book will be of interest to academics in the fields of the history, anthropology, religious studies, sociology, linguistics, education and geography of Central Asia and/or East Asia as well as of Islam, Islamic thought, minority-majority relations, population movements and the processes of defining and affirming identity among minority groups.
Mountain Research and Development, 2019
Modern Asian Studies, 2019
In this article, I set out to explore the possibility of a shared life between two places in the highlands of Pakistan and Tajikistan – a region dissected by Afghanistan’s narrow Wakhan corridor, by present-day nation-state boundaries, by historical divisions between Central and South Asia, and by a former Cold War frontier. Moving away from a take on conviviality as specifically tied to urban spaces and face-to-face encounters, I attempt to trace the processes that determine the coming and going of shared modes of being. In doing so, I first situate the two places – Karimabad and Khorog – in their respective post-Cold War borderlands and point to their historically ambivalent status as ‘marginal’ places at the frontier, culturally diverse ‘hubs’, and sites of globalization. Then I analyse the historical build-up – material and ideological – which led to the establishment of specific forms of connection and disconnection between the two places. In the last part of the article, I discuss how people in and from Karimabad and Khorog seek out opportunities to attain shared instances of common sociality, which often remain ephemeral and subject to regimes of power. Finally, I argue that the cases of these two ‘marginal hubs’ highlight the importance of looking beyond the conventional ‘imperial centre’ when debating the dynamics that lead people to desire, create and abandon ties across difference.
Central Asian Survey, 2004
Mongols, Turks, and Others: Eurasian Nomads and the Sedentary World, 2005
Academia Letters, 2021
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 2024
Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 1995
JAOS 142: 484-487, 2022
History of political economy, 2000
Published in: Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–600 CE) (eds. Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Anders Runesson, Cecilia Wassén, and Magnus Zetterholm; Coniectanea Biblica Series; Lanham, MD: Lexington/Fortress, 2022), 401–421., 2022
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly , 2019
M. Brose et al. (eds), En détail – Philologie und Archäologie im Diskurs: Festschrift für Hans-Werner-Fischer-Elfert (ZÄS Beihefte 7; Berlin, Boston), 2019
Systems, 2023
Experiments in Worlding Ethnography, 2024
Internatinal and political research quarterly, 2018
Igya ser hanjop, 2022
Ajanta: The Great Canopy of Indian Art, 2024