Table Of ContentFeatures 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
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Set in Press Roman 100n 12 point
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© 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
