Islam, Politics, Anthropology (Osella/Islam, Politics, Anthropology) || A Tour not so Grand: Mobile Muslims in Northern Pakistan
✍ Scribed by Osella, Filippo; Soares, Benjamin
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 593 KB
- Edition
- 1
- Category
- Article
- ISBN
- 1444332953
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droughte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendered is the flour; ... Thaan longen folk to go on pilgrimages, And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes.
Geoffrey Chaucer, 'Prologue' to The Canterbury Tales A great deal of my time conducting fieldwork amongst Khowar-speaking Muslims living in the mountainous Chitral region of northern Pakistan is spent travelling between the region's many and dispersed villages and valleys. Chitral is made up of verdant villages sited on alluvial fans located within high mountain valleys flanked by snow-capped peaks and fast-flowing rivers. The beauty of Chitral's landscape is the focus of extensive present-day Khowar poetic composition, much of which describes the feeling of 'freedom' (azadi) to be had from travelling through the region in spring -a season when many Chitralis follow the sweet scent of Russian olive tree blossom up valley as the summer months progress. Yet Chitralis also say that they are 'mice-like' 'prisoners of the mountains' who live in the 'darkest corner' of the world; and they make inter-regional distinctions between 'open' (kulao) and 'narrow' (trang) village life. Life in narrow villages, as well as small towns with busy bazaars, is said to cause people to feel 'heart explosion' (hardi phat) and put them at constant danger from mental 'collapse' (they use the English term). To offset these dangers, groups of young Chitrali men visit villages that are known for being old-fashioned and distinctive places full of 'wonders and marvels' (aja'ibo ghara'ib), or that have earned a reputation for the beauty, hospitality, and 'life-loving' (zindadil) dispositions of their inhabitants. Referred to using the English term 'tours' , these are mostly short trips that involve a one-night stay in the house of a friend. They may also be more expedition-like journeys (safar) that see the travellers walking over high mountain passes and staying in the guesthouses of strangers. Tour-going is an important practice through which Chitralis
Islam, Politics, Anthropology Edited by Filippo Osella and Benjamin Soares