A classic and highly influential ethnography, which explores political leadership among Swat Pathans - and which emphasizes the importance of individual decision-making for wider social processes.

When people in their everyday lives try to explain social phenomena, social events and patterns, they often think whether the phenomena can be plausibly accounted for by the characteristics of the individuals involved in them. This is a reasonable first move, given that there are no social phenomena without the individuals who participate in them. All social collectivities such as classes, families, teams, groups, tribes, clubs, nations, queues are composed of individuals. Classes, families and so on, but also ranks, roles and statuses, relate to ways in which individuals can share characteristics and thus be described as being the same as one another. These concepts refer to an ordering of existence that overarches individuals. But there could be no ranks, roles, tribes or clubs without people to fill or join them. There could be no queue without all the individuals in line who make it up.

Political leadership among Swat Pathans

What Do Individuals Explain

Intervju med Gunnar Håland – Høsten 2009

Obersten og vannflasken. Et møte mellom mennesker i internasjonale operasjoner

The current research was conducted in Dara Adam Khel, Pakistan to explore the structure and procedure of the informal social justice system- commonly known as Jirga. The war on terror made it imperious for tribal Pakhtuns to bring back their chaotic lives on the right track to achieve economic prosperity and peace in the region. Pakhtuns residing in Pakistan have been suffering from this tempestuous situation since decades. Terrorism has brought the social structure to standstill. Due to the war on terror, the Jirga system has experienced a serious setback. The Jirga system has served the Pakhtun society as a complete code of conduct in maintaining peace and harmony. The data was collected through Focus Group Discussions, Key Informant Interviews and In-Depth Interviews. Majority of the respondents were aged between 45 to 70 years and they were selected through purposive sampling technique.

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Political leadership among Swat Pathans

Citations

What Do Individuals Explain

Intervju med Gunnar Håland – Høsten 2009

Obersten og vannflasken. Et møte mellom mennesker i internasjonale operasjoner

Jirga after militancy: traditional social justice system in dara adam khel fr kohat, pakistan

Et møte mellom mennesker i internasjonale operasjoner

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