Identity, History and Trans-Nationality in Central Asia

The Mountain Communities of Pamir

Dagikhudo Dagiev, Carole Faucher, Dagikhudo Dagiev, Carole Faucher

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351124249
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Estudios étnicos

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 in 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.

1

Introduction

Locating Pamiris in Central Asia

Carole Faucher and Dagikhudo Dagiev

This book represents the first collection of scholarly articles in English language entirely focusing on the Pamiri people. The Pamiris are also called Badakhshani, a small group of Iranic peoples inhabiting the mountainous region of Pamir-Hindu Kush, a historical region of Badakhshan. The Pamirs are divided among Tajikistan, Afghanistan, the northern area of Pakistan and the south-west of China’s Xinjiang province. Even though ‘Pamir’ is most of the time used in the context of Tajikistan, Postnikov (2001) argues that the geographical name of Pamir can be applied to a much broader area than the current territories of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) of Tajikistan. Several names have been used to indicate GBAO which literary translates into English as Autonomous Region of Mountain Badakhshan. In Tajikistan, the region is officially called Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni Badakhshon. However, initially GBAO was created in 1925, and the Russian designated appellation of GBAO has been widely accepted by scholars as allusion to Badakhshan of Tajikistan. Therefore, in this book GBAO has been used to refer to Badakhshan of Tajikistan. It is also important to note that other groups are inhabiting the Pamirs, including the Kyrgyzs who live in the eastern part of the GBAO of Tajikistan. This book does not pretend to cover all communities living in the Pamirs region but instead focuses on the groups whose members call themselves loosely Pamiri and are united on the basis of their religious confession, Ismailism, a branch of Shiʿa Islam whose presence in the region dates back to as early as the 10th and 11th centuries and is associated with the activities of the Ismaili daʿi and hujja Nasir-i Khusraw (1004–1088). Furthermore, Pamiris speak heterogeneous languages, all included in the Eastern Iranian group of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. These languages are currently on the UNESCO’s list of endangered languages. In writings referring to Tajikistan and Afghanistan, Pamiri or Badakhshani is often adopted interchangeably while regional or linguistic group names such as Wakhi or Shughnani are used when the focus is on one specific community of the Mountainous region or to emphasise the linguistic, political or cultural history of that same community.

With respect to the academic literature addressing issues pertaining to Pamiri identity, we can identify two major trends. The first one regroups relatively recent scholarly writings published in English, German and French. Through this body of work, identity is not so much engaged directly nor problematised but the different contextualisations provide strong grounds for its articulation. Over the past two decades, the number of academic publications in English referring to Pamir and Pamiri has grown substantially. Recent peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in English focus on issues pertaining directly to Pamiri identity (see, e.g. Elnazarov and Aksakolov 2011; Dodykhudoeva, 2004; Yountchi, 2011; Goodhand, 2016; Straub, 2014; Faucher, 2017; Iloliev, 2008; Mock, 2011; Mostowlansky, 2017; Goibnazarov, 2016). Critical book contributions in English to the field of Pamiri studies address aspects of political, social and religious life, past or present, that are no doubt pertinent to the entire Central Asian region. The list of academic books in English dedicated entirely to Pamiri issues includes the following works: The Ismaili Sufi Sage of Pamir by the historian Abdulmamad Iloliev (2008) and Nasir Khusraw: The Ruby of Badakhshan by Alice C. Hunsberger (2000). Three books on contemporary issues have problematised the aspects of the Pamiri identity’s framework in ways that have helped to shift the discussion from a Central Asian or Tajikistan focus to one that exposes the unique social and political dynamics of the Pamirs. Among those works are Frank Bliss’ Social and Economic Change in the Pamirs (2006), Otambek Mastibekov’s Leadership and Authority in Central Asia: The Ismaili Community in Tajikistan (2014) and Suzanne Levi-Sanchez’s The Afghan-Central-Asia Borderland (2016).

Literature in Russian, on the other hand, shows a greater focus on identity formation, and scholars publishing in Russian have engaged in debates concerning identity and labelling more directly compared to Western-based scholars. The focus on group identity was already a strong prerogative of Soviet and pre-Soviet scholarship. Soviet Oriental Studies, especially, were preoccupied with defining historical and cultural identities of the populations living in the Soviet republics (Kemper, 2011:4) by producing extremely detailed ethnographic and historical accounts and were, in the majority of cases, commissioned by governmental institutions.

It is worth noting that Soviet scholarship has been instrumental in setting the parameters of Pamiri identity in Tajikistan, and, to a lesser degree, in Afghanistan. Among those scholars who have written in Russian are A.A. Semenov and V.V. Bartol’d, who has done several important studies on Pamiri Tajiks including history, religious belief, religious ceremonies, religio-philosophical views and pre-Islamic beliefs and rituals. M. S. Andreev’s volumes, Tadzhiki doliny Khuf (1953, 1958), represent a significant contribution to the ethnography of the Tajiks of the Khuf Valley and serve as a valuable source in regard to the material and spiritual culture of the mountaineers of the Pamir region. I.I. Zarubin’s ‘Materialy i Zametki po Ėtnografii Gornykh Tadzhikov. Dolina Bartanga’ collected materials about Rushanis and their language, calendar of rituals and celebrations, weddings, funerals and memorials rites. D. Putiata’s ‘Ocherk Ėkspeditsii v Pamir, Sarykol, Wakhan i Shugnan v 1883 g.’ is one of the first ethnographical studies on the people of Shughnan, Wakhan and Sariqol in which we see for the first time the acknowledgment that these people are Muslim Shʿi [Ismaili] followers. V.V. Grigorev in his note gives detailed information on the geography, ethnography and political situations in Badakhshan. I.P. Minaev’s work, Svedenie o stranakh po verkhov’iam Amu-Dar’i (1879), similar to V.I. Masal’skiĭ (1913), presents the collection of geographical, ethnographic, archaeology, history and linguistic information about the countries of Central Asia with the aim of discovering the Aryan homeland. D.L. Ivanov, Puteshestvie na Pamir (1884), was one of the first researchers on the region to record account on local languages and nationalities in the Pamirs. A.P. Fedchenko was one of the first among Russian researchers to study the political and administrative division of the Pamir lands. G. Grumm-Grzhimaĭlo’s work, Ocherk Pripamirskikh Stran (1886), provides information on the economic life of the population of Eastern Bukhara and the Pamirs. B.L. Grombchevskiĭ (1891) a Russian military and researcher made a great contribution to the study of the history and ethnography of the peoples of the Pamirs and Pri-pamir. N.L. Korzhenevskiĭ, another Russian traveller, visited Pamir in 1906 and wrote ‘Poezdka na Pamiry, Wakhan i Shugnan’ on socio-economic issues and collected ethnographic material. In addition to this list and many other Russian explorers, there were two famous German geographers, Karl Ritter and Alexander von Humboldt. Furthermore, several remarkable works on the Pamir region and Pamiri people have been produced by scholars who are themselves from the region, including B.I. Iskandarov (1962–1963), Kh. Iusufbekov (1973), R.M. Masov (1987), O. Boqiev (1994), and Kh. Pirumshoev (1998). Among the works worth mentioning here are Shugnantsy (2004) by T.S. Kalandarov and Pogranichniki i zhiteli Pamira (1995) authored by Dodikhudo Karamshoev in collaboration with major general Igor’ Afanas’evich Kharkovchuk. In terms of the historical study referring to the geography of the Pamirs, we have to mention the exceptional contribution of O.A. Agakhaniants and A.A. Azat’ian. Agakhaniants’ work, Mezhdu Gindukushem i Tian’-Shanem outlines and recognises the broad boundaries of the natural area of the Pamirs.

Other important writings presenting exhaustive ethnographic accounts of the Pamir are Ocherki po Istorii Badakhshan (1964) by Abaeva and D.A. Ol’derogge’s Strany i Narody Vostoka (1974).

Among the major contributions from the post-Soviet period are A.S. Davydov Ėtnicheskaia Prinadlezhnost’ Korennogo Naseleniia Gornogo Badakhshana (2005), which analyses a body of ethnographic, linguistic, anthropological and archaeological data relating the indigenous people of Gorno-Badakhshan (see Chapter 3) and Pamirskaia Ekspeditsiia, a collection edited by Almazova (2006) focusing on the history, livelihood, traditions and cultures of the people living, in what the author refers to as the amazing mountain region called the ‘roof of the world’ in Tajikistan and Afghanistan Badakhshan(s).

Prior to the Soviet era, Russian and British explorers, among others, have also produced a detailed ethnographic, geographic and sometime poetic account on Pamirs’ communities and landscapes. However, for this introduction we have decided to limit ourselves to work produced by scholars.

Identity narratives and historical constructions

In public discourse as well as in scholarly work, Pamiris are alternatively referred to as an ethnic group, a regional community, a religious diaspora and a dozen of distinct linguistic groups. Every one of these referents is regularly alluded to and debated by scholars and politicians alike; they inevitably involve specific political and sociocultural narratives. In today’s Tajikistan’s public sphere, the use of ‘Pamiri’ may refer to a political community or even a specific political position as well as a specific set of circumstances rooted as much in both Russian Imperialism and Soviet past as in Tajikistan’s post-independence regional identities construction. In this respect, the post-civil war nation-building initiated by the president of Tajikistan since 1992, Emomali Rahmon, dwells heavily on the Soviet construction of Tajik identity developed by Soviet Orientalists such as Bobojon Gafurov (1908–1977), himself an ethnic Tajik born in Khujand and Rahim Masov (1939–2018), another prominent Tajik historian and strong figure of the Academy of Science of Tajikistan. Soviet Orientalists tediously categorised peoples and communities of Central Asia in ethnic groups based on a number of criteria determining similarities and differences and associated each group with a given territory (Bliss, 2006; Levi-Sanchez, 2016). Similar to the same fashion of the Russian and Soviet scholars, Gafurov also classified all groups whose languages were related to one of the Iranian linguistic families as Tajiks. Even though prior to the establishment of Tajikistan as a Union Republic within the Soviet Union, the Pamiri people mainly referred to themselves as Tajiks, through the framework of this dominant narrative, the inhabitants of the West Pamir became ‘Mountain Tajiks’ and were further divided into ethnicised units based on territory and language. Emomali Rahmon, used the widespread but contested claim put forward by Rahim Masov that Tajiks are at least as old as Persian, and their origins were rooted in the Aryan civilisation and Zoroastrianism which traditions could be traced to the Pamir region (Laruelle, 2007; Horak, 2010; see Chapter 6). The references to Aryan and Zoroastrian myths were further used by the Tajikistan’s government to unify the country and minimise religious differences between Sunni and Ismaili (Yountchi, 2011:229; Laruelle, 2007:65; Buisson and Khunesova, 2011:98). The Zoroastrian narrative especially remains today alive through Pamiri ancestral rituals and cultural practices (Yountchi, 2011:229; Levi-Sanchez, 2016:1124).

In research scholarship, there is still a wide range of views as far as the self-identification patterns are concerned. Davydov, for example, argues that for centuries the ‘non-Tajik’ (Farsi)-speaking people of Gorno-Badakhshan were calling themselves Tajiks and referred to their neighbours who spoke the Tajik (Farsi) language as Farsiwans (Persian speakers) (Davydov, 2005). What is particularly interesting to us in Davydov argument is that Pamiri, who identified themselves as Tajik for centuries, were nevertheless drawing a line between them and others, the Farsi speakers. Chapter 3 agrees with Davydov and brings to our attention the role played by Russian and Soviet Orientalists in the complicated process of group naming.

Being Pamiri across borders

Pamiris are primarily known today as forming communities united by culture, languages and religion across the porous border of two currently unstable countries: Afghanistan and Tajikistan (Levi-Sanchez, 2016). Chapter 2 discusses the consequences of the extremely tragic territorial division of the Pamirs at the end of the ‘Great Game,’ a conflict that has opposed Russian and British colonial rulers for the largest part of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

As we have already mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Pamiri communities are located at both the geographical and political fringes of at least four nation-states, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. Thus, talking about Pamiri identity construction is also talking about borders and state’s margins and the role of geo-political frontiers in structuring identity processes at specific periods of the history. The centrality of borderlands, an expression coined by the French anthropologist Michel Agier (2016) is immensely pertinent here. For Agier, liminality is the most universal characteristic of the border. Borders are part of the everyday life of Pamiri, many of whom cross one of the bridges between Afghanistan and Tajikistan on a regular basis. We have been witnessing over the past years the re-affirmation of frontiers (Foucher, 2016:14), and Pamiris on both sides of the Afghan-Tajikistan border are more and more subjected to restraints and regulations since the involvement of the OSCE in increasing border control and promoting the construction of new customs infrastructure that had initially for objective stopping illicit drug trafficking (Makhuka & Al, 2014). Globalism and transnationalism also represent two major themes when considering Pamiri identity issues. However, interestingly, the term ‘Pamiri’ in itself has been in fact only used in the context of Tajikistan (Straub, 2014), at least, until recently (see Chapter 3). Agreeing or not with that statement depends to a great extent on if one refers to an official discourse, to oral history or self-identification. Pamiri who do cross the border frequently and have relatives on both sides tend to call themselves as such even if they are from Afghanistan, largely with the aim of demarcate themselves from Tajik (Farsi) speakers who are Sunni, not Ismaili. Nobody so far has disputed the fact that the scope of Pamiri group identity (or identities) transcends by large the boundaries of one country. The level of international mobility of both Afghanistan and Tajik Ismaili Pamiris has been increasing steadily as people move to find work or pursue higher education in other parts of the world, chiefly driven by the harsh economic conditions back home. Relatively large communities of Pamiri can be found in Russia, elsewhere in Europe and North America. Social networking has been conducive in redefining the meaning of being Pamiri, or ‘Pamiriness,’ in cyberspace. Claiming to be Pamiri (instead of Tajik) and political activism have become increasingly linked following growing mistrust and instances of high political tension over the past years between government forces and GBAO communities (see Chapter 14). Social media have also transformed the ways norms and values are transmitted from one generation to the next, taking the role away from the fathers (see Chapter 13).

In most cases, the Pamiri identity process is articulated around religion and languages (even the multiplicity of languages) rather than around claim of nationhood. Religious practices, including the ways of engaging Ismailism, have become deeply intertwined with transnationalism and globalisation as it is the case with other religious movements around the world. In Tajikistan today, Badakhshani, Pamiri and Ismaili are practically synonymous with each other (Mastibekov, 2014). Standardisation of religious practices and the development of a stronger link with the global Ismaili community are having a tremendous impact on the way Pamiri youth perceive and define themselves (see Chapter 15). Language has also remained an important identity marker as it was the case for a great period of the history of the region and the sudden change of name of the Persian language into the ‘Tajik’ language, legislated by the Soviet authorities left its impact on identity formation of the people. Persian was a common language for all the Iranic people of Central Asia, but when the same language was renamed Tajik in 1936, it was then exclusively applied to one group of the Iranic people of Central Asia and inclusive to others (see Chapters 3 and 4).

Objective and outline of the collection

The contributors to this volume do address Pamiri identity from a range of perspectives and disciplines. It is worth noting that, across all chapters, religion and/or language(s) are central to the arguments put forward by the authors. Brubaker argues that language and religion deserve as much scholarly attention as ethnicity and nationalism in any study about identification process: ‘Like ethnicity and nationhood, religion and language are powerfully shaped by political, economic, and cultural processes, and they change as circumstances change’ (Brubaker, 2015: 87). Following this line, it may be a better strategy to shift from the largely dominant ethnicity and nation-centred academic discourse on identity to one that uses language and religion as key analytical categories. Nevertheless, contrary to Brubaker (2015), who also advocates for the use of categories instead of identity when addressing issues pertinent to groups’ difference, we prefer ‘identity’ as an operative concept as it has remained central to the scholarship on Pamiri until today.

The primary motivation behind this book was to bring forth insights into the identity process of a group of mountainous communities whose vigorous cultures, languages and complex political history have continued to shap...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Notes on contributors
• Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction: locating Pamiri communities in Central Asia
• Part 1 Identity formation, borders and political transformations
• Part 2 Archaeology, myths, intellectual and cultural heritage
• Part 3 Social cohesion, interactions and globalisation
• Bibliography
• Index