Underlying Frameworks of Organization

The political choices of Swat Pathans are not made in a vacuum—there are several frameworks of organization which serve to order the population into categories and groups, and which to some extent determine their political choices. The regions are subdivided into local areas, in everyday usage somewhat loosely delimited, with names derived from their dominant physical characteristic, from a dominant village, or most frequently from a hyphenation of two major village names of the area. Each local area again is composed of a number of villages (kali); the village is a compact group of dwelling houses, associated with a surrounding area of land delimited by clearly defined borders. All persons resident in one unit—usually a ward, but sometimes a whole village—depend on a common mosque and a common leader of prayer for ritual purposes.

Geography · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Critical Realism in Sociology · Management and Organizational Studies