Language:
English
Pages:
1 online resource (39 min.).
,
003852
Edition:
Electronic reproduction. Alexandria, VA : Alexander Street Press, 2014. (Ethnographic video online, volume 2). Available via World Wide Web.
Series Statement:
Disappearing world
Series Statement:
Ethnographic video online, volume 2
Keywords:
Afghans
;
Ethnology
;
Pushtuns Social life and customs.
;
Refugees
;
Pakistan Social life and customs.
;
North America
;
Documentary films.
Abstract:
There are twelve million Pathans. Bound by a common language, a common heritage and the unifying force of Islam, these proud and independent people do not acknowledge the geographical boundary which divides them between Afghanistan and Pakistan. This film was shot at the same time as Khyber in Pakistan, close to the Afghan border. The Pathans accept no imposed leadership, from without or from within. Their laws are the decisions of the democratic assembly of the village, known as the jirga. To disobey the jirga is to court heavy penalties against which there is no appeal. Their code of living is called pukhtunwali the way of the Pathan. At its core are the principles of hospitality, personal honour and revenge. A man will fight to the death to avenge a wrong done to himself, his family or friends or, above all, his women. The film is noteworthy for the way in which it brings out the importance of these values. Their fierce loyalty, coupled with the independence of spirit which tolerates no formal leaders, makes the Pathans a formidable enemy, as the British once found out and, more recently, the Soviet invaders of Afghanistan have discovered.
Note:
Title from resource description page (viewed Feb. 6, 2014).
,
Recorded in Pakistan.
,
Previously released as DVD.
,
This edition in English.
URL:
http://www.aspresolver.com/aspresolver.asp?ANTH;2087706
URL:
https://fid-ska.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://www.aspresolver.com/aspresolver.asp?ANTH;2087706
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