Pastoral Practices and their Transformation in the North-Western Karakoram

Abstract

Textbooks and research papers dealing with pastoral practices in high mountain contexts generally favour the European 'Alpwirtschaft' or 'Almwirtschaft' strategy as the only important way of utilising mountain resources. The first diagram published by Arbos (1923: 572) described the movement of mountain farmers and their livestock in Tarentaise in the French Alps. More than half a century later it was reproduced as the sole and/or role model in the textbook on 'mountains and man' by Price (1981: 413). In addition, a diagram based on the situation in the Swiss Val d'Annivers, initially published in 1936 in the influential text of Robert Peattie later figured in the textbooks as the 'ideal' model of resource utilisation at different elevations. Needless to say, this practice has not existed in the Valais for nearly two generations. Nevertheless, this diagram was republished during the 1980s and even as late as 1997 (see Grötzbach 1982: 10; 1987: 65; 1988: 27; Grötzbach and Stadel 1997: 26). This seems to be an example of an Eurocentric view of pastoral practices in mountain regions. Western textbook authors seem to support a romantic view of long-extinct practices, while neglecting the existence of forms of mobile animal husbandry in other parts of the world. In an attempt to overcome this restricted and fragmented world view, in the present article emphasis is placed on current pastoral practices in High Asia.