ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses borders and how the regional context and local versus state authority influences border stability. It describes the formal/informal institutions, organizations, and networks that operate at the border. The chapter provides an overview of identity in relation to Tajik Badakhshan and Afghan Badakhshan. In Badakhshan, religious, territorial, national, and ethnic/sub-ethnic identities, as asserted by the locals, are key categories of identity and a primary influence on the way informal institutions and organizations operate. In Frederik Barth's later work, he made an important addition to his original conceptualization of identity. The chapter deals with ethnography for "data-collection, modeling of social reality, and genre of writing". These methods support an interpretive methodological approach. The chapter focuses on the field and the conceptual framework and research design. It also discusses an interpretive methodology for the analysis. Schwartz-Shea and Yanow refer to the three components of an interpretive research design as "fieldwork, deskwork, and textwork".
