ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to examine certain underlying-principles in the complex relationship between tribes and states on the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan (or before 1947, British India). The relationship is not of war or peace, black or white, but rather shades of grey, and reflects the continuing socio-political dynamics of a situation peculiar to the region. The chapter will attempt to explain in a historical perspective the continued relevance of the relation between tribes and states in the region; to assess the effects of the state and its policies on tribal economics, culture and political organisation, using concepts such as ‘encapsulation’; 1 to identify what elements of tribal culture (in the broadest sense) can be interpreted as reflecting attitudes to or interaction with the state as a source of political, cultural or religious authority and orthodoxy; and to show how differing social systems, although juxtaposed or connected, manage to coexist and maintain their separate identities and structures within larger administrative frameworks. I shall examine these problems of tribe and state in my role as an anthropologist working in the Tribal Areas of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, with special reference to Waziristan, the area I have recently held in my charge as Political Agent.
