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Gates of Peristan: History, Religion and Society in the Hindu Kush. Alberto M. Cacopardo and Augusto S. Cacopardo. Rome: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, 2001. 327 pp.
This meticulous work of historical ethnography describes the cultures of "Peristan," the diversely populated, rugged area covering north-eastern Afghanistan across northern Pakistan to India and China. This region is much in the current news as a result of the terrorist attacks of fall 2001 and the focus on the Taliban authorities controlling most (but not this part) of Afghanistan. This book surveys the oral history of the traditional local societies found there. It will be critically important for specialists and fascinating reading for all who want more insight into the types of people and societies living in this intriguing region.
Based on extensive fieldwork done in the region since the 1970s, but specifically on three months of fieldwork conducted over three field periods, Alberto and Augusto Cacopardo present the history of settlement of the southernmost corner of Chitral district, Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. Writing separately except for one...