The world is established through the work of existence : the performance of Gham-Khadi among Pukhtun Bibiane in Northern Pakistan.
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis explores the social lives of elite Pukhtun women or Bibiane in northern Pakistan, with an ethnographic focus on the enactment of particular life-cycle or gham-khadi ceremonies (funerals and weddings). The widely used Pukhto term ghamkhadi both refers to specific segregated gatherings and designates the emotions of sorrow (gham) and joy (khada) which they elicit. In the local understanding, gham-khadi comprises a system of life, in which happiness and sadness are understood as indissoluble, and are celebrated communally within networks of reciprocal social obligations. Bibiane's social role entails preparation for and attendance at gham-khadi, according to a stylized set of performances thought integral to Pukhtun identity or Pukhtunwali (ideal Pukhtun practices). In this sense, the "women's work" of gham-khadi links with another indigenous term, tieest-roý.g ar, which I translate as the "work of existence", and through which Bibiane maintain the fabric of life by sustaining social inter- and intra-family relationships. Ethnographic fieldwork, conducted in Islamabad and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP or "Frontier") regions of Swat and Mardan between 1996-1998 and 1999-2001, suggests the extent to which Bibiane's sense of their gham-khadi obligations underpins their understanding of their personhood. In the process, the thesis unfolds a Pukhtun construction of work divergent from professionalism or physical labour, in which work produces not things, but social relations and transactions. This thesis, therefore, seeks to contribute to anthropological debate on a number of issues. First, it seeks to establish the distinctive sociality of Pukhtun Bibiane in terms of their participation, within and beyond the household, in gham-khadi festivities, joining them with hundreds of individuals from different families and social backgrounds. Second, the thesis makes a case for documenting the lives of a grouping of elite South Asian women, contesting their co…
abstract: This thesis explores the social lives of elite Pukhtun women or Bibiane in northern Pakistan, with an ethnographic focus on the enactment of particular life-cycle or gham-khadi ceremonies (funerals and weddings). The widely used Pukhto term ghamkhadi both refers to specific segregated gatherings and designates the emotions of sorrow (gham) and joy (khada) which they elicit. In the local understanding, gham-khadi comprises a system of life, in which happiness and sadness are understood as indissoluble, and are celebrated communally within networks of reciprocal social obligations. Bibiane's social role entails preparation for and attendance at gham-khadi, according to a stylized set of performances thought integral to Pukhtun identity or Pukhtunwali (ideal Pukhtun practices). In this sense, the "women's work" of gham-khadi links with another indigenous term, tieest-roý.g ar, which I translate as the "work of existence", and through which Bibiane maintain the fabric of life by sustaining social inter- and intra-family relationships. Ethnographic fieldwork, conducted in Islamabad and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP or "Frontier") regions of Swat and Mardan between 1996-1998 and 1999-2001, suggests the extent to which Bibiane's sense of their gham-khadi obligations underpins their understanding of their personhood. In the process, the thesis unfolds a Pukhtun construction of work divergent from professionalism or physical labour, in which work produces not things, but social relations and transactions. This thesis, therefore, seeks to contribute to anthropological debate on a number of issues. First, it seeks to establish the distinctive sociality of Pukhtun Bibiane in terms of their participation, within and beyond the household, in gham-khadi festivities, joining them with hundreds of individuals from different families and social backgrounds. Second, the thesis makes a case for documenting the lives of a grouping of elite South Asian women, contesting their co…
author: Ahmed, Amineh A.
language: eng
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/a101c8df-01ff-48e6-b93f-815a834fc21c/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2004-04-27
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:14Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.16260