A taste for freedom: The case of the Gomal nomads

Abstract

THIS PAPER is speculative and exploratory. Data were gathered during the period I was Political Agent in South Waziristan Agency (1978-1980) in Pakistan where some groups of the nomadic Suleman Khel and Dottani tribes live. These tribes have traditionally used the Gomal route to enter Pakistan, along the Gomal River which flows from Afghanistan into the Agency to join the Indus near Dera Ismail Khan. Over the last two generations some members of these tribes have decided to settle along the Indeed, their association with the Gomal, reinforced by the presence of those who settled here created a name for them. They are known and refer to themselves as de Gomal khalq the people of Gomal. In this paper, I will, therefore, refer to the two tribes under discussion as the Gomal nomads. Nomad ethnographies have traditionally, and perhaps correctly, placed an emphasis on the dominant role of ecology as a factor shaping society; indeed, comparative studies have almost come to regard nomadism as an ecological adaptation. Climate and terrain, availability of pasture and water, and types of animals herded, are seen to influence patterns of movement and forms of herding and camping associations (Johnson 1969; Krader 1959;Rubel 1969; Spooner 1973; Sweet 1965). Thus nomadism is treated as a trait of cultural ecology, characterized by lack of interest in fixed property and fixed resources (Spooner 1973: 3-4). Political structures, too, are seen as related to ecology (Barth 1961,1962; BlackMichaud 1975; Salzman 1967; Sweet 1965). Reflecting another view, Bates (1971) and Irons (1974) supported Lattimore's argument (1940) that nomadism may be also seen as an adaptation to the political rather than the natural environment. Although sufficient literature exists on the above themes, there is a conspicuous lacuna on the ideological/cultural content of nomadic life as it relates to concrete administrative/political zones. The Gomal nomads exhibit a defined ideological position which instructs daily life. This ideological position offers additional significant explanations for understanding Gomal nomads and phases of their sedentarization. While agreeing with the main body of literature on nomadism, I suggest that perhaps we may usefully examine ideology as an additional factor to ecology in explaining nomadism. My data from Waziristan indicates that we should examine ideology with specific reference to and within administrative zones more closely as an explanation of and for nomadism. I argue here that the Gomal nomads live in the administrative and social interstices of the larger states not by accident but by choice, not