Border, Pastoralism and Affect: Memories, Interactions and Cultural Transformations of Pastoralists in Western Rajasthan Borderlands

Abstract

The demarcation of the India–Pakistan border on the western side of Rajasthan in 1947 had profound implications for the pastoral communities there. Based on an archival history of the Thar desert and ethnographic fieldwork in the border villages of Rajasthan, this paper explores how pastoralists interact with the border and the bordering practices of the state. Focusing on the Raika community, the paper examines how borders impact the mobility, identity and traditional life of the pastoralists. Building on Raika memories of mobility and connections across the border, the paper argues that the interactions of the pastoralists maintain an affective relationship with this war and violence affected borderland, despite the administrative practices of surveillance, border maintenance and developmental projects that have produced an environment of insecurity and uncertainty.