Political Process of the Swatibatan People: An Example of Sociological Research

Author: Frederick Barth (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-21
Features: Political Process of the Swatwats is an analysis of the political organization structure of the Swat people observed in the mid-20th century by the author. It serves as both an ethnographic record of regional political life and a theoretical elaboration of the formation process of political structures. The book analyzes a political organization form that was widespread in the Swat region at the time but had never been previously described. Since its first publication in 1959, the book has been reprinted more than ten times and published in multiple countries including the UK, the USA, Canada, etc. Frederick Barth, the author, is a pioneer in social anthropology. In the 1950s, he conducted thorough field research in the relatively isolated and enclosed Swat region (now the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan). The book describes the relationships among various social groups in the region, including kinship, political, and religious ties, as well as their political interactions and the basic political structure. More importantly, the author establishes a theoretical model for analyzing complex daily-life phenomena, providing a set of anthropological research methods—observing micro-level interactions to uncover connections with macro-level dynamics and studying theoretical issues at the macro-level.