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death enmity in Thull: organized vengeance and social change in a Kohistani community
Author(s) -
KEISER R. LINCOLN
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1986.13.3.02a00060
Subject(s) - sociocultural evolution , criminology , cohesion (chemistry) , politics , perspective (graphical) , sociology , population , context (archaeology) , political science , anthropology , geography , demography , law , archaeology , chemistry , organic chemistry , artificial intelligence , computer science
Anthropologists often view institutionalized vengeance from a synchronic perspective, asking what is the function of blood feuds in maintaining order, strengthening group cohesion, balancing population, and protecting against external political threats. Such a perspective has limited usefulness in understanding blood feuds in Thull, a community in the Hindu‐Kush mountains where organized revenge is a recent development. In such communities institutionalized vengeance can best be understood in the context of sociocultural systems in the process of historical transformation.