The Wakhi People of Gojal (Upper Hunza): Negotiating Tradition and Change

Abstract

This research aims to study the social, cultural, and economic changes witnessed by the Wakhi community residing in the Gojal region of the northern part of Pakistan since the independence of the country in the year 1947. This study using the research method of field research, interview research, and library research attempts to find out the ways in which the Wakhi community adjusts to the contradictions between traditionalism and modernity with regard to aspects such as their practice of hospitality, their family structure, their behaviour, or the constitution of their politics, the effect of the Karakoram Highway, the effect of the tourism industry followed by the impact of the development schemes introduced by the Aga Khan Development Network, in addition to finding out the ways in which the Wakhi community still manages to preserve the fundamental features of its cultural identification despite the impact of the modernization forces, hybridity’s, and elements introduced by the outside forces into the country.