When I started the fieldwork for my doctoral dissertation in the Hunza Valley of the Karakoram four decades ago, it immediately became clear that understanding irrigation practices, water rights and their management would be key to any analysis of the societal setup and its implications for community structures. My questions regarding structural components were often answered with reference to water rights: for example, ‘This group has preferential rights because they are the original builders of the oldest channel’ or ‘The late-comers in our village will never get a respected status as they did not participate in channel construction’.
Preferential access to water for the ruling elites and regular challenges to their dominance and privileges reflect dynamic social processes within the village setup. In my initial research, two rather separate spheres that shape community structures appeared to complement each other. The endogenous realm resembled a container of internal practices, p...
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