Abstract
The present article presents the results of a recent (2009) survey of understandings and attitudes to heritage and culture in Chitral, Pakistan. Chitral has two main ethnic-religious groups: the Muslim Kho and the Kalasha, who are the largest non-Muslim minority group in the Hindu Kush. Very little is known formally of Chitral history and prehistory beyond the last 200–300 years, and this has led to a relatively set list of heritage and cultural events or traits being iterated by local people and outsiders alike. With a growing emphasis on tourism and development in Chitral we think that it is important for local people to have understanding and control of what is and is not presented as heritage here, and also how heritage might be appropriately preserved. We also touch on the tensions between a powerful majority and a less powerful minority group, and the impact such an unequal relationship has on heritage.
Acknowledgements
This project has been funded by the British Council INSPIRE programme, and we are very grateful to the British Council in both Islamabad and the UK, particularly Christopher Leighton, Sarah Pervaz, Nishat Riaz and Adnan Fazal. The British Academy funded previous fieldwork that provided the basis for the current project. The authors would also like to thank: the administration of Chitral; the survey team of 2010 (namely Mehir Rahman Khalil, Ashfaq Ahmad, Mohammad Ashfaq, Mohammad Qasim, Hassan Shamir, Sayed Gul); students and staff of the Department of Archaeology, Hazara University; Abdul Wali Khan University; the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester; Professor Israr-ud-din; Professor Inayatullah Faizi; Professor Graeme Barker, Cambridge University; Professor Timothy Insoll, Manchester University; Professor Robin Coningham, Durham University; the British Academy, London.