Abstract:
One of the most unique and oldest tribes of the world, the Kalash tribe, that lives in the northern most district, Chitral, of Pakistan and faces threats to its existence, like many indigenous tribes around the world, mainly from the surrounding, conservative, Muslim community’s continuous efforts of converting them and also due to being socio-economically weak. The situation calls for serious efforts to preserve the centuries old Kalash religion, language and traditions. A number of fragmented and uncoordinated efforts have been taken in this regard but the most notable intervention is a cultural center named Kalasha Dur, overseen by the community itself, is working to preserve Kalash culture for more than a decade. This study explores the contributions of Kalasha Dur to the preservation of Kalash and assesses its impact using both qualitative and quantitative tools; in-depth interviews with center’s staff, field observations and survey from Kalash trading community. The study shows that this cultural center has taken some effective steps that include a school, museum and hospital (not functional now), to preserve both the tangible and intangible culture of Kalash tribe. Also, the study shows that Kalash community is highly satisfied with it. Kalasha Dur has adopted a holistic approach by preserving its traditional artifacts at the museum and recorded the folklore by documenting them, which was previously through developing a Kalash scripture as all the aspects of any culture are interconnected.
