Political Kinship in Pakistan

In Political Kinship in Pakistan, Stephen M. Lyon illustrates how contemporary politics in Pakistan are built on complex kinship networks created through marriage and descent relations. Lyon points to kinship as a critical mechanism for understanding both Pakistan’s continued inability to develop strong and stable governments, and its incredible durability in the face of pressures that have led to the collapse and failure of other states around the world.

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are famous for their political dynasties, the Nehrus in India and the Bhuttos in Pakistan being the most renowned. Their histories indicate the fundamental importance of kinship ties in South Asian societies (and elsewhere), a subject to which the renowned anthropologists E. E. Evans-Pritchard and Francis Hsu have made major contributions. Lyon (Aga Khan Univ., Pakistan) is an anthropologist who has spent over two decades visiting and living in Attock, northern Pakistan, studying local society. This fine volume follows his previous book, An Anthropological Analysis of Local Politics and Patronage in a Pakistani Village (2004), and a number of journal articles and book chapters on the subject. From a consideration of the importance of kinship to detailed descriptions of kinship ties among various families, Lyon forcefully argues that the ties that bind and serve as the basis of Pakistani politics are those based on kinship. In arguing this he offers an analysis of the rise of Prime Minister Imran Khan, claiming his victory was only made possible through the links to the large and powerful kinship networks of his second and third wives. This is essential reading. Summing Up: Essential. All levels., In the field of Pakistani Studies, Political Kinship makes an important and timely contribution, rendering visible the complex networks beneath the surface among Pakistan’s elites, both at regional and national level, while raising questions about how power is sustained and the state survives, despite its seeming descent as it lurches from one crisis to the next., As an anthropology professor, I have been looking for new ethnographies that retain the holistic, thick descriptive breadth of traditional ethnographic monographs. I would want such an ethnography to be undergraduate friendly, not laden with academic jargon, yet updated and infused with contemporary theoretical perspectives, methods, and concerns. Political Kinship in Pakistan is that book. Stephen M. Lyon has conducted fieldwork for decades in a Punjabi village as well as worked in Lahore. He combines his descriptions and insights into the daily ebb and flow of conflict and cooperation among villagers into an analysis of the contextualized, but systematic distribution of power at the local level. Using an emic (insider) perspective he shows how power is constructed and manipulated through kinship ties, wealth, and modes of alliances. He expands on the ethnographic focus to link the ideas and organizations associated with local power to an analysis of national level politics. Lyons writes with grace, and moves seamlessly from Evans-Pritchard to Foucault, relying on theories as tools for explanation, rather than as means to perform scholarship. I would recommend this book for area courses on Asia or for introductory cultural anthropology courses., Stephen Lyon is a great storyteller. His stories enable a thorough understanding of the intricacies of kinship in local as well as national politics., Stephen M. Lyon’s deep understanding of kinship provides a unique and fascinating prism through which to understand the culture and politics of a country that has rarely been examined in such depth.

Stephen M. Lyon is professor of anthropology and head of educational programs and development at Aga Khan University.