"…this is an outstanding update of Barth’s work because it is a multiplex analysis of the processes of change…

"…this is an outstanding update of Barth’s work because it is a multiplex analysis of the processes of change…

Knudsen’s masterful ethnography is a reminder to be attentive to work at the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway – where Knudsen has now turned to research about Palestinian refugees – as well as to the publications of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies."

"This important study examines the meanings of lethal conflict in a little studied studied tribal society in Pakistan’s unruly North West Frontier Province and offers a new perspective on its causes."

"This important study examines the meanings of lethal conflict in a little studied studied tribal society in Pakistan’s unruly North West Frontier Province and offers a new perspective on its causes."

Academic it  may be, but this anthropological text with its fascinating degressions into magic, romance, land tenure, dispute resolution, and above all, the eponymous relationship of violence to the sense of belonging to land and community, is not dull.

This is a book to savour and upon which to reflect.

Academic it  may be, but this anthropological text with its fascinating degressions into magic, romance, land tenure, dispute resolution, and above all, the eponymous relationship of violence to the sense of belonging to land and community, is not dull.

This is a book to savour and upon which to reflect.

Violence and Belonging is here a breath of some serious fresh air.  It offers ample reflection and valuable primary source knowledge.  Not only does the book offer an in-depth study of the complexities of violence at different levels, it also challenges our understanding of concepts such as honour, politics and human security on both theoretical and practical levels.  Mo

Violence and Belonging is here a breath of some serious fresh air.  It offers ample reflection and valuable primary source knowledge.  Not only does the book offer an in-depth study of the complexities of violence at different levels, it also challenges our understanding of concepts such as honour, politics and human security on both theoretical and practical levels.  More important, however, is that the study also challenges our stereotype images when it comes to violence and conflict analysis.

…this is an excellent volume.  It is an important addition to the bookshelves of scholars and students of Pakistan, as well as those interesed in the anthropology of violence, especially in the Middle East.  Equally importantly, it should be read by a broader readership concerned with the identity formations of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Frontier people, and the importance of place

…this is an excellent volume.  It is an important addition to the bookshelves of scholars and students of Pakistan, as well as those interesed in the anthropology of violence, especially in the Middle East.  Equally importantly, it should be read by a broader readership concerned with the identity formations of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Frontier people, and the importance of place to these.

Knudsen is able to uncover a real treasure of information and case study material that enlighten the reader about the detrimental consequences of maintaining one’s honor in a patriarchal egalitarian society.

Knudsen is able to uncover a real treasure of information and case study material that enlighten the reader about the detrimental consequences of maintaining one’s honor in a patriarchal egalitarian society.

The empirical findings are extensive and elaborate, and the book should be consulted by anyone with an interest in contemporary realities of village life in Pakistan and the ways that honor is constructed, challenged, and translated into violence.

‘We should make the best possible use of this analysis: for its darling perspectives, extreme empirical findings, and wide relevance.

‘We should make the best possible use of this analysis: for its darling perspectives, extreme empirical findings, and wide relevance. It deserves a very careful reading for its contributions to so many aspects of our understanding of honour, politics, and human society.’

‘The material itself is extremely interesting, dealing as it does with an exotic locale, and with an intractable problem of endemic violence. […]Dr.

‘The material itself is extremely interesting, dealing as it does with an exotic locale, and with an intractable problem of endemic violence. […]Dr. Knudsen draws this conflictual situation very well, and adds a great deal to the present-day study of violence, putting what is often seen as primordial in the context of modern conditions.’