Abstract
Adaptation is fundamentally linked to indigenous cultural values, ecological niche, and local wisdom. It is effectively studied in action and not abstraction and is present in communities undergoing the stress of change. Communities in the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan and Tajikistan have been subjected to dramatic change. Within a century, only two-to-three generations, the peoples of this strategically located Mountainous region of Central Asia have directly experienced colonization, the Cold War, penetration of the market system, natural resource extraction, threat of famine, and civil war. Presently, they are at the vanguard of climatic change and a global war localized in Afghanistan but may potentially spread elsewhere. Survival and continued existence under these conditions speaks to the local communities’ capacity to adapt, demonstrates cultural and ecological pluralism, and highlights the importance of “keeping all the parts.”
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- 1.
Here I use “conservation” instead of “preservation” to differentiate between dynamic and sustainable human interactions with their environment (characterized by the idea of conserving) as opposed to isolating a specific environment from humans (characterized by preserving). This nuanced distinction is central to the case for adaptation by keeping all the parts.
- 2.
I first noticed awareness and the use of these concepts and specific words in interviews with villagers in 2006. I am grateful to Dr. Sharofat Mamadambarova who shed light upon lexical origins of these words.
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Kassam, KA. (2013). Keeping all the Parts: Adaptation Amidst Dramatic Change in the Pamir Mountains. In: Lozny, L. (eds) Continuity and Change in Cultural Adaptation to Mountain Environments. Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation, vol 7. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5702-2_12
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