A Post‐Area Studies Approach to the Study of Hill Irrigation across the Alai – Pamir – Karakoram – Himalaya

Abstract

Due to the geo-political history of the mountainous region stretching from the Alai in the south of Kyrgyzstan to the north-western Himalaya of India, language barriers, and also perhaps the nature of traditional area studies, little if any comparative work has been undertaken to examine historical and contemporary similarities and differences in farmer-managed gravity-flow canal irrigation across the former divide between Tsarist Russia/USSR and British India/Pakistan. A large number of studies have been undertaken in Nepal, north-western India, and northern Pakistan, however very few studies exist or are readily accessible for understanding the dynamics of hill irrigation in the Tajik Pamir, southern Kyrgyzstan’s Alai, and adjoining mountain ranges. Irrigation-related research in the former Soviet republics is largely concerned with lower elevation systems which have been organised into Water User Associations under reforms carried out by national governments since independence in 1991, under the aegis and direction of international organisations. This paper seeks to explore what is known about hill irrigation in the territories of the latter countries, and to conduct a preliminary analysis of some of the more obvious similarities and contrasts between the contexts within which hill irrigation is practised across several valleys of the above-defined mountainous region. The value of such a comparative study may lie in its testing of the applicability of a “post-area studies approach”, for hill irrigation is decentralised having little cross-border effects, but yet is deeply affected by the state form, and by socio-cultural values and forms of organisation. The paper covers the ecological conditions and the historical socio-political contexts of selected valleys where hill irrigation is practised, and for which studies and literature exist. It then highlights where research is needed for an understanding of contemporary processes underway in the selected valleys, in particular to gauge the effect high levels of out-migration have upon irrigation systems and practices, and to learn about how state and non-state actors engage with local communities, and vice versa, how local communities of water users mobilise themselves and resources to maintain and improve their irrigation systems. How both migration and intervention interact with inequalities in access to and control over irrigation water and related resources is of central concern.