Investigating Portering Relations as a Locus for Transcultural Interaction in the Karakorum Region of Northern Pakistan

Abstract

Since European contact about 1835 a specific set of coercive labor relations-porters carrying loads for foreign travel- ers-has significantly shaped local/Western interaction in the Karakorum region of Northern Pakistan. This paper offers a prelim- inary attempt to outline some theoretical and methodological issues relevant to understanding portering relations as a historical and contemporary site for structuring cross-cultural interaction in the region. It draws on the concepts of contact zone, transcul- turation, discursive formations, and public and hidden transcripts. It then sketches the rough dimensions of an unfolding empiri- cal project to trace metropolitan and indigenous transcultural discourses of self and other into, through, and out of the specific material relations of portering. Two brief examples discuss (a) the European-initiated formalized regulation of porter employ- ment in the late 19th century, and (b) indigenous practices of publicly resisting unequal labor relations through strategically-situ- ated work stoppages.

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