The ’’Enclaved" Culture of Parun in Former Kafiristan

Abstract

The former region of Kafiristan or "Land of Heathens", renamed Nuristan or "Land of Light" after its forced Islamisation at the end of the 19th century, is a special case in virtually all respects - firstly because of its long survival as an "enclaved" cultural retreat in the midst of the Islamic world with strong "anti-heathen" attitudes, and secondly due to its general cultural peculiarities and the amazing ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity that existed.