Hirten, Helden und Haiduken

Reassessing Chechen and Ingush (Vainakh) clan structures in the 19th century

“…53 The argument that the dispersion of the taipa must lead to its dissolution is obsolete, because research showed that such situations could remain stable in other parts of the world. 54 Most importantly, with migration to the plains the taipa lost its function as a military unit. However, in the mountains the taipa still maintained its military function in the 19th century as testified by Laudaev's essay and also by reports from the military, such as Count Evdokimov's account of a fight against the Benoi that confirmed the existence of common military action.…”

Travelling genealogies

“…The region is historically characterised by an exogamous patrilineage and tribal system, 4 a pronounced knowledge and socio-political relevance of relations based on reference to genealogical and symbolic kinship, 5 similar customary law patterns 6 and patriarchy (e.g. Djilas 1958;Kaser 1992;Morrison 2009).…”

Ritual Brotherhood Across Frontiers in the Eastern Adriatic Hinterland, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries

“…A harsh environment, perennial warfare and a world only weakly regulated by the authority of the state created a pastoral economy, a society structured around patriarchal kin groups extended through alliance, and a culture characterized by the aggressive defense of honour, a warrior mentality that disdained manual labour, and the glorification of violence as both an obligation and a proof of manliness (for example, Kaser 1992). Such historical-anthropological perspectives have also informed attempts to explain the character of the wars in the Yugoslav space by positing a specific culture characterized by violence, resistance to democratic political institutions, and blood-andsoil ethnic exclusivism, whether described as undifferentiatedly 'Balkan' in journalistic accounts, or more narrowly 'Dinaric' -associated with the frontier-defining mountain range running through Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Montenegro and Albania.…”