Paper short abstract:

Pakistani Punjabis blame their fellow Muslims’ immorality, and lack of adherence to ‘true’ Islam, for all the social evils and natural disasters afflicting Pakistan and the broader Muslim world. It is said that things and people lack the fertility/vitality (barkat) that they once possessed when people were less selfish (khudgarz) and remembered God. But now food is no longer nutritious and people are small and weak. My paper explores the relationship between this discourse and the decline of local community ties resulting from elite withdrawal, the decline of village crafts and the growth of a rural footloose proletariat. It explores how Sufi pirs and their followers try to regain access to God’s power and bounty, and to recreate communities based on trust.

Paper long abstract:

This paper suggests that the mutual interdependence that once characterised patronage relations has been undermined by the landed elite's gradual withdrawal from village life, a trend that appears to be widespread throughout South Asia. Both patrons and clients may still appeal to the images of the generous patron and the loyal client, but their relationship is increasingly restricted to contractual, one-off exchanges in which generosity, protection and loyalty are no longer central. Although they appeal to the morality of patronage, particularly during elections, both parties know that morality is for the birds; that what really counts is power and money. This means that electoral candidates win elections not because they are generous, honest or pious but because they are powerful or even feared. My informants see this as problematic and blame the increasingly coercive and commercial nature of political relations for what they perceive as a decline in vitality/strength in both people and the food they eat.