evidence: Pamir or Pamirs: Perceptions and Interpretations [...] Geiger W (1887) Die Pamir-Gebiete: eine geographische Monographie, vol 1, Geographische Abhandlungen. E. Hölzel, Wien [...] Research in the Pamir regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and China was made possible by various generous grants of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Volkswagen Foundation from 1989 to 2014. The human capacity wing of the German Society for International Development (formerly InWEnt, now GIZ) provided valuable insights into effects of development-related activities in the Pamirs during my participation as their academic advisor to the mountain development programme (2006–2012). The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has funded the competence network ‘Crossroads Asia’ since 2010 which gratefully enabled cross-border perspectives and stimulated further fieldwork and reflections.