Identity & Perception
Nomadic and Sedentary
Sat, 04/10/2010 - 10:51 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Western history teaches us that agrarian societies replaced herders and hunters. But is it really so? Some compelling evidence from Afghanistan.</p>
Era:
Age of Settlement
Theme:
Geography & Destiny
Identity & Perception
Year:
10000
BCE/CE:
BCE
Date Period:
BCE
Asset Type:
Trend
Caption:
Just as geography shapes human lifestyles, humans have learned to control the land.
More Information:
<p>האיל הניאוליתי. <em>Natufian-SupportingWall-Elwad</em>. Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. 16 Aug. 2005. Web. 10 Aug. 2010.</p>
<p>Al-Din, Rashid. <em>Mongol Soldiers by Rashid Al-Din 1305</em>. Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Web. 10 Aug. 2010. <http jpg="">. </http></p>
<p>Allahdad, perf. Music: Field Recordings. Rec. 10 Nov. 1966. Hiromi Lorraine Sakata, 1966. Super 8.</p>
<p>Asia Society. <em>The Jami Al 'Tawarikh and the Shahnama</em>. Digital image. Asia Society. Web. 10 Aug. 2010. </p>
<p>Classical Numismatic Group. <em>Antimachusii</em>. Digital image. <em>Wikipedia Commons</em>. Web. <br />
<http jpg="">Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en </http></p>
<p><em>Cutting Barley in Ghazni - 1920s. 1920s</em>. Photograph. Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>60-R39-9c</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>61-148-C</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>62-108a.</em> Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>68-177</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>76-1430</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>82-3235</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>83-692</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>A Type of House: A69-499</em>. 1969. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>A69-264a</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>A69-49a</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>A70-12</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>A74-114</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>A75-150</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>Q2-01278-34</em>. Photograph. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p><em>Genghis Khan</em>. Illuminated manuscript. Bibliothèque Nationale De France, Département Des Manuscrits, Division Orientale, Paris, France.</p>
<p><em>Goats Near Khyber Pass</em>. 1920s. Photograph. Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA.</p>
<p>Kanalstein, Eric. Photo of the Day: 6 January 2010. Digital image. UNAMA. Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Aug. 2010. </p>
<p><em>KES-1968-A-1337</em>. Photograph. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p><em>Q2-01278-16a</em>. Photograph. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p><em>Q2-01278-34.</em> Photograph. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p><em>Q2-01279-03</em>. Photograph. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p><em>Q2-01284-06</em>. Photograph. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Unknown. <em>Afghan Women</em>. Digital image. Courtesy of the British Library Board. Web. </p>
<p>U.S. Department of State. F<em>emale Students of Afghanistan in 2005</em>. Digital image. <em>Wikipedia Commons</em>. 10 June 2005. Web. 10 Aug. 2010. </p>
<p>Vyas, Raveesh. <em>Bhimbetka Cave Paintings.</em> Digital image. <em>Wikipedia Commons.</em> 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 10 Aug. 2010. </p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Grace Norman</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>There’s a strong belief in the Westernized world that human development happened in stages. That is, first humans hunted and gathered. Then they arrived at a nomadic pastoral lifestyle. Soon wandering gave way to a settled life and people learned to control the land so it produced food and other resources. Finally, out of agrarian societies grew civilization. Civilization meant a diversified economy and the development of monetary, writing, and other systems that still connect people to this day. Circumstances in some places meant faster development than in others, but still this same theory of stages applied everywhere.</p>
<p>But is this vision of history correct?</p>
<p>Consider the view from another perspective. Ancient tools excavated from pre-history settlements reveal that nomads lived alongside farmers in some of the earliest settlements in human history.<br />
<br />
Throughout the course of history, the area that is today Afghanistan has seen many different lifestyles. And they haven’t always existed in the chronological order that we typically imagine. Throughout the region’s history, herders, farmers, nomads, and city-dwellers have existed side-by-side. With the advent of wealthy kingdoms, jazz, and even the Internet, the nomadic and farmer lifestyles have continued to persist.</p>
<p>There is a kind of interrelationship between the sedentary and the nomadic peoples.</p>
<p>Afghanistan is basically a country that has two lifestyles. One, a nomadic, pastoral lifestyle based upon animals and secondly a sedentary, agricultural lifestyle.</p>
<p>The nomadic pastoral lifestyle is based upon sheep and goats and continuous migrations to find grass and water in a very difficult environment in the northern part of Afghanistan. [pause] The settled regions are scattered throughout the country.</p>
<p>Afghanistan is probably one of the early areas of agriculture. It was always possible to combine pastoralism with Afghan and in pastoralism and agriculture in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>That is that Even the people that were full time pastoralists their diet was probably mostly grain, wheat, rice which they traded their animals for. So this is not like a place where you’ve got pastorals on one side and farmers on the other. Here they’re intermixed. And the thing that you can see about pastoral nomads in Afghanistan is that they often migrate out of agricultural areas when they’re doing crops and then after the crops are harvested they come back. So it’s a very closely linked system. And in some cases, in many parts of the country you’ll find people that are pastoralists, they raise animals, but they might have a winter village and use their tents during the spring and summer. Here they’ve always been very closely integrated and economically they’re very symbiotic.</p>
<p>But even with the porous distinction between sedentary and nomadic peoples, there are some big historical patterns that can’t be ignored. Because of the paucity of water in many locations, settlements were relatively small in Afghanistan. The result was there were considerable divisions among different groups in Afghanistan from very early on. There were a tribal linkage, a regional linkage, an occupational linkage, that has continued to the present time. Sometimes [it] created problems, sometimes it created rifts between these various groups.</p>
<p>Often times the sedentary population is dominant in periods when you have a great civilization, a great culture involved. The nomadic groups are pushed aside and their needs are not attended to, their economic needs in particular. Nomadic groups always require goods from the sedentary civilizations. When they don’t get them, they attack and so you have a constant cycle of sedentary, nomadic, nomadic, sedentary rule in Afghan history.</p>
<p>The invasions of the Turkic and Mongol peoples, starting with the Ghaznavids in the 10th century and stretching to the Mongols in the 13th century were based upon their cavalry. The horses gave the Turkic and Mongol peoples a tremendous advantage over the settled civilizations in Afghanistan and undoubtedly facilitated their success. Their ability particularly to shoot bows and arrowsaccurately from their horses gave them a tremendous advantage over the sedentary people and probably is one of the major reasons for the military successes of these Turkic and Mongol peoples in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>But the nomads also have their moments of ruling the region.</p>
<p>What happens is that formally nomadic groups, mostly beginning around 1000 CE but you can find it before, is because they raise horses, they have horse cavalry they become politically dominant. But when they found dynasties they’re no longer Nomads, they’re the descendants of Nomads.</p>
<p>And when nomads come into power, they maintain their nomadic lifestyle as part of their political strategy. So you’ve got to make a distinction between you governments that may have had a Nomadic origin. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re Nomads themselves. However because it’s possible to do pastoralism and agriculture It’s much easier for a group militarily if it does become dominant to maintain a Nomadic way of life at the same time as running an agricultural society as the same time it becomes major land owners. It doesn’t necessarily have to give up the other part of its economy. And in particular if you’re interested in raising horses it’s a good system to keep up because you can raise more animals that way.</p>
<p>Throughout Afghanistan’s history, farmers and nomads have depended on each other, challenged each other, and mutually benefited each other. It is a co-existence that continues to this day.</p>
Spread of Islam
Wed, 03/17/2010 - 17:52 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>One hundred years after the Prophet's death, Islam spread quickly—and it took hold permanently.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
800
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
Asset Type:
Trend
More Information:
<p>Ali. "Masjid Nabawi. Medina, Saudi Arabia." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Masjid_Nabawi._Medina,_Saudi_Arabia.jpg. Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en</p>
<p>"Babur and His Warriors Visiting the Hindu Temple Gurh Kattri (Kūr Katrī) in Bigram." Digital image. Walters Art Museum. January 11, 2010. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/medmss/4266569149/.</p>
<p>"Battle on Horseback between Rustam and His Son Sohrab, Not Recognizing Each Other." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 21, 2010.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>61-157-C</em>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>66-N-72</em>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>66-N-73</em>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. Anahita. 1969. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Mithras and the Bull. Mithraeum of Marino, Marino, Italy.</p>
<p>Rashid Al-Din. "Conversion of Ghazan to Islam." Digital image. Asia Society. August 19, 2008. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://asiasociety.org/countries-history/traditions/mongol-illustrated-manuscripts.</p>
<p>Rattray, Lieutenant James. <em>Mosque and Tomb of the Emperor Soolta Mahmood of Ghuznee</em>. 1848. British Library, London. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019xzz000000562u00010000.html Courtesy of the British Library Board</p>
<p>Schastok, Horst B. <em>No Gumbad Mosque</em>. Documentation Center, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library, Cambridge, MA.</p>
<p>"Seated Buddha." Digital image. Virtual Collection of Masterpieces. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/masterpieces.aspx. <br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/</p>
<p>Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (Mahmud Ghaznawi). Copied from Old School Textbook of Afghanistan, Unknown.</p>
<p>Ustad Mohammad Omar. <em>Untitled performance.</em> Radio-Television Afghanistan Archive.</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Alexis Menten</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Many of the world’s great religions have a history in Afghanistan. The traders, travelers, and conquerors who came to the region brought not only new goods and new ideas, but also new beliefs and new faith. But history doesn’t change overnight.</p>
<p>When we’re looking at the Islamic conquest of Central Asia and Afghanistan there’s usually an assumption that if we say a battle was fought at this time and the Arabs won then everyone became Muslim. But if we actually look, and the records are quite clear about this, it was often many generations before they became Islamic.</p>
<p>When Iran was converted to Islam, that had an impact on Afghanistan. The people in Afghanistan did not at that point convert immediately to Islam. They retained their traditional language and did not necessarily adopt Arabic as their basic language.</p>
<p>In the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries, Afghanistan religiously was composed of a whole variety of different religious practices and religious beliefs. Zoroastrianism, Mythriism, to a limited extent Buddhism, and to a limited extent Islam.</p>
<p>This whole region became a place where people fled. So we had Nestorian Christians who had fled from Syria and were living in this part of the world. We certainly had various Indian sects that came up to this part of the world. Hindus lived here. And what makes Afghanistan such a melting pot – and why art is so interesting – is it shows us many of these different ideas coming together.</p>
<p>Muslims came to Afghanistan, individually or in small numbers, beginning in the eighth century. But only in the tenth century with Mahmud of Ghazna is the area really conquered in the name of Islam, and many people start to convert.</p>
<p>We’re often not clear about how long it takes a political change to turn itself into a cultural change or a religious change. These things are often describe retrospectively and may have been much less clear at the time they actually happened.</p>
<p>The turning points of history do not always have immediate and widespread repercussions. Although Islam would take root and become the primary religion of Afghanistan today, the diverse religious traditions of this crossroads region persisted alongside the new faith for many centuries.</p>
Rebel Royals
Wed, 03/17/2010 - 17:36 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>The Roaring '20s were known for edgy fashions, new technology—and a pair of rebel royals in Afghanistan.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Year:
1920
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
Asset Type:
Trend
Caption:
The King and Queen of Afghanistan in Paris
More Information:
<p>"1918 Toronto Bay and King Armistace Day." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1918Toronto_BayandKing_Armistace_Day.jpg.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang">"Atatürk in White Tie." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atat%C3%BCrk_in_white_tie.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Capture and Occupation of Palestine by British Artillery</i>. Library of Congress, Washington, DC. In <i>Library of Congress Prints & Photographs</i>. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/matpc.11524/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>CARD MISSING</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1020-A-389</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1026-A-395B</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1032-A-402</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1211-A-580</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1225-A-594</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1227-A-596</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1227-A-596</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1235-A-604</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1239-A-608</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1242-A-611</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1246-A-615</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1256-A-625</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1268-A-637</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1659-A-1028</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1790-A-1159</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1794-A-1163</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-203-114</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-2188-HG-11</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-632-A-1</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-639-A-8</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-651-A-20</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-662-A-31</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-668-A-37</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-669-A-38</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-675--44</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-675--44</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-678-A-47</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-684-A-53</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-685-A-54</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-686-A-55</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-691-A-60</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-704-A-73</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-772-A-141</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-905-A-274</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-907-A-276</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-934-A-303_1</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-938-A-307</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-940-A-309_1</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Lyman, Abe. <i>A New Kind of Man</i>. California Ambassador Hotel Orchestra. 1920s. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://ia341011.us.archive.org/2/items/1920s-bigBand-abeLyman-01-10/AbeLymansCaliforniaAmbassadorHotelOrchestra-ANewKindOfMan1924brunswick78rpm_64kb.mp3.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Mahmud Beg Tarzi with Daughter Khayriya and Grandson</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Mahmud Beg Tarzi Working at His Desk</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Mamoud Tarzi-203." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mamoud_Tarzi-203.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Meso Campaign." Digital image. Wikipedia. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Meso_Campaign.jpg.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Produce: Kate Harding</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>It was the roaring twenties. New technologies, new music, and new fashion were transforming the world. Radios and telephones made the world smaller, moving pictures and automobiles made the world faster. But the change wasn’t just about technology. It would also be about values. And nowhere were the values being challenged more than by the king and queen of Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The world had been ripped apart. By the end of World War I, 15 million lives were lost around the globe. But the fighting did finally end, and when it did, the world needed rebuilding. Across the globe, a new hope for the future was coming to life. That hope believed that a revolution in values and technologies would put to rest the madness of war.</p>
<p>Afghanistan remained neutral during WWI, but the impact of the war was anything but distant. Nations vied for the country’s support, and the king, Habibullah, played his suitors off of each other.</p>
<p>But only a few months after the Armistice, King Habibullah was assassinated. In February 1919, his third son, Amanullah, took the reins.</p>
<p>Amunallah understood that the world had been radically transformed. And he knew that Afghanistan could take a prominent place in the new order if the country underwent quick and serious changes.</p>
<p>He sought guidance from Mahmud Tarzi, an Afghan intellectual who had once been exiled and had lived abroad in Turkey and Syria.</p>
<p>And he had been, during his exile, had lived in the Middle East and had been very influenced by movements in the Middle East for modernization for trying to decolonize the Middle East, to bring Islam into a new renaissance, a new period of flowering intellectually and politically, that looked, it was a movement that looked to indigenous roots, to Islam itself, as an example for education, modernization and reform.</p>
<p>This new interpretation of Islam was being embraced by elites across the Muslim world. They believed that a modernized Islam could coexist with westernization, allowing Muslims to excel in the 21st century.</p>
<p>Tarzi provided Amanullah with intellectual inspiration for a new Afghanistan. He also provided the king with a wife. Amanullah fell in love with and married Tarzi’s daughter, Soraya.</p>
<p>And they had a marriage that, by all accounts and from all evidence that we have, was a real, romantic love affair….And you see in the archive, photographs of Amanullah and Soraya in very romantic poses, with Soraya’s hair down, dancing, very intimate photographs for the time.</p>
<p>Together the new king and queen set out to transform Afghanistan. Over the next decade, they built schools, started an air force [picture], established a national bank and a national currency. They supported education of all sectors of society including women and nomads.</p>
<p>Like Ataturk in Turkey, Amanullah was obsessed with the idea of using clothing to express a new world order.</p>
<p>And he was fascinated with playing with that clothing, and I have a feeling, playing with identity as well. One of the things that he did that also was very controversial, was he held a national loya jirga … in 1927. And he made all the delegates to the jirga where Western suits and hats…And all these proud Afghans look vaguely ridiculous wearing these baggy suits that were not tailored and not meant for them. And they look a little bit embarrassed to be made to wear this kind of clothing. But it makes you realize that Amanullah, one of the mistakes that he made is he sometimes modernization in a very superficial way. He viewed modernization, the accoutrements of modernization, more than the substance of it.…And he encouraged all the members of his court, the women in the court, to wear Western style clothing and to go with no veil or a minimal veil.</p>
<p>At a public function, Amanullah denounced the veil, saying that nowhere did Islam require women to cover themselves. Soraya responded by ripping her veil from her face, as the wives of other officials soon followed suit. Soraya knew that her clothing was being watched by her entire country, and she wanted to make a statement.</p>
<p>Soraya was the first or one of the first women to wear Western clothing outside the palace, in public places. And she would make concessions, certainly, to local norms and expectations, including she would wear a veil of a sort, but it was a very light veil that you could see through and attach to a flapper hat, a very 20’s style fashion. And so she would make certain concessions, and within the boundaries of Islam she was dressing appropriately. She was covering her hair, she was covering her arms up to her wrists. She was covered to her ankles, although she also sometimes wore stockings. But they were always pushing the boundaries of fashion.</p>
<p>But together, the king and queen appeared to some factions as focusing more on style than on substance. This would prove to be their Achilles heel, and the symbols of change would be more troubling than the change itself. The clothing of the royal couple became flashpoints for opposition to Amanullah.</p>
<p>And the more gradual, more incremental reforms that he also was backing, which could have resulted in positive change in Afghanistan, got bowled over by the opposition to these symbolic, relatively unimportant reforms. And so I think that that was one example of the kinds of mistakes – not only Amanullah, but that all reformers in Afghanistan have tended to make. They’ve mistaken the superficial symbolic aspects of reform, they’ve allowed those to interfere with the more substantive reforms of livelihoods, education, industry – that would incrementally have allowed Afghans to create a whole different way of life from the ground up, avoiding some of those hot-button issues that have been so disastrous in Afghan history.</p>
<p>In 1927, Amanullah and Soraya went on a tour to Europe where they were the darlings of the political and intellectual circles. They were the “It” couple of the 1920s, working to build a new post-war society where modern values could flourish.</p>
<p>But at home, they were not as popular. While they were away, opposition to their reforms mounted. By 1929, an uprising, led by Habibullah Kalakani, broke out in Jalalabad and the couple was forced to abdicate the throne. They lived the rest of their lives in Europe. The roaring twenties had come to an end.</p>
Rags to Riches
Wed, 03/17/2010 - 17:24 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Nadir Shah was a maniacal ruler of Persia who was perhaps best known for pulling off one of the greatest treasure heists in history.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Year:
1736
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
Asset Type:
Historical
Caption:
The diamond is now in Queen Elizabeth's crown.
More Information:
<p>Ali, Haydar. <i>Horse and Groom</i>. 16th C. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Was'h. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Safavid_Dynasty,_Horse_and_Groom,_by_Haydar_Ali,_early_16th_century.jpg.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang">Bihzad. <i>Fettered Camel and Keeper</i>. 15th C. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Darya-e-Noor Diamond of Iran." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Darya-e_Noor_Diamond_of_Iran.png.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Description Ambassade Perse Auprès De Louis XIV.jpg Ambassade Perse Auprès De Louis XIV, 19 Février 1715</i>. 1715. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ambassade_Perse_aupr%C3%A8s_de_Louis_XIV.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Eden, Emily. <i>Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Treasure</i>. 1844. The British Library, London. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maharaja_Ranjit_singh%27s_treasure.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Elephant (Fil), from Aja'ib Al-makhluqat (Wonders of Creation), by Al-Qazvini</i>. 15th C. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Folio from a Divan (collected Poems) by Awhadi; Verso: An Encampment; Recto: Inscription</i>. 1615-16. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Folio from a Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones) by Jami (d. 1492); Verso: Bandits Attack the Caravan of Aynie and Ria; Recto: Text</i>. 1556-1565. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Hindi, Muhammed Riza. <i>Portrait of Nadir Shah</i>. 1740. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Homann, Johann Baptiste. <i>Jomann Imperium Periscum (Map of Persia)</i>. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jomann_Imperium_Periscum.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Hussein, Zakir, performer. "Tabla Solo in the Rhythmic Cycle of Jhaptal (10-beat Cycle)." In <i>Ustad Mohammad Omar: Virtuoso from Afghanistan</i>. Smithsonian Folkways, 2002, CD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>An Important and Rare Contemporary Portrait of Nadir Shah</i>. 1740s. Private Collection.</div>
<div class="hang"><i>Nader Shah Afshar</i>. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>.<br />
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%87.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Nader Shah's Shield." Digital image. Iran Chamber Society. Accessed January 15, 2010. http://www.iranchamber.com/museum/royal_jewels/national_iranian_.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Nadir Shah (Nadir Qoli Beg, Tahmasp-Qoli Kha)</i>. Jonas Hanway: Zuverläßige Geschichte Der Englischen Handlung Durch Rußland, über Die Caspische See, Nach Persien, Der Tartarey Und Türkey, Armenien Und China. Samt Einer Beschreibung Der Landesbescha. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nadir_Shah.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Nadir Shah, of Persia with His Chief Minister C. 1675-1700</i>. National Gallery of Canada, Toronto.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Noor-ol-Ain Tiara of Iran." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Noor-ol-Ain_tiara.png.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Plan Van Fort Kandahar</i>. 1738. Courtesy of Harvard Map Collection, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Portrait of Nadir Shah</i>. 1743-44. State Hermitage of Russia, St. Petersburg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Portrait of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan</i>. 17th C. State Hermitage of Russia, St. Petersburg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Ram, Sita. <i>The Market-place at Karnal</i>. 1815. British Library, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Shah Mahmud Hotak</i>. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 01, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SHAH-MAHMUD-HOTAK.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Shams, A. <i>Ahmad Shah Durrani</i>. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ahmad-Shah-Durani.jpeg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Simpson, Sir Benjamin. <i>Ruins of Old Kandahar Citadel</i>. 1881. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Unknown. <i>Shah Jahan on the Peacock Throne Which Was Carried off by Nadir Shah in 1738-9</i>. 1774. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.<br />
</div>
<hr />
<br />
Producer: Kate Harding</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>In the 1690s, a boy was born into a poor herding family in the northeast of the Safavid Empire. When he was 13 years old, his father died, and he and his mother were sold into slavery. His mother would die in captivity, but the boy escaped and joined a gang of bandits. His name was Nadir Shah and he would rise to become one of the most important–and violent–rulers in history.</p>
<p>By the time Nadir Shah became an adult, the Safavids were struggling to keep their empire together. They had hoped to negotiate trade and military support from the French, but soon the Afghan leader Mahmud Hotaki seized their weak capital. Meanwhile the Russians and Ottomans were pushing against the northern and western borders. A few Safavids remained in power, but the region was descending into anarchy. The Great Persian Empire was dwindling.</p>
<p>Nadir Shah, the orphaned herder, dreamed of restoring the Safavid territories. He began building a small army with the stolen loot from his escapades, and this army attacked Afghan strongholds. In 1729, he pushed the Afghans back into what is now southern Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Soon thereafter, he attacked the Ottomans and the Russians, winning territory and consolidating a growing empire. By 1736, the poor orphaned boy declared himself shah.</p>
<p>Now, as Shah, he began to look East. In 1738 he destroyed Kandahar.</p>
<p>Next he took Kabul, Ghazni, Peshawar, marching steadily towards his ultimate goal: Delhi.</p>
<p>Fear spread throughout the region as he advanced deeper into India. Nadir’s army attacked the Mughals in Karnal, 70 miles outside of Delhi. They were too strong for the disordered Mughals.</p>
<p>His soldiers plundered Delhi and killed as many as 200,000 Indians while Nadir kept up residence in the Chandni Chowk fort.</p>
<p>Finally the Mughal leader, Mohammed Shah, begged for mercy. He gave Nadir the keys to his treasure trove and Nadir took possession of the imperial jewels.</p>
<p>Among the jewels in the treasure was the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond – the diamond that would eventually end up in Queen Elizabeth’s crown.</p>
<p>Nadir was finally satisfied with the bounty and agreed to withdraw from Delhi, returning to Persia with the jewels, and thousands of elephants, horses, and camels – all while riding atop the Mughals’ Peacock Throne – reputed to be the most ornate throne in the world.</p>
<p>But the Indian campaigns were the height of Nadir’s glory. He soon began sinking into maniacal cruelty. He blinded his own son in a fit of rage and then immediately executed all those who had witnessed the act.</p>
<p>He began taxing his people relentlessly to pay for his military campaigns, and soon revolts were breaking out throughout the empire.</p>
<p>In 1747, he was assassinated by one of his own guards. His nephew replaced him but the empire Nadir had built would soon disintegrate under its own weight. Ahmad Shah Durrani would proclaim independence from Nadir, leading the way to the formation of a modern Afghan state.</p>
Alexander the Great and His Legacy
Tue, 03/09/2010 - 17:36 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Alexander the Great created the greatest empire in the world—planting Greek cities throughout Eurasia that would exert influence for centuries to come. He did all that by the age of 25.</p>
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Year:
330
BCE/CE:
BCE
Date Period:
BCE
Asset Type:
Trend
Caption:
Alexander the Great.
More Information:
<p>"Alexander and Aristotle." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alexander_and_Aristotle.jpg.</p>
<p><em>Alexander Mosaic</em>. Naples National Archaeological Museum.</p>
<p>Altdorfer, Albrecht. <em>Alexander: Battle at Issus</em>. 1529. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.</p>
<p>Levy, Michael, performer. "Hymn to the Muse." In <em>An Ancient Lyre</em>. Michael Levy. 2009, MP3.</p>
<p>Mahwash. "Gar Konad Saheb-E-Man (If My Eyes Meet The Ones Of The Lord)." By Saheb & Ustad M Sarahang. Recorded November 11, 2003. In <em>Radio Kaboul</em>. 2003, CD.</p>
<p>Manoocher/Webistan. <em>Greek Writing</em>. UNESCO, Kabul. © UNESCO/Manoocher/Webistan</p>
<p>PHGCOM. "Alexander Coin." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AlexanderCoin.jpg. <br />
GNU Free Documentation License: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License</p>
<p>Rode, Bernhard. <em>Alexander Covers the Body of Darius with His Cloak</em>. 1769-70. Die Kataloge Der Berliner Akademie-Ausstellungen 1786-1850, Ed. by H. Börsch-Supan, Vol. 1.</p>
<p>"Silver Tetradrachm of Agathocles." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/cm/s/silver_tetradrachm_of_agathocl.aspx. <br />
© Trustees of the British Museum</p>
<p>Von Niedermayer, Oskar. <em>Citadel in Herat</em>. 1916. Fine Arts Library of the Harvard College Library, Cambridge, MA.</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Grace Norman</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>"Just as the heavens would not tolerate two suns, nor would the earth two masters." -Alexander the Great</p>
<p>Before Tamerlane and Babur, before Chinghis Khan, and Ashokha before him, there was one man who built empires unlike any other. His name was Alexander, and he extended the Greek city state of Athens to become an empire that stemmed from the Nile to the Indus. He did all this before his 25th birthday.</p>
<p>The Greek historian Plutarch wrote a biography of Alexander in the centuries following his rule. According to the book The Life of Alexander, the young Macedonian was said to be a descendent of Hercules, and was educated by Aristotle. Alexander famously said that he was indebted to his father for living, but was indebted to his teachers for living well.</p>
<p>Perhaps it was his sense of birthright power, or perhaps a pursuit of riches, that compelled the young Alexander to conquer vast stretches of land to the east.</p>
<p>He as he moved through the Middle East, into Peria, he pursued in battle various Shahs in the region–including Darius III, King of Persia.</p>
<p>Darius died in battle. Although Alexander did not kill him, Alexander claimed victory and took the title Shahanshah, or the King of Kings.</p>
<p>"In the 4th century BC Alexander the Great, one of the greatest conquerors in world history began to move eastward from Greece and was extraordinarily successful occupying a vast domain stretching from Greece all the way to Afghanistan. He actually occupied and took over Afghanistan within six months and began a process of bringing Afghanistan into the Greek world. Alexander the Great’s conquests brought Afghanistan new cultural developments in many aspects of life and society that reflected Greek traditions."</p>
<p>Although Greek influence was heavily felt, a native Persian style persisted. What resulted was a hybrid of Greek and native traditions.</p>
<p>"That’s one of Afghanistan’s glories, hybrids: the integration of a variety of different cultural motifs. The Greeks, when they arrived with the invasion from Alexander did stay in Afghanistan and intermarried with the local people creating a fusion.</p>
<p>"The local people who were subjugated by the Greeks, of course, were influenced by the Greeks but a lot of their traditional Iranian culture persisted. Whatever accommodations they made to the Greeks and whatever they borrowed from the Greeks had to fit in with their traditional beliefs, their traditional values, and their traditional lifestyle. They would choose what they wanted from Greek civilization and would opt out of certain aspects of Greek civilization that didn’t jive or fit in with their culture. That would happen repeatedly throughout Afghan history."</p>
<p>Alexander went on to conquer parts of India and was on his way to Arabia when he died. The Greek influence in the region persisted, however, for centuries to come.</p>
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