Traces & Narratives
Reconstructing Cultural Heritage
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 15:49 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Afghanistan's cultural heritage is being put back together, piece by piece.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
2005
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Boukhari, Sophie, and UNESCO. <i>Head of Buddhist Statue</i>. UNESCO, Kabul, Afghanistan. In <i>UNESCO</i>. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://photobank.unesco.org/exec/fiche.htm.</p>
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<div class="hang">Cole, Henry Hardy. <i>Miscellaneous Buddhist Sculptures from Mala Tangi, Peshawar District 10031079</i>. 1883. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Cole, Henry Hardy. <i>Miscellaneous Sculpture Pieces from the Upper Monastery, Nutta, Peshawar District</i>. 1883. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>49-24</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>49-52</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>50-62</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>51-100</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>60-R28-8</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>61-180</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>Members of the Conference at the Administrative Quarters</i>. 1970. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>Pseudo-corinthian Capital from the Administrative Quarters</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>Temple within the Walls of Ai Khanoum</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>The Bases in the Hall of the Administrative Quarters</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<p>Ellis, Sean. <i>Giza Pyramids</i>. March 27, 2009. Cairo.Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</p>
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<div class="hang">Kelly, Jim. "Kids with Tiled Minaret." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4072962400/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">Kelly, Jim. "Restoration Workshop." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4072192491/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">Kelly, Jim. "Some of the New Tilework." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4072953984/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">Mahwash. "Taghafol Tchi Khejlat (The Ashamed Conscience)." In <i>Radio Kaboul</i>. Accords Croisés, 2003, CD.</div>
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<div class="hang">Manoocher, Webistan, and UNESCO. "Kabul Museum - Statue Restoration." Digital image. UNESCO. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://photobank.unesco.org/exec/fiche.htm.</div>
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<div class="hang">Manoocher, Webistan, and UNESCO. <i>Kabul Museum</i>. UNESCO, Kabul, Afghanistan. In <i>UNESCO</i>. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://photobank.unesco.org/exec/fiche.htm.</div>
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<div class="hang">Podelco, Grant. "Afghanistan: Race To Preserve Historic Minarets Of Herat, Jam." Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. July 18, 2005. Accessed September 05, 2010. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1059997.html.</div>
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<div class="hang">"Preserving Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage: An Interview with Nancy Hatch Dupree." Interview by Alexis Menten. Asia Society. July 7, 2002. Accessed September 30, 2010. http://asiasociety.org/node/475.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Q2-01268-35</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Producer: Alexis Menten</div>
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<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<blockquote>“I think that a country is entitled to keep its heritage. But, at the same time, in keeping their heritage they have the responsibility to protect it. This is not always possible.” – Nancy Hatch Dupree, Director, Afghanistan Centre, Kabul University</blockquote>
<p>We all know of Egypt and the preservation in the tombs. Strangely, the steppes of Central Asia, where things were frozen, are also sites of preservation. So hence we have some of the oldest remains in the world found in this part of the world. And archeology then, shows us as a window onto the past.</p>
<p>Every person, every culture, and every country has a heritage. In Afghanistan, as in other countries, history is everywhere, whether artifacts and objects in museums, historical sites, or living traditions like carpet weaving.</p>
<p>But these connections to history are crumbling in Afghanistan. Many of these sites were strategic. They were chosen because they were strategic, and they are still strategic, and hence they are usually in the middle of war zones. I think given the state of Afghanistan today, it’s almost impossible for Afghans even to visit any of these sites, nor would they necessarily want to. Places like Ghazni are notoriously unsafe, and even archeologists are allowed there for an hour or two at a time.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, even where historical sites have survived and are accessible, they are easy targets for looters. This practice not only removes valuable artifacts that would normally go into the hands of researchers and curators into those of private collectors, but it also destroys much of the information that artifacts can provide about where, when, and how people lived.</p>
<p>This is where archeology can provide us with the context, but grave robbers want exactly the opposite. They want to destroy or remove the object from context. Museums today are much more interested in context, and they’re trying to re-establish how were all these artworks used.</p>
<p>One way to protect historical artifacts during wartime is to remove them from the country to keep them safe. But when no one is in charge, as during Afghanistan’s civil war in the 1990s, who can authorize and organize such a move? And how can a country be sure of their return?</p>
<p>In Afghanistan, these questions proved to be impossible to answer. And so after the Soviet withdrawal, when the Afghanistan descended into civil war, some of the country’s most important artifacts were saved by the heroic actions of individuals. The director of the Kabul Museum recognizing the danger involved took what is reported to be the greatest treasure, the Bactrian gold coins of the 3rd century BCE, and stored them away in a government ministry where they survived. The result was when the Taliban were expelled from Kabul, the Bactrian gold coins were intact and returned to the museum.</p>
<p>For other artifacts that were found by foreign archaeologists and removed from the country well before Afghanistan’s present difficulties, the question of how and when they will be returned is still debated. One of the most controversial questions in art in Afghanistan today is the question of repatriation, and should objects be moved back to the places they were found? Or is it the role of the museum at large to show the world what world culture is, in which case all museums should have some objects from all periods in order to share that wealth? There are arguments that can be made on both sides, but for the safety of the objects, in the case of Afghanistan for the moment, it seems that repatriation is not a viable option.</p>
<p>In addition to the threats to historical objects and sites, another concern is that living traditions, such as carpet weaving, embroidery, and metalwork, are slowly dying away due to lack of resources and markets.</p>
<p>Art is a luxury. If you have to feed your family, you can’t be making art. For local people who are displaced and living in refugee camps, unless they can find a way to sell that art, there’s no reason to make it.</p>
<p>So what can be done? In a country where the government has limited capacity, outside organizations are working with Afghans to help pick up the pieces. There has been a revival of crafts, particularly with the help of outside funding now in Afghanistan. So we have two kinds of art going on. We have the revival of crafts in some of these societies, and we have the revival of crafts to sell in order to make money for the outside. It’s hopeful. We are trying to revive old crafts.</p>
<p>Reconstruction of historic sites is underway across the country. But it’s not straightforward. One of the ongoing questions in the scholarly and more general world, is what to do with these buildings and how much should they be restored. We don’t necessarily have the same techniques that they used in earlier times. Should we add concrete to buildings that were built without it? And there is a vast and heated ongoing discussion about this. There is a counter-drive, saying this is inauthentic, and we are restoring things that we don’t know were necessarily there. Having restored them, the next question is what do you do with them?</p>
<p>Sometimes, rebuilding after war doesn’t just mean rebuilding roads and hospitals and schools. It can be just as important to rebuild the past, which is a far more complicated and difficult task.</p>
Miracles and Other Powers of Storytelling
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 15:26 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Afghanistan has a storytelling culture: it connects Afghans to their past and to one another. Among other things, stories remind people of both the greatness and the universality of their struggles.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
2002
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <i>85-124</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
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<div class="hang"><i>Folio from an Unidentified Text; The Angel Israfil</i>. 1580-90. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC. In <i>Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery</i>. http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=S1986.219.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>G-00209-12</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>G-00209-14</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>G-00209-15</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">ISAF. "Sharing Smiles." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4251620972/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>KES-763-A-162</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<p>Lemoyne, Roger, and United Nations. "A Young Girl Attends School." Digital image. United Nations Photo's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/3837229586/.Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en</p>
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<div class="hang"><i>The Makhzan Al-asrar (Treasury of Secrets) by Mawlana Haydar</i>. 1577-78. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC. In <i>Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery</i>. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=S1986.54.</div>
<div class="hang"><i>Muj_around_fire</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Omar, Mohammad, 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>
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<div class="hang">Rich, Sebastien, UNICEF, and UNAMA. "Photo of the Day: 5 March 2009." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/3329763851/.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Sl-04715</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Producer: Kate Harding</div>
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<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Afghans are connected to their past primarily through stories.</p>
<p>It’s very much a storytelling culture. It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of storytelling in Afghanistan and the extent to which it pervades all levels of society. But in a country where only 28% of the people can read, storytelling is especially important for conveying information and for teaching the values of the society to a new generation.</p>
<p>It’s an oral culture more than a visual culture, even more than it’s a musical culture, although music is also important in parts of the country. But stories are the main lynchpin for understanding, not only the past but also the present.</p>
<p>Stories also bring entertainment, and they work to contextualize the daily struggles of individuals within a lighter world: Afghans, for example, have a wonderful sense of humor and lots of their stories are funny stories some of them are bawdy, a little bit racy. And they find ways to entertain themselves through stories. </p>
<p>Think about those long winter months. And Afghanistan is a cold country. Parts of it, at least, are cold during the winter, and there are long periods when people stay inside. And they find ways to entertain themselves and they have to do it themselves. There are no iPods, no DVD players. People were dependent upon the entertainment that they could provide for themselves. In a culture without much access to digital media, storytelling continues to play an important role today—for communicating with people within the culture and also for communicating with people outside of the culture.</p>
<p>While storytelling can be used to make individuals feel less alone in their struggles, it can also be used to give examples of exceptional figures. In the case of Afghanistan, these exceptional figures remind the faithful of the power of God.</p>
<p>In the case of Islam, one of the things that I noticed was that people, when they talked about great leaders of the past, great figures, great Islamic figures of the past, they told me about them by telling me about the miracles that they performed in the past. It struck me that miracle stories themselves were important in capturing how these, you might call traditional Afghans, viewed the importance, the role of Islamic figures, a particular genre of Islamic figures, the Sufi leaders, the mystical figures of the past. That they told stories about the miracles that they had performed.</p>
<p>And those miracles themselves were interesting because within those stories you found the kinds of potency, the kinds of power that was associated with Islam, and all of that potency and power ultimately derived from God and from an understanding of God’s role and his status as creator, and the ultimate source of all power in the universe. And these individuals were viewed as founts of that power, or vehicles of that power, expressions of that power.</p>
<p>Storytelling gives Afghans hope that they are not alone, that this trail has been blazed before by both common and exceptional figures. The power of storytelling lies in its ability to be a reminder of both the greatness and the universality of their struggles.</p>
Perseverance of a People
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 14:12 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>During the Soviet War, millions of refugees began to flee Afghanistan. They went to Pakistan and Iran where they lived in massive settlements along the borders. During Taliban rule, their numbers increased. Millions remain displaced today.</p>
Theme:
Geography & Destiny
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1985
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>1139-22A</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
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<div class="hang">"Dastgah-e Mahur: Tasnif "Mahd-e Honor"" In <i>Music of Iran I</i>. King Record, 1989, CD.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>82-3180</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>85-34</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-484</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>H-00230-16</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>H-00230-29</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>H-00230-35</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>H-00231-31</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>H-00233-16</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">ISAF. "100109-F-3231D-132." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4275299735/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">ISAF. "100109-F-3231D-230." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4275297941/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">ISAF, and U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Monica R. Nelson. "081031-N-6651N-118." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3040036131/in/set-72157609526139956/.</div>
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<div class="hang">ISAF, and U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Monica R. Nelson. "081031-N-6651N-138." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3040877890/.</div>
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<div class="hang">ISAF, and U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Monica R. Nelson. "081031-N-6651N-153." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3040880454/in/set-72157609526139956/.</div>
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<div class="hang">ISAF, Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez, and U.S. Air Force. "091103-F-9171L-074." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4085601238/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Kanalstein, Eric. "Http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/4176333167/." Digital image. United Nations Photo's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/4176333167/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>L-00345-01</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Morrison, U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry, U.S. Department of Defense, and ISAF. "08.12.2009.GATES.KARZAI.1." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4170969805/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Nelson, Navy Mass Communications Specialist Petty Officer 1st Class Monica R., and ISAF. "081031-N-6651N-183." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3040047679/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Nelson, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Monica R. "081031-N-6651N-176." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3040046369/in/set-72157609526139956/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Nelson, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Monica R., and ISAF. "081031-N-6651N-078." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3040028919/in/photostream/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Nelson, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Monica R., and ISAF. "090418-N-6651N-001." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3454878183/.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>News Broadcast</i>. Peshawar: Williams Afghan Media Project.</div>
<div class="hang">Purschwitz, Lance Cpl. James, and Navy Visual News Service. "091029-M-2581P-478." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4081580955/.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>"Save Me From My Friends!"</i> In <i>Afghanistan Old Photos</i>. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.afghanistan-photos.com/.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Sl-04717</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Sl-04719</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">USAID. "Afghan Refugees Returning from Pakistan in 2004." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afghan_refugees_returning_from_Pakistan_in_2004.jpg.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>V2-01440-05</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Producer: Kate Harding</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>During the Soviet War, millions of refugees began fleeing Afghanistan. They went to Pakistan and Iran, where they lived in massive settlements along the borders. During Taliban rule, their numbers increased.</p>
<p>When the Americans came, the refugees began returning to Afghanistan, along with a new generation of foreign-born offspring. Since 2002, an estimated 5 million people have returned to Afghanistan.</p>
<p>But still many of these returnees remain homeless and displaced in their own country. The influx of people has put new pressure on a system that is already stretched to its capacity. Millions remain displaced and are in desperate need of food, clean drinking water, and shelter.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, when the flow of displacement was just beginning, anthropologist David Edwards worked among Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan.</p>
<p>What was remarkable to me was just how adaptable Afghans were, that whole families picked up and took their essential belongings, which they could fit on a few horses or donkeys or camels, cross the border, and within a matter of a few weeks were—first, often they were given tents by the UNHCR—the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.</p>
<p>Within a matter of a few weeks they were building walls around those tents, and houses with rooms, and after a while the tents were gone. The tents provided emergency shelter briefly, but for the most part they knew how to make their own houses out of mud, out of wood. And they were able to get food and other supplies and water. Imagine that in America. What would happen if 3 ½ million people were thrown on their own devices—they had to suddenly survive.</p>
<p>I think one of the misconceptions about Afghans that’s developed over the last few years is the idea that they are treacherous or deceitful, that they change sides, that you—one of the phrases you hear is you can’t buy an Afghan, you can only rent one.</p>
<p>All of those ideas, I think, misconceive the nature of Afghan culture and also of Afghan history. They are a small nation and they have been manipulated by great powers for generations.</p>
<p>The only way that they have been able to survive intact is by maintaining a flexibility and adaptiveness.</p>
<p>I think that if you look at the structure of the tribe, for example, it’s really all about adaptation. The tribe can expand when opportunities allow it to expand, and it can shrink and contract when opportunities disappear.</p>
<p>Afghans have shown an incredible adaptability over time, and environmental—the problems of when there are great droughts, when foreign conquerors overrun the country, the tribes somehow survive.</p>
<p>They’ve survived being refugees in Pakistan for 20 years; they’ve survived so many different kinds of problems that other forms of social organization would not have survived. So I think you have to understand the one important element about the Afghan survival and their ability to deal with the awful situation that they’ve found themselves in so often, is their ability to be flexible. And part of that flexibility is being careful about political allegiances; recognizing that people who are making promises today will probably not be around tomorrow, so that all those promises are contingent.</p>
<p>And I think one thing Afghans recognize is that history is contingent. It’s dependent upon variables that are outside their control. And to offer undying allegiance to an imperial power is madness, because imperial powers have shown over and over again that they are not gonna be around after awhile.</p>
<p>But for now, the question of Afghanistan’s displaced masses is one that is felt not just by Afghanistan but by many countries, as the world tries to decide which borders will be open to Afghans seeking a home.</p>
Radio Kabul
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 13:30 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Its transmissions of world news and latest hits could be heard as far as South Africa and Indonesia. Years later, not even the Taliban could resist the power of the radio.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1965
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
A World-Class Education?
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 12:36 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Political instability often led to school closures or the cessation of education altogether. But at one time, Afghanistan had a promising education system. Many believe that re-establishing education is the only long-term hope for stability.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1929
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>"100513-F-7713A-061." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4626146729/.<br />
Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>Afghanistan Girls Education</i>. UNICEF, 2009. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utzNdAB84lk.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Biology Class, Kabul University." Digital image. Foreign Policy. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/27/once_upon_a_time_in_afghanistan?page=0,2.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>G-00199-19</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Hundreds of Afghan Youngsters Take Active Part in Scout Programs." Digital image. Foreign Policy. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/27/once_upon_a_time_in_afghanistan?page=0,8.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-196-H-107</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-379-H-290_1</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-379-H-290_1</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-864-A-233</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-906-A-275</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-910-A-279</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Mahwash. "Taghafol Tchi Khejlat (The Ashamed Conscience)." In <i>Radio Kaboul</i>. Accords Croisés, 2003, CD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Menten, Alexis. <i>Makeshift Classroom, Kapisa Province, Afghanistan</i>. 2004.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Mothers and Children at a City Playground." Digital image. Foreign Policy. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/27/once_upon_a_time_in_afghanistan?page=0,10.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Mr. Besse, Physics Teacher</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sl-04726</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Grace Norman</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>This is a photograph that shows a boy at a school, pointing to a map of Europe and Asia. And I think it’s an interesting photograph. I’ve always enjoyed looking at this photograph for what it says about the educational institutions as they developed in Afghanistan in the teens and twenties of the 20th century, and how Afghans began to see the world in broad global terms for the first time. And to begin to imagine themselves and their country within a community of nations and within a global context.</p>
<p>Education is the way societies prepare a rising generation to be productive citizens.</p>
<p>Creating a world-class education system was a priority for the reform-minded King Habibbulah and for his son King Amunallah. King Amunallah opened several schools, including ones that offered French language instruction, and international exchanges.</p>
<p>One of the sad losses that happened as a result of his being overthrown in 1929 was that the rise of education, the development of education was set back correspondingly.</p>
<p>It did develop again, to the point where gradually, incrementally during the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, primary schools spread throughout Afghanistan, along with regional high schools and a set of universities in some of the major cities in Afghanistan. But it took a long time, and one of the tragedies of Afghan history is that education has been derailed consistently. Just as its beginning to make progress and beginning to show the results of having young people with knowledge of languages and of geography, of sciences and mathematics, of humanities, that their political events happen that lead to the closure or to the cessation of the educational system.</p>
<p>The desire for education is too often met with great obstacles. Here make-shift curriculum can be pinned to trees when there are no classrooms or other resources.</p>
<p>The letters are written differently whether it’s the beginning, the middle, or the end. Same letter but it appears differently. So here for example we have a kaph, a k, and you see that’s at the beginning. This is how it links up because Arabic script is cursive and this is how it’d appear on the end.</p>
<p>After a tumultuous century, some argue that like never before, Afghanistan needs a world-class education system because it is the only hope for long-term stability.</p>
Power Symbols
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 12:18 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>There are many ways to communicate power. The king understood this very well. He created a visual brand and conveyed his authority efficiently in the era of photography and global media.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1923
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>"Black Wolf, Cheyenne." Digital image. First People of America and Canada. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.firstpeople.us/.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>Image1</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">ISAF, Cpl. Zachary Nola, and Regimental Combat Team-7, 1st Marine Division Public Affairs. "Http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4085542826/." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4085542826/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-225-1-H-136-1</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-693-A-62</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-765-A-134</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-769-A-138</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-815-A-184</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-849-A-218</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_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_1</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-939-A-308</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">"Obama's Blackberry." Digital image. The Review Crew. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.thereviewcrew.com/news/obama-to-get-his-ultra-super-bionic-blackberry/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Rolls Royce</i>. RollsRoycemotors.com. Accessed September 4, 2010.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Sims, Brandi. "Crucifix." Digital image. House of Sims' Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/houseofsims/2350636791/. Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div class="hang"><hr />
<p>Producer: Kate Harding</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Power is visual. And the visual is power.</p>
<p>There are many ways to communicate power. And in the 1920s, King Amanullah understood that very well. He knew that if he could create a visual brand, then he could convey his authority more efficiently. Like governments and corporations today, he used symbols to consolidate his ideals and his power.</p>
<p>And in the era of photography, these symbols could be mediated at new speed.</p>
<p>For Amanullah, the visual signs of technology and clothing communicated so much more than speeches ever could. These symbols were used strategically to convey to his people that he was building a new kind of government for a new Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Even in a single meeting, Amanullah effectively communicated his new brand through this strategic use of symbols. This shot is of King Amanullah meeting with tribal delegates.</p>
<p>It’s interesting. In comparison with earlier shots that we have of his father and grandfather, also meeting with tribal delegates, one difference is that he is on the same level as the tribal delegates. If we look at some other shots, and again you have to be careful of drawing conclusions from a single photograph. But in other shots we have, we see the king up, elevated above his subjects. And Amanullah wanted to create a more of a citizenry as opposed to a king/subject relation, it was more of the king and his people, but on a more equal level. And I think it’s important in this photograph that we see him talking to people at the same eye level.</p>
<p>At the same time, we also see that he has got some of the accoutrements of power around him. And very modern accoutrements. If you look at the telephone that’s at his right hand, this is a relatively new invention in Afghanistan, and probably only connected to very few places within Kabul. It certainly didn’t go outside of Kabul. But it allowed him to communicate with other people in his court.</p>
<p>One imagines that it was more a symbol than it was a real instrument of communication. When push came to shove, I’m sure Amanullah communicated through couriers and through the traditional means. There was even one man in his court who was known as the Bubabark, who was the fastest runner that the king had been able to find, and he was the personal messenger of the king. So Bubabark means the father of electricity. But Amanullah, I think in this case, has that telephone by his side as a way of symbolizing his modernity and his association with what must have seen to those tribesmen, if they even knew what it was at all, it would have seemed like a symbol of the power of the king, not through guns, not through force or violence, but rather through the instruments of technology and modernity.</p>
Through Afghan Eyes
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 12:00 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Photography came to Afghanistan sometime in the late 19th century. For the first time, the world could witness Afghanistan through Afghan eyes.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1910
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>Image32</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1025-A-394</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1051-H-420</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1069-H-438</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1114-H-483</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1116-H-485</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1123-H-492</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1152-H-521</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1204-A-573</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-1252-A-621</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1263-A-632</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-131-H-42</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-14-A</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1536-A-905</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-157-2-H-68-2</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1578-A-947</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1586-A-955</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-158-H-69</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1603-A-972</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1653-A-1022</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1657-A-1026</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1662-A-1031</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1716-A-1085</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1730-A-1099</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-183-21-H-94-21</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1848-A-1217</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1849-A-1218</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1890-A-1259</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-1934-A-1303</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-197-H-108</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-2009-A-1378</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-2190-HG-13</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-2191-HG-14</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-2198-E-4</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-228-H-139</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-238-H-149</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-267-H-178</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-330-H-241</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-363-H-274</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-429-H-340</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-459-H-370</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-503-2-H-414-2</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-514-H-425</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-517-11-H-428-11</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-517-14-H-428-14</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-517-9-H-428-9</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-532-H-443</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-600-H-511</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-604-H-515</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-627-H-538</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-645-A-14</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-730-A-99</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-758-A-127</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-815-A-184</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-947-A-316</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-996-A-445</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Lopez, Vincent, Harry Donnelly, and Wilander Wiliam. <i>Afghanistan</i>. Lopez and Hamilton's Kings of Harmony Orchestra. 1920. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://tinyurl.com/27tomp9.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Grace Norman</div>
</div>
</div>
Video Transcript:
<p>Photography came to Afghanistan sometime in the late 19th century, most likely from Europe.</p>
<p>For the first time, the world was able to witness Afghanistan through Afghan eyes. There was portraiture, and photographs of important political events and historical turning points. Photographers documented different peoples of Afghanistan &mdash but mostly it captured the high society that could afford this new photo technology.</p>
<p>The outside world had a glimpse of well-to-do Afghan families. Photography revealed a changing society. New fashions came and went. There was a life of leisure, for those who could afford it.</p>
<p>And it caught the innocence that a future generation of Afghan children would not know.</p>
The Folly of Power
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 09:10 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Hotak, a mad ruler full of hubris, rose up out of Afghanistan and conquered all of Persia.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Traces & Narratives
Year:
1709
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Bowen, Emanuel. <i>Safavid Persian Empire Map</i>. 1744-52. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Safavid_Persian_Empire.jpg.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>Chain Armor & Helmet</i>. 18th-19th C. Virtual Collection of Masterpieces / Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw.
<div>Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="hang">Danish, Asadullah. <i>Hajji Mirwais Khan Hotak (Mirwais Nikka)</i>. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mirwais-Hotak.jpeg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>An Important and Rare Contemporary Portrait of Nadir Shah</i>. 1740s. Private Collection. In <i>Artifacts Lanier Collections</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://www.artifactsny.com/pages.php?content=gallery.php&page=4&navGallID=82&activeType=.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Logari, Durai. <i>More Nare Kele</i>. Cassette.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Page from a Dismembered Manuscript of the Koran, Khurasan or Transoxiania</i>. 15th C. Fatema Farmanfarmaian Private Collection, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Interior of the City of Kandahar, from the House of Sirdar Meer Dil Khaun</i>. 1848. The British Library Board, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Kelaut-I-Ghiljie</i>. 1848. © Trustees of the British Museum, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Khoja Padshauh, a Ko-i-staun Chief, with His Armed Retainers</i>. 1848. <br />
© Trustees of the British Museum, London.<br />
</div>
<hr />
Producer: Kate Harding</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>In the early 1700s, western Afghanistan was governed by Persian rulers known as the Safavids.</p>
<p>For the first time in history, these rulers made Shiite Islam the official religion of Persia, persecuting all those who refused to convert.</p>
<p>But the Pashtuns of Afghanistan were almost uniformly Sunni.</p>
<p>In 1709 a wealthy Pashtun chief of the Ghilzai tribe rose up against the Shiite rulers.</p>
<p>Mir Wais Hotak killed the despised governor and seized control of the Kandahar region. But only six years after his rebellion, he died of natural causes, and his son Mahmud soon replaced him.</p>
<p>Mahmud was brutally ambitious, determined to expand his power beyond Kandahar.</p>
<p>In 1722, he invaded Isfahan, the heart of the Safavid empire. He sacked it and massacred thousands.</p>
<p>Mahmud’s brutality was so extreme that he even went so far as to invite the nobles of Isfahan to a banquet — only to have them all slaughtered by his army. Soon thereafter Mahmud, the Afghan, declared himself the Shah of all of Persia.</p>
<p>But the 18th century would prove that hubris would lead to defeat. Some say Mahmud spiraled rapidly into paranoia and insanity. In 1725, he died, possibly at the hands of his own men.</p>
<p>His weak nephew replaced him, but only a few years later, a poor peasant named Nadir Shah would rise up and grab the Persian reins back from the Afghans.</p>
Babur's Garden
Sun, 08/01/2010 - 23:02 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>At times, it seemed the world was Babur's garden.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Traces & Narratives
Year:
1505
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>Ḥamzah Sulṭān, Mahdī Sulṭan and Mamāq Sulṭān Pay Homage to Babur, from Illuminated Manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</p>
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<div class="hang"><i>Animals of Hindustan Monkeys, Rodents and the Peacock, from Illuminated Manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Babur and His Army in the Sinjid Valley on the Way to Kabul (Memoirs of Babur)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Babur, and W. M. Thackston. <i>The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor</i>. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, 1995.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Babur Confronts His Enemies in the Mountains of Kharābūk and Pashāmūn, from Illuminated Manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Babur Entering Kabul, from Illuminated Manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Babur Supervising the Laying out of the Garden of Fidelity</i>. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O114438/painting-babur-supervising-the-laying-out/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Babur's Enthronement</i>. In <i>University of Washington's Silk Road Exhibit</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/babur/babur1.html.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Celebration in the Charbagh Garden of Kabul on the Occasion of the Birth of His Son, Humayun in 1508</i>. In <i>University of Washington's Silk Road Exhibit</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/babur/babur1.html.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Cover Page, Baburnama</i>. In <i>University of Washington's Silk Road Exhibit</i>. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/babur/babur1.html.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">
<p>Dynamosquito. "Immortels." Digital image. Dynamosquito's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dynamosquito/4489670087/.<br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en</p>
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<div class="hang"><i>The Final Phase of the Battle of Kandahar on the Side of the Murghan Mountain, from Illuminated Manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Illuminated Manuscript Depicting Babur's Defeat of the Afghans at the Jagdalek Pass, from Baburnamah</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Illuminated Manuscript Depicting the Fall of Samarkand from Baburnama</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Jan, Mira. <i>Field Recordings: Hiromi Lorraine Sakata</i>. Performed by Abdullad of Qandahar. Tirin Hotel, Orzgan Province. Sakata Music Collection, 1967.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">
<p>Kelly, Jim. "Babur Gardens from a Mountain Top." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 22, 2010.<br />
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Babur_Gardens_from_a_mountain_top_CROPPED.jpg.<br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</p>
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<div class="hang"><i>Muḥammad Ḥusaym Mīrzā, a Relative of Babur, in Spite of His Treachery, Is Being Released and Send to Khurāsān, from Illuminated Manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Muscats (from Baburnama)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Music: Jam (India), Baburnama</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Shoe Buckles Depicting a Chariot Drawn by Dragons</i>. 1st C. CE. National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>The Siege and Battle of Isfarah. Babur and His Army Assaults the Fortress of Ibrāhīm Sārū, from Illuminated Manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sultan Muḥammad Vays Offers Babur a Healthy Horse to Replace His Ailing One, from Illuminated Manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)</i>. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">UNESCO/Manoocher/Webistan. <i>Kabul Museum - Statue Restoration</i>. Kabul.</div>
<div class="hang">
<p>Wyoming_Jackrabbit. "Herodotus, Historiae." Digital image. Wyoming_Jackrabbit's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wy_jackrabbit/4339298688/.<br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Grace Norman</p>
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</div>
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<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>What is known about Afghan history is typically pieced together.</p>
<p>Unlike the Greek or Chinese Empires, there were no known scribes nor mapmakers. What we understand about Afghan history was often derived from foreign sources or visual clues.</p>
<p>That is, until the time of Babur. The <i>Baburnama</i> was the first autobiography in the Muslim world.</p>
<p>The narrative chronicles how one prince adopted a home in Kabul and founded the last Indian Dynasty. It is a remarkable story.</p>
<p>He wrote an extraordinary autobiography, which tells us a great deal about a cultured man. He and his successors introduced a level of Persian sophistication into Northern India and founded the last dynasty of India, the Mughal Dynasty.</p>
<p>A descendent of Ghenghis Khan and Tamerlane, he had the blood of a Turkic warrior, but the prose of Persian nobility.</p>
<p>The story starts when Babur was 12. His father had died and he inherited–and lost–a kingdom in the lush Ferghana Valley north of Afghanistan.</p>
<p>As a teenager, Babur the prince was victorious at times, but the victories were short lived. He captured Samarkand, only to lose it. He would stew then re-attack.</p>
<p>In his early twenties, Babur seemed to strategize more. He took to the forests, where he lived for three years, slowly building and training an army. He had an Empire to establish.</p>
<p>When he was ready, he crossed the mighty Hindu Kush mountain range, and captured Kabul, a city he grew to love. In his autobiography, he described Kabul in great detail</p>
<blockquote>“It is a pretty little province, completely surrounded by mountains. This province is a mercantile center. From India, caravans of 10, 15, 20 thousand pack animals brings slaves, textiles, sugar, and spices. Many Kabul merchants would not be satisfied with 300 or 400% profit! Goods from Iraq, Antonia, China, [and beyond] can be found in Kabul.” -excerpt, <em>Baburnama</em></blockquote>
<p>While in Kabul, he lays out a garden. Gardens which were part of his homeland and which he missed. They tend to be walled enclosures with water channels that run at regular intervals, cross-sections. And that’s exactly what we see in Babur’s garden, which has terraces with water that runs, running water, because water adds sound, background noise, but also cooling, fragrance, all the senses.</p>
<p>It shows what an important role gardens play in this whole part of the world. If you look at the landscape, you’ll see why gardens are so important. The landscape is sear. It’s dark. It’s dusty.</p>
<p>If you bring water, it’s fertile. So water becomes the image of paradise. The Garden of Eden, the Promised Land.</p>
<p>Despite his adoration of Kabul and his garden, he was not ready to retire. He conquered Kandahar, another wealthy city along prosperous trade routes.</p>
<p>Babur had grown to become a powerful and wealthy King. He crossed the Oxus River and conquered his ancestral lands of the Ferghana Valley.</p>
<p>He then set his sights on India. At this point in history, warfare had changed profoundly. He used new technologies and his battalion of 12,000 was able to defeat an army of 100,000.</p>
<p>He sacked what is today Northern India. He and his descendants ruled the subcontinent for three centuries, instilling a legacy of Persian culture and Islamic faith.</p>
<blockquote>"If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this!"<br />
- inscription on Babur’s tomb in his Kabul Garden</blockquote>
<p>Babur died in Northern India, but was later brought back to Kabul and was laid to rest in his beloved garden.</p>
<p>Times changed, and so did the garden. Natural disasters and decades of war have ravaged the site, returning it to a dusty landscape. Over the years, there were several efforts to restore the garden.</p>
<p>They [gardens] change, from day to day, form season to season. And we have no idea what gardens looked like. So any time we see a garden, that’s only the seasonal aspect. We have depictions of them in miniature paintings, but again, these are probably idealized, because they often show plants that don’t bloom or blossom at the same time.</p>
<p>The latest effort to renew the garden is by the Aga Khan Development Network.</p>
<p>As Babur’s Gardens are renewed, so, too, is Kabul’s cultural heritage coming back to life.</p>
Bihzad: Art of the Book
Sun, 08/01/2010 - 21:07 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Books are often filled with stories. But it is the story of the book that explains how, in one respect, Afghanistan was the center of the world.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Traces & Narratives
Year:
1450
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Bihzad. <i>Bustan of Saadi (Yusuf & Zulaykha)</i>. In <i>Timur and the Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century, by Thomas Lentz and Glenn Lowry</i>. 1st ed. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.</p>
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<div class="hang">Bihzad. <i>Folio from a Khamsa (Quintet) by Amir Khusraw Dihlavi; The Abduction by Sea</i>. 1496. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
</div>
<div class="hang">Bihzad. <i>Paintin (Nushirwan and the Two Owls)</i>. 16th C. © Trustees of the British Museum, London.<br />
</div>
<div class="hang">Codepinkhq. "The Calligraphy Class." Digital image. Codepinkhq's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 22, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/codepinkalert/3984531578/.
<div>Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en<br />
</div>
</div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>A69-542</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.<br />
</div>
<div class="hang"><i>The Fox and the Drum; from Kalila and Dimna, Herat</i>. 1429. Topkapi Palace Library, Istanbul.<br />
</div>
<div class="hang"><i>Page from a Dismembered Manuscript of the Koran, Khurasan or Transoxiania</i>. 15th C. Fatema Farmanfarmaian Private Collection, London.<br />
</div>
<div class="hang">Qutbshah, Muhammad. <i>A Divan (collected Poems) by Hafiz (d. 1390)</i>. 1523. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
</div>
<div class="hang"><i>Tahmina Entering Rustam's Bedchamber; from the "Shahnama;" Made for Muhammad Juki, Herat</i>. 1450. Royal Asiatic Society, London.<br />
</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang"><br />
Producer: Alexis Menten</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Calligraphy is the most important art in Islam. In fact, for many Muslims, it is the only art.</p>
<p>And in many ways, it replaces images. If you walk into a cathedral in the West, over the doorway, you have Christ. If you walk into a Mosque in a place like Afghanistan, you have calligraphy. You have writing. Beautiful writing. And writing is endowed with as much art as Western sculptors endowed sculpture.</p>
<p>Calligraphy is also one of the art forms that is still practiced today. It is one of those very rare ones that people still use many of the same techniques. The reed pen, the very fine paper.</p>
<p>And it is one of these art forms that flourished in Afghanistan. In the 14th century, when the first books flourished in the Persianate world, the miniature was very small. It starts to grow in importance as painters become as important as calligraphers. And by the time of Bihzad, you can see we have almost reached full page paintings.</p>
<p>This is a painting by Bihzad, who was the most famous Persian painter of all time. He flourished in the 15th century in the city of Herat, which was the center of court culture and book production at the time. And he signed only one manuscript.</p>
<p>This page shows this scene of Yusuf and Zulaykha, the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife from the Bible, where she tempts him and he moves through seven rooms up to the top. He is about to yield to her at the last minute, the seventh room, when he realizes that God is his witness and he turns to flee. Bihzad has captured the epitome of the action just as Yusuf in green has turned and is about to flee out the door with Zulaykha pulling behind him.</p>
<p>What is amazing about Bihzad's compositions is the intricacy and yet the clarity at the same time, achieved mostly through a very balanced use of color that just makes your eye jump around the page.</p>
<p>If you look at the double page frontispiece from the wonderful manuscript of Bihzad, you have to start on the right where the door to the courtyard is, and you move through the courtyard, and the Sultan is sitting on the far left under the tent. It shows the sultan himself and his court, so you can actually see the sultan sitting under a tent with his courtiers before him, and the kinds of food that were brought to court, and the kinds of conversations that they had that they were part of court culture at the time.</p>
<p>You have to remember that these are paintings within books. So first, they prepared sheets of paper, which they lined, so you can see the rows of poetry at the bottom, and they left a very large space in the middle for Bihzad to complete his composition. He blocks it out and then he paints it in with these pigments that he has had to grind up himself. One of the reasons that Persian painting is so famous is for the clarity of the colors and the saturation of the colors. Bihzad was the master of mixing colors and combining tints. After he had finished blocking out the painting then presumably someone, or perhaps him, came and added the inscriptions which tell you what the title of the painting is and incorporate verses from yet another poem, right into the architecture.</p>
<p>We do not know whether the patron said, "This is a story that means a lot to me. I want it illustrated." Or the calligrapher thought, "I like this story. I am going to leave space for it." Or he was looking at an older book and it has the same illustration in there, just copying. We just do not know. But you can see by this time, that the painting has become even more important than the text. It is taking up almost the whole page. And this is the importance of Bihzad.</p>
<p>The paintings themselves are signed by Bihzad and it was made for Sultan Husayn Bayqara. We do not know what he did with it. Did he sit and read it in bed? Did he bring it up to his court and show, "Look, I am a great poet myself and a patron of Persian painting and Persian books." We just do not know. But we know that they spent a lot of time and investment in these works of art.</p>
