Tradition & Modernization
Educating Girls
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 13:37 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Girls in Afghanistan seem to be caught in middle of a war of ideas. Only one out of 10 women are literate. Reformers believe educating girls is the right way to civil society. But others have made it a deadly risk.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1970
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Aziz, Roya, Star Group, and UNESCO. <i>Girls in School</i>. UNESCO, Kabul, Afghanistan. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://photobank.unesco.org/exec/fiche.htm.</p>
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<div class="hang">Canadian Forces, and MCpl Kevin Paul. <i>IS2007-7137</i>. Kandahar, Afghanistan.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>G-00196-20</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>H-00230-19</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>H-00231-33</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>KES-906-A-275</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Lemoyne, Roger, and United Nations. "A Young Girl Attends School." Digital image. United Nations Photo's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/3837229586/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
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<div class="hang">Menten, Alexis. <i>Makeshift Classroom, Kabul, Afghanistan</i>. 2004.</div>
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<div class="hang">Omar, Ustad Mohammad. <i>(none)</i>. Sakata Music Collection, 1971.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Q2-01280-13</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Q2-01280-14</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">UNAMA, and Jawad Jalali. "Photo of the Day: 3 March 2009." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. UNAMA's.</div>
<div class="hang">UNESCO, and Christophe Buffet. <i>Let's Go To School</i>. UNESCO, Kabul, Afghanistan.</div>
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<hr />
<p>Producer: Grace Norman </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Girls, in Afghanistan, seem to be caught in middle of a war of ideas.</p>
<p>Reformers believe an equal access to a good education is the path to civil society. But many families cannot afford for girls to be educated. In harrowing, and far too common, cases, Taliban extremists have bombed girls’ schools. Many girls wish for an education, but too often surrender their hopes to a somber reality.</p>
<p>Many Afghans are happy to have girls get educated, to a point. But if that education leads girls to want to go off and have careers, that’s a more dicey proposition. For a lot of, particularly rural, Afghans, who don’t necessarily see the advantages of female education beyond what can allow girls as they become women and mothers, to better prepare their children for the world.</p>
<p>But I think Afghans in general see the role of women to be mothers and to be the bulwark of the family. And within the family, women can have considerable amount of influence. One place that Afghans don’t want outsiders telling them what to do or telling them how to organize their affairs, and that is in relation to their domestic life.</p>
<p>And that’s always been a problem, and it’s been an issue between modernizers, people who want to change Afghanistan, and those who want Afghanistan to stay the same.</p>
<p>So I think if Afghanistan, if modernizers will look at livelihoods, look at economic opportunities, look at education, and leave aside domestic life, and let that change with time. I think the way in which domestic affairs in Afghanistan and women’s rights and women’s role in the world will change ultimately is for the country to be educated.</p>
<p>For men to be dissatisfied with having wives who are not as well educated as they are, and to see the limits of that. In that case, it’s an internal process. But so long as that reform is identified with outsiders and with people interfering in their affairs, it’s going to be a political issue. And the extent to which it is a political issue, it is not going to work. It has to become an internal matter for Afghans to work out for themselves.</p>
<p>Some have argued that the brutal Taliban attacks on school have to do with fear of outside religious or political doctrines shaping young minds--especially the minds of those who will one day become the mothers of a new generation of Afghans.</p>
<p>The literacy rate among Afghan women is 10%.</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
The Paradox of Development
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 13:19 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Under President Truman, the U.S. began one of its most expensive development projects: the Helmand Dam in Afghanistan. It provided the needed infrastructure to build the local economy. Sixty years later, it also became a source of terrorism, environmental damage, and the proliferation of opium.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Geography & Destiny
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1953
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>"100 Afghanis." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:100_Afghanis_%281963_-_top%29.jpg.</p>
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<div class="hang">Apodaca, Kenneth. "Beggar." Digital image. Vidi's Flickr Photstream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kda73/2270253382/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">"AtomicWar0201." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AtomicWar0201.jpg.</div>
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<div class="hang">Boone, Jon. "Taliban Stalls Key Hydroelectric Turbine Project in Afghanistan." The Guardian. December 13, 2009. Accessed September 04, 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/13/afghanistan-turbine-taliban-british-army.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Cullather, Nick. "Damming Afghanistan: Modernization in a Buffer State." The History Cooperative. Accessed September 04, 2010. http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/89.2/cullather.html.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>49-58</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>80-565</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>84-16</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>A69-562</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>A69-565</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Inauguration of the Band-I-Ghazi Dam</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">ISAF, and U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Monica R. Nelson. "090415-N-6651N-003." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3455510738/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Kelly, Jim. "City Center." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4061483812/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">Qeran, Baba. <i>Naghne Danbora</i>. Radio-Television Afghanistan Archive.</div>
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<div class="hang">"Save Me From My Friends!" Digital image. Afghanistan Old Photos. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.afghanistan-photos.com/.</div>
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<div class="hang">"Shah & Harry Truman." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shah_&_Harry_Truman.jpg.</div>
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<div class="hang">United States Army. "AfghanistanHelmandKajakaiDamm." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AfghanistanHelmandKajakaiDamm.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">U.S. Air Force, and Tech Sgt. Efren Lopez. "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">U.S. Army, Sgt Russell Gilchrest, and ISAF. "100328-A-6225G-005 (Convoy of Trucks)." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4492489523/.</div>
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<div class="hang">U.S. Marine Corps, and Lance Cpl. Chad J. Pulliam. "Third Turbine, Kajaki Dam." Digital image. Defenseimagery.mil. Accessed September 4, 2010. www.defenseimagery.mil/imagery.html#a=search&s=turbine afghanistan&p=2&guid=8f11ec0c8da4edda3ebbd2376a30bab8ffaefa42.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">U.S. Military. "Overview of Helmand River." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Overview_of_Helmand_River.jpg.</div>
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<div class="hang">USAID Afghanistan. "Kajaki 2." Digital image. USAID Afghanistan's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/usaidafghanistan/4501645133/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Varhegyi, TSGT Jim. "Rumsfeld October 2001." Digital image. Defenseimagery.mil. Accessed September 4, 2010. .</div>
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<div class="hang">Waezi, Fardin, and UNAMA. "Environmental Pollution." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed January/February, 2010. www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4166191388/in/photostream/.</div>
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<hr />
<p>Producer: Kate Harding</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>What is the relationship between intentions and consequences? Can we ever really know what our actions will bring? </p>
<p>In the 1950s, the United States built a dam in the Helmand Valley of Afghanistan. Sixty years later, the project has been a source of terrorism, environmental damage, and the proliferation of opium.</p>
<p>In the early 20th century, Afghanistan knew that it was politically essential to develop its infrastructure. Without doing so, the country risked economic and political isolation, not to mention an alienated public.</p>
<p>When he took power, King Zahir Shah set his sights on building modern infrastructure.</p>
<p>By the 1950s, the United States was in the midst of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The two superpowers wanted to win the hearts and minds of people all over the globe in order to guarantee the interests of their own people.</p>
<p>Like the Great Game, the Cold War was fought on the soils of other nations.</p>
<p>The US began to court the region’s affections.</p>
<p>Afghanistan’s central location in Asia and its proximity to the Soviet Union made it ideal for American interests. King Zahir Shah was also eager to invite the Americans to develop his country.</p>
<p>In the 20th century the Cold War was played out through development projects, through modernization schemes, through dams, hydroelectric power, other ways in which the West, the U.S. in particular, and the Soviet Union tried to demonstrate their superiority and to gain the allegiance and affection of the Afghan people because of what they could do for them in terms of making their country more progressive, more modern, wealthier.</p>
<p>Under President Harry Truman, the US began one of the largest and most expensive development projects in history with the Kajaki (Kajak-eye) Dam project on the Helmand River.</p>
<p>The project continued well into the 70s when two additional turbines were added. But the project failed to bring the irrigation it had promised. Only a third of the promised land was irrigated and many crops soon failed because of changes in the environment. The project also disrupted the original water pathways between Afghanistan and Iran.</p>
<p>When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the project was abandoned entirely.</p>
<p>After the US toppled the Taliban in 2001, the Americans resumed work on the project in a continued effort to win the hearts of the Afghan people. But by now, the situation in Afghanistan had changed.</p>
<p>Opium had taken over the Helmand Valley, in part because the dam had changed the salinity of the soil, making it perfect for poppy cultivation. And Helmand had become a stronghold of the Taliban’s.</p>
<p>After a massive effort, NATO forces successfully brought a third turbine to the dam in 2008, but they have not been able to install it due to continued attacks from insurgents. The Taliban have set their sights on destroying the dam.</p>
<p>Today Afghantistan suffers a 70% unemployment rate, and that makes opium and violence all the more attractive to people. The country is in need of economic resources now more than ever.</p>
<p>It’s hard to know whether large development projects like Kajaki are really the way to go. The unintended consequences of foreign aid can sometimes spiral out of control. Moreover, it may be that development projects run the risk of alienating people from their own sense of worth and sovereignty.</p>
<p>Well, I think the Afghans have always been aware of themselves as a great people in a small nation. And they resent the idea that they can be used as pawns in other great power schemes and great power conflicts And it’s always been a running theme in Afghan history that the Afghan sense of nobility, the Afghan sense of their own substantial aspect, their substantial quality as a people, has always run into conflict with their relative lack of strength, their dependence on other nations, in particular the way in which the Afghan state has always been dependent on revenues from Great Britain and now the United States, has collided with that sense of their own autonomy and independence.</p>
<p>But there is hope for economic growth in Afghanistan. And that hope is related in part to infrastructure.</p>
<p>One of the more interesting developments is that Iran allowed India to build a road connecting one of their Persian Gulf ports to the Afghan border. Now really for the first time in history you can send goods by sea to Afghanistan via Iran as opposed to Pakistan and Karachi. So the first time Afghanistan actually has alternatives to Pakistan and Karachi to transit its goods to the sea. So we’re seeing Afghanistan in an economic position where its traditional isolation needs to be rethought because given the proper economic development and security situations it could once again become a fairly wealthy country with more than enough resources to support its own people if some are or all of these projects were put into action.</p>
<p>New wealth has begun to produce an affluent class in Kabul. But, as in many places, that affluence has driven up the cost of living without in fact spreading wealth to other pockets of the country.</p>
<p>The question that few seem to be asking is whether development is really the holy grail that everyone seeks.</p>
<p>In a country with many different lifestyles all intersecting at once, it’s hard to know what development should really look like.</p>
<p>The best of intentions can go wrong, to be sure, but they can also go right. And it will be up to the new generations to decide how to transcend the paradox of development.</p>
The Pace of Reform
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 12:49 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>It was an era of nations, industrial growth, and global interdependence. And Afghans were struggling to decide how to emerge in the new order.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1933
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>"100 Afghanis." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:100_Afghanis_%281963_-_top%29.jpg.</p>
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<div class="hang">Belton. <i>Ze Ma Janana</i>. Cassette.</div>
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<div class="hang">"Biology Class, Kabul University." Digital image. Foreign Policy. Accessed September 20, 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">Dupree, Nancy. <i>Daoud Leaving after Being Elected President</i>. 1977. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>The Sarobi Dam</i>. 1969. Dupree 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-2182-HG-5</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">"King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan in 1963." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:King_Zahir_Shah_of_Afghanistan_in_1963.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Mohammed Nadir Shah." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mohammed_Nadir_Shah.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Susan B. Anthony</i>. George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ggbain.12783/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">UNAMA, and Fardin Waezi. "Women's Rights." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed November 4, 2009. www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4146190177/in/photostream/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Webster, Tony. "Our Bike Is a Global Warming Solution." Digital image. Tony Webster's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/diversey/459289180/.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Kate Harding</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>We all want change. Our society and our government disappoint us at times, and we want things to be different.</p>
<p>But we also all want some things to remain the same. While we want to move forward, we also still want to hold onto that which we believe makes us who we are.</p>
<p>Like many places caught in the sweep of the modern era, Afghanistan has struggled to agree on which things should change and which things should stay the same.</p>
<p>In 1933, a king came to power and successfully ruled Afghanistan for 40 uninterrupted years. And he was able to introduce reforms while at the same time keeping traditionalists satisfied. Today he is remembered as The Father of Afghanistan and his reign is recalled with nostalgia.</p>
<p>After the 1929 coup that forced King Amanullah out of power, Afghanistan was in a turbulent place. A new world order was developing across the globe.</p>
<p>It was an era of nations, industrial growth, and global interdependence. And Afghans were struggling to decide how to emerge in the new order.</p>
<p>Should they embrace secularism and western reforms? Or might this threaten their autonomy and their very identity? Should they return to a more conservative, traditionalist lifestyle? Or might this close them off from the rest of the world?</p>
<p>As the country debated, it saw a series of assassinations and power struggles. In 1933, the king of Afghanistan, Mohammed Nadir Shah, was assassinated after only three years of rule.</p>
<p>His son Zahir however, replaced him and reigned for an uninterrupted 40 years.</p>
<p>One of the reasons Zahir was so successful was that he encouraged changes but did not insist on the same hastiness as his predecessors.</p>
<p>He went very gradually and instituted educational reform and other kinds of reform, economic reforms and modernization programs that were gradual in their nature, and that were specifically designed not to incur the wrath of the elements that had overthrown his cousin, King Amanullah.</p>
<p>As the decades passed, the rising generation would begin to demand a faster pace of reform. Forty years after Zahir ascended the throne, he would lose it to the forces of change.</p>
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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<div class="hang"><i>KES-1586-A-955</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>KES-158-H-69</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<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>
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<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 Second Anglo-Afghan War
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 11:31 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Afghanistan once again found itself as a playing field for games between empires. And once again, that game did not turn out as planned.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1878
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>Action at Maiwand Map</i>. 1892. Perry-Castañeda Map Collection, University of Texas. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 30, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Action_at_Maiwand_map.jpg.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>Amir Yaqub Khan</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Burke, John. <i>Captured Guns [Sherpur Cantonment, Kabul].</i> 1879. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Burke, John. <i>General Roberts and Staff [inspecting Captured Afghan Artillery, Sherpur Cantonment, Kabul]. 36</i>. 1879. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Burke, John. <i>Group British Officers (Q.O.) Guides.</i> 1878. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Burke, John. <i>Group. The Amir Yakub Khan, General Daod Shah, Habeebula Moustafi, with Major Cavagnari C.S.I. & Mr Jenkyns [Gandamak].</i> 1879. British Library, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Burke, John. <i>Kohistani and Hazara Combatants [Kabul].</i> 1879. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Burke, John. <i>Officers of H.M. 51st Regiment on Sultan Tarra, Showing Different Service Uniforms Worn (detail)</i>. 1878. British Library, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Burke, John. <i>Panorama [of Kabul] from Siah Sung.</i> 1879. British Library, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Burke, John. <i>Upper Bala Hissar from Gate above Residency [Kabul].</i> 1879. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Burke, John. <i>Upper Bala Hissar from West [Kabul].</i> 1879. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"The Great Game: Britain Keeps the Russian Bear from India." Digital image. The Great Game. Accessed August 30, 2010. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kenanderson/histemp/thegreatgame.html.</div>
<div class="hang">
<p>H2O Alchemist. "The Maiwand Lion." Digital image. H2O Alchemist's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 30, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/h2oalchemist/379508215/.<br />
Creative Commons License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en</p>
</div>
<div class="hang">Mohammad, Yar, and Baz Mohammad. <i>Urozgan Province, Tirin Hotel</i>. Field Recordings: Hiromi Lorraine Sakata. Sakata Music Collection, 1966. </div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Portrait of the Members of Court</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Russian Troops Crossing Amu Darya 1873</i>. 1889. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 30, 2010.<br />
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KarazinNN_PereprTurkOtrARTM.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>"Save Me From My Friends!"</i> In <i>Afghanistan Old Photos</i>. www.afghanistan-photos.com.</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>Afghan Women (detail)</i>. 1895. British Library, London.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Unknown. <i>Royal Horse Artillery Fleeing from Afghan Attack at the Battle of Maiwand</i>. 1880. In <i>Wikipedia Commons</i>. Accessed August 30, 2010. http://tinyurl.com/33dmt97.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Kate Harding</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>In the 1870s, Afghanistan once again found itself as a playing field for games between empires. And once again, that game didn’t turn out as planned.</p>
<p>Afghanistan was considered to be strategically important because if the Russians gained control of it, they would have a warm water port in the Indian Ocean, and they could potentially jeopardize the integrity of the Raj, over the British control of India.</p>
<p>In the 1870s, Russia began making advances near the Afghan border. Sher Ali Khan was worried they would attack and began asking the British for support. In 1878, Russia sent an uninvited diplomatic mission to Kabul. Sher Ali Khan tried to stop the party, but failed. The British saw an opportunity. They demanded that Sher Ali Khan also accept a British diplomatic mission to Kabul.</p>
<p>Sher Ali Khan found himself caught between the Russian bear on one side, and the British lion on the other.</p>
<p>He decided to refuse the British request. But the British responded to this snub by forcing their diplomats across the Khyber Pass. When they were turned away, the British resolved to invade. They sent a force of 40,000 troops, attacking Afghanistan from three different angles. Sher Ali Khan retreated to Mazar-i-Sharif, where he died only a few months later.</p>
<p>In May of 1879, Sher Ali Khan’s son, Yaqub, signed the Treaty of Gandamak in order to prevent a British invasion of the rest of the country. The British agreed to protect Yaqub in exchange for control of all Afghan foreign affairs.</p>
<p>But the British were far from winning the war. Battles with the Afghans sparked throughout the country. Perhaps the most famous was the Battle of Maiwand – fought in the ruins of the Kandahar citadel, where an Afghan force of 25,000 men overwhelmed the British force of 2,500.</p>
<p>This battle would produce an unlikely heroine.</p>
<p>There’s a famous heroin in Afghan history Malalai, who at the battle of Maiwand which is when the British were defeated by the Afghans in the second Anglo-Afghan war the battle was going backwards and forwards and it was said that the Afghan troops got discouraged and were about to run away. And Malali came up onto the battlefield, pulled her scarf off and then said that if these cowards ran away, you know they didn’t deserve to be called Afghan. She shamed them and they attack again and they defeat the British and she’s considered the heroin of that battle in part because you know she was saying, you want to act as men, go back there and fight.</p>
<p>And fight they did. The British forces were decimated and British morale throughout the country sunk to an all-time low.</p>
<p>Back in Britain, the battle would be commemorated by the Lion of Maiwand. But not before popular support for the war had slipped away.</p>
<p>The British people wondered why their government was spending so much money and manpower on a country so far away, and they questioned the logic of the effort. Political cartoons like this one suggested the British were being turned into fools.</p>
<p>This cartoon shows the British Prime Minister and the Russian bear, and the interesting thing, and it’s meant to illustrate the idea of the Great Game. But you see that the Russian bear has the flute in his mouth, and he seems to be making the British Prime Minister dance, rather than the British Prime Minister making the bear dance. So I think it illustrates the way in which neither side was really in control. Each side thought it was in control, but in fact the game that they were playing was a dance, that there was really no winners. And from the point of view of a lot of people, didn’t make much sense.</p>
State vs. Tribe
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 11:19 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>The Afghan state had to rely on tribal militias that worked in the interest of the State—but whose loyalty was always in question because they maintained their interest in tribal autonomy. Authority is a delicate balancing act in this part of the world.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1860
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>KES-18</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-439-H-350</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-440-H-351</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>KES-957-A-326</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Afghaun Foot Soldiers in Their Winter Dress, with Entrance to the Valley of Urgundeh</i>. 1848. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Fortress of Alimusjid, and the Khybur Pass (detail)</i>. 1848. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Ghiljie Women in the Lower Orders</i>. 1848. British Library, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Gool Mahommed Khaun, King of the Ghiljyes</i>. 1848. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Kelaut-I-Ghiljie</i>. 1848. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Khoja Padshauh, a Ko-i-staun Chief, with His Armed Retainers</i>. 1848. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Rattray, Lieutenant James. <i>Oosbegs of Mooraud Bev</i>. 1848. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Producer: Kate Harding</div>
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Video Transcript:
<p>As the Afghan state evolved, it faced a lack of resources, as well as a vast and difficult terrain.</p>
<p>To consolidate its power, the government needed to rely on tribal leaders.</p>
<p>Traditionally, the Afghan State had to rely on militias, on tribal groups that worked for the interest of the State, but whose loyalty was always in question, in part because they maintained their identity as a tribal group.</p>
<p>And so the State had to play a balancing act. On the one hand, it needed powerful tribal leaders to exercise authority over their own pockets of the country, but on the other hand, it needed to make sure those leaders were under the control of Kabul.</p>
<p>That’s always been very difficult, both because of the lack of resources and because of the ongoing, to this day, identification of individuals with their tribes, with their indigenous social groups.</p>
<p>What that means is that people oftentimes look first to their local authorities before their national authorities. And a large part of that is due to the importance of kinship in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>There are obligations to defend your paternal kin, in times when they come into contact, for example, with, or into hostile relations with other groups. Your obligation primarily would be to defend your paternal kin in opposition to more distantly related or unrelated people. So kinship is an important variable.</p>
<p>Uniting the tribes despite their different kinship ties has been a consistent challenge for Afghanistan as it tries to create a cohesive nation.</p>
<p>Abdur Rahman Khan, the king of Afghanistan in the late 19th century, had a special strategy. He identified key leaders in communities who could carry out the national agenda — while also gaining the trust of locals.</p>
<p>One such leader was a Pashtun man named Babrakan.</p>
<p>He was from the Zadran tribe in Paktia Province in eastern Afghanistan. The story is that Abdur Rahman initially recruited him to be his representative among the Zadran because he was not, himself, a powerful figure. He did not want any rivals for authority, to his own authority, among the Zadran. So Babrakan was loyal to him. He was a resourceful man. Reputedly, he was a thief before he became — that’s the story anyway — that he was a thief before he became part of Abdur Rahman’s government service. It’s interesting, though, because at that time the State had so little authority in the tribal regions that they needed to find representatives from within the tribe who would represent the interests of the State. They didn’t have officials’ administrative centers. What they basically had was tribal militias and figures like Babrakan, who were supposed to be, at least, supposed to be loyal to the State.</p>
<p>In the 20th century, the relationship between the state and the tribes would be tested. When Abdur Rahman Khan’s grandson — King Amanullah — attempted to outdo tribal authority, he would see the scales tip and he would learn the importance of balance all too late.</p>
The Game Begins: Buzkashi as Metaphor
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 09:58 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>The Afghan national sport of Buzkashi—which involves kicking an animal carcass across a playing field—is often used as a metaphor to describe The Great Game.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Geography & Destiny
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1818
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Allahdad, Nara. <i>Urozgan Province, Tirin Hotel</i>. Field Recordings: Hiromi Lorraine Sakata. Sakata Music Collection, 1966, Cassette.</p>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-142</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-153</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-155</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-157</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-161</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA. </div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-164</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-166</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-168</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-170</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-173</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-179</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-189</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-202</i>. Dupree 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>In the early 19th century, Afghanistan became a playing field.</p>
<p>Sandwiched between Tsarist Russia and British India, the emerging nation was maneuvered by its neighboring empires. Afghans, historians, and anthropologists have compared the country to the national Afghan sport of buzkashi.</p>
<p>Buzkashi requires players on horseback to capture the carcass of a dead animal. Players must drag the carcass into a designated ring, and in the traditional game, a match can go on for days.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the rich owners of the horses watch the players from the sidelines, hoping that their own prestige will rise in the event of a win. They are perhaps the real players of bukhashi.</p>
<p>And so there are varying levels of manipulation and competition in the game, varying spheres of influence as the game unfolds upon the playing field. And like all games, there is more at play than just what’s on that field.</p>
<p>Buzkashi is an apt metaphor for describing the politics of Afghanistan. Early in the 19th century, Russia and Britain began a long struggle to best each other on the playing fields of the Hindu Kush. This struggle, which would last well into the 20th century, would be known as The Great Game.</p>
<p>The concept of the Great Game is an interesting one and very 19th century in the way in which it was framed as a game….You can think of the Great Game in Asia of the 19th century as similar to the Cold War in the 20th century, in the sense that in both cases you had great imperial powers who were trying to improve or to create greater leverage, create greater influence over countries that were, to this point, independent in Asia–small countries like Afghanistan.</p>
<p>And like the Cold War, the Great Game never involved direct conflict between the empires.</p>
<p>In the 20th century the Cold War was played out through development projects, through modernization schemes, through dams, hydroelectric power, other ways in which the West, the U.S. in particular, and the Soviet Union tried to demonstrate their superiority. In the 19th century the Great Game was also not played out with armies, but rather with spies, with secret agents. And I think this is one of the ways in which they call it a game, because it was not a war per se, but these great powers were definitely competing with each other.</p>
<p>But while the empires never warred directly with each other, they certainly did with the Afghans. The British fought three wars against the Afghans, and the Russians continually tested the strength of the Afghan border.</p>
<p>It’s easy to see the Afghans as victims.</p>
<p>But perhaps, like a game of buzkashi, the issues are a bit more complicated. Afghan leaders also played the empires off of each other in order to secure their own spheres of power.</p>
<p>Who exactly was the player and who was the pawn, who was playing from the sidelines and who was playing from the field?</p>
