The Boundaries of Afghans’ Political Imagination
The Boundaries of Afghans’ Political Imagination

Author: Jolanta Sierakowska-Dyndo

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2014-08-11

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 1443865729

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In this book, The Boundaries of Afghans’ Political Imagination, the author seeks an answer to the question of how tradition, specifically its normative-axiological aspects, shapes the political attitudes and actions of the Afghans. The author points to two different concepts of social order which are moulded by the Pashtunwali: on the one hand, a tribal code which is part of Pashto language tradition; and on the other hand, by Sufism, the religious and philosophical current in Islam expressed mainly in the Dari (Persian) language. The two systems offer a different hierarchy of values, and organize social reality by referring to two different models of order: the circle and the pyramid. While making an in-depth analysis of the topic, the author asserts that the social organization of the Pashtuns is based on the principle of representation and consensus. Tribalism is shaped in the structure of a circle, in which a group is the fundamental category. Where tribal structure no longer performs its regulatory and organizational functions, the pattern of social order is offered by the Sufi Brotherhoods, which had long been very popular and powerful in this part of Asia. The hierarchical organization of Sufism, based on a disciple-master relationship and the principle of authoritarianism, gradually established the structure of the pyramid as a model of social order, and also of political order. Religious Sufi Brotherhoods became the most accessible leadership pattern, besides the tribal one, to be fixed in the Afghans’ social imagination. This analysis from the perspective of sociocultural and political anthropology will be indispensable for those interested in Afghan and Islamic societies.

Land Law in Asian Countries
Land Law in Asian Countries

Author: Oleg Igorevich Krassov

Publisher: XSPO

Published:

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 5001562562

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The monograph covers the issues related to the evolution of land tenure systems, land reforms, the main features of formal land law that is in force in the various legal systems of the countries of South, East, and Southeast Asia, and customary land rights. The current state of land law in Asian countries: land rights, the provision and suspension of these rights, the relationship between formal law and customary land tenure systems, the problems of recognizing customary communal land rights are analyzed. For students, graduate students and teachers of law schools, employees of legislative, executive and judicial authorities, as well as for all those interested in issues of land, civil law and comparative jurisprudence.

Imagining Afghanistan
Imagining Afghanistan

Author: Nivi Manchanda

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-07-09

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1108491235

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An innovative exploration of how colonial interventions in Afghanistan have been made possible through representations of the country as 'backward'.

Martyrdom and Ecstasy
Martyrdom and Ecstasy

Author: Sylwia Surdykowska

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2012-04-25

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1443839531

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The book is concerned with one of the most important issues in Persian culture, that is to say a broadly conceived idea of sacrifice and martyrdom. At present, it is contained in the concept of shahadat, which arouses much controversy in the Western world today. In successive chapters, the author discusses the origin and evolution of this concept in Persian culture, the process of shaping attitudes conducive to the attainment of readiness for shahadat and the role of this concept in propaganda, as well as presenting its modern-day interpretation. The basic research material was provided by political and religious publications of contemporary Iranian authors, including Ali Shari‘ati, Morteza Motahhari, Ruhollah Khomeini and Abdolkarim Soroush, who have exerted a significant influence on the formation of the Iranian consciousness. The book is an interdisciplinary publication. The author refers to philology, literary studies, cultural anthropology, social psychology, and, interestingly, to the psychology of emotions in order to explicate the traditional Persian system of upbringing and shaping the readiness for martyrdom and sacrifice. The book shows the idea of shahadat as part of the Persian cultural paradigm, which, due to religious and literary tradition, has influenced the shaping of Iranian identity over the centuries and, as a result, it has affected social and political attitudes of the Iranian people. The book is mainly directed to Iranologists. Nevertheless, it will also be of interest to anthropologists, psychologists of culture, sociologists and philosophers due to its interdisciplinary character.

The Hazaras and the Afghan State
The Hazaras and the Afghan State

Author: Niamatullah Ibrahimi

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1849047073

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The Hazaras, numbering some 2.5 million, have for centuries faced persecution from Afghanistan's majority Sunni population -- politically, socially and economically. This book examines how and why.

The Postmodern Imagination of Russell Kirk
The Postmodern Imagination of Russell Kirk

Author: Gerald J. Russello

Publisher: University of Missouri Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0826265944

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"Russello examines Russell Kirk's development of the imagination as a tool of conservative discourse, offering an alternative genealogy for conservative thought that melds its antimodernism with postmodern themes"--Provided by publisher.

Blood Washing Blood
Blood Washing Blood

Author: Phil Halton

Publisher: Dundurn

Published: 2021-04-27

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 145974666X

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A clear-eyed view of the conflict in Afghanistan and its century-deep roots. The war in Afghanistan has consumed vast amounts of blood and treasure, causing the Western powers to seek an exit without achieving victory. Seemingly never-ending, the conflict has become synonymous with a number of issues — global jihad, rampant tribalism, and the narcotics trade — but even though they are cited as the causes of the conflict, they are in fact symptoms. Rather than beginning after 9/11 or with the Soviet “invasion” in 1979, the current conflict in Afghanistan began with the social reforms imposed by Amanullah Amir in 1919. Western powers have failed to recognize that legitimate grievances are driving the local population to turn to insurgency in Afghanistan. The issues they are willing to fight for have deep roots, forming a hundred-year-long social conflict over questions of secularism, modernity, and centralized power. The first step toward achieving a “solution” to the Afghanistan “problem” is to have a clear-eyed view of what is really driving it.

Population and the Political Imagination
Population and the Political Imagination

Author: R.B. Bhagat

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 1000574806

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This book identifies population as a central issue of polity and examines its links to ideas of state and citizenship. It explores the relationship between the state, citizenship and polity by reexamining processes related to census enumeration, population and citizen registers, and the politics of classificatory governmentality. Religion, ethnicity, caste and political class play a key role in determining community identities and the relationship between an individual and the state. Contextualizing the arguments and controversies around the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA 2019) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the book examines the processes of inclusion or exclusion of minorities and migrants as citizens in India. It focusses on the classification of irregular and refugee migration since independence in India, especially in the state of Assam. The book highlights how political imagination, as a theoretical framework, shapes the processes and strategies for enumeration and classification and thereby the idea of citizenship. Underlining the relationship between instruments of government, political mobilization and the resurgence of communal polarization, it also offers suggestions for alternative constructions of citizenship and an inclusive state. This book will be useful for students and researchers of population studies, population geography, migration studies, sociology, political science, social anthropology, law and journalism. It will also be of interest to policy makers, journalists, as well as NGOs and CSOs.

A Political History of Literature
A Political History of Literature

Author: Pankaj Jha

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-11-20

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 0199095353

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Multilinguality gained a new impetus in North India with the influx of West Asian Muslim communities around the thirteenth century. Over a period of time, it entered everyday life as well as creative and scholarly pursuits. The fifteenth century, in particular, saw unprecedented vitality for literary practice, and the poet-scholar Vidyapati from Mithila was one of the many luminaries of the time. This volume encompasses an intimate linguistic, literary, and historical study of three of Vidyapati’s major works: a Sanskrit treatise on writing (Likhanāvalī); a celebratory biography in Apabhraṃśa (Kīrttilatā); and a collection of mythohistorical tales in Sanskrit (Puruṣaparīkṣā ). Through this examination, the author reveals a world that is marked by a range of ideas, expertise, literary tropes, ethical regimes, and historical consciousness, drawn eclectically from sources that belong to ‘diverse’ politico-cultural traditions. Using Vidyapati’s narratives, A Political History of Literature illustrates that many ideals extolled in fifteenth century literary cultures were associated with an imperial state—a state that was a century away from coming into being—and testifies that ideas incubate and get actualized in realpolitik only in the long duration.