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Follow the Afghan War: Methods, Interpretations, Imagination

Follow the Afghan War: Methods, Interpretations, Imagination Anthropological research in war-torn countries like Afghanistan is dangerous and therefore often impossible. There are various constraints, both general and specific, that often hinder an anthropologist from going out into the field. This is not a new problem for social anthropology, but it is increasingly preoccupying the discipline. Thus, a `distance approach' needs to be developed for studying the ethnography of the Afghan war. This article proposes one methodological possibility for approaching the Afghan war from other perspectives. This method involves extensive reading in and analysis of various written works and the critical examination of web sites and other media, in combination with fieldwork in Europe and Central Asia. In order to demonstrate this approach, the discourse on women's rights will be discussed. Keywords: Afghanistan, ethnographic imagination, ethnography of war, fieldwork, just war, UNSCR 1325, women's rights Introduction The questions `What can you do for us?' and `Will you tell them the truth about our lives?' were often asked of me during my interviews with Afghan refugee women in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. They thus set up a dichotomy between an illdefined `us' and `them' that immediately positioned me and my interviewees in a particular, somewhat adversarial context. This article http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Anthropology of the Middle East Berghahn Books

Follow the Afghan War: Methods, Interpretations, Imagination

Kucera; Irene
Anthropology of the Middle East , Volume 7 (1) – Jan 1, 2012
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Publisher
Berghahn Books
Copyright
© Berghahn Books
ISSN
1746-0719
eISSN
1746-0727
DOI
10.3167/ame.2012.070104
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Abstract

Anthropological research in war-torn countries like Afghanistan is dangerous and therefore often impossible. There are various constraints, both general and specific, that often hinder an anthropologist from going out into the field. This is not a new problem for social anthropology, but it is increasingly preoccupying the discipline. Thus, a `distance approach' needs to be developed for studying the ethnography of the Afghan war. This article proposes one methodological possibility for approaching the Afghan war from other perspectives. This method involves extensive reading in and analysis of various written works and the critical examination of web sites and other media, in combination with fieldwork in Europe and Central Asia. In order to demonstrate this approach, the discourse on women's rights will be discussed. Keywords: Afghanistan, ethnographic imagination, ethnography of war, fieldwork, just war, UNSCR 1325, women's rights Introduction The questions `What can you do for us?' and `Will you tell them the truth about our lives?' were often asked of me during my interviews with Afghan refugee women in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. They thus set up a dichotomy between an illdefined `us' and `them' that immediately positioned me and my interviewees in a particular, somewhat adversarial context. This article

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Anthropology of the Middle East – Berghahn Books

Published: Jan 1, 2012

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