Bazaar politics : power and pottery in an Afghan market town / Noah Coburn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coburn, Noah, author.

Series:

Stanford studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic societies and cultures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology.

Political culture.

Potters.

Istālif (Afghanistan)--Politics and government.

Istālif (Afghanistan).

Istālif (Afghanistan)--Social conditions.

Potters--Afghanistan--Istālif.

Political culture--Afghanistan--Istālif.

Ethnology--Afghanistan--Istālif.

Afghanistan--Istālif.

Physical Description:

xi, 254 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2011]

Summary:

After the fall of the Taliban, instability reigned across Afghanistan. However, in the small town of Istalif, located a little over an hour north of Kabul and not far from Bagram on the Shomali Plain, local politics remained relatively violence-free. Bazaar Politics examines this seemingly paradoxical situation, exploring how the town's local politics maintained peace despite a long, violent history in a country dealing with a growing insurgency.

Offering die first long-term on-the-ground study since the arrival of allied forces in 2001, Noah Coburn introduces readers to daily life in Afghanistan through portraits of local residents and stories of his own experiences. He reveals the ways in. which the international community has misunderstood the forces driving local conflict and the insurgency, misunderstandings that have ultimately contributed to the political unrest rather than resolved it. Though on first blush the potters of Istalif may seem far removed from international affairs, it is only through understanding politics, power, and culture on the local level that we can then shed new light on Afghanistan's difficult search for peace. Book jacket.

Contents:

Groups and violence

Social organization in Istalif

How making pots bound people together

And selling pots tore them apart

Leadership, descent and marriage

Cultural definitions of power in Istalif

Masterly inactivity : the politics of stagnation

The Afghan state as a useful fiction

Thinking about violence, social organization and international intervention.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804776714

0804776717

9780804776721

0804776725

OCLC:

701330654