New Trends Among the Hazaras: From “The Amity of Wolves” to “The Practice of Brotherhood”

Canfield, Robert L.

doi:10.1080/0021086042000268192

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, the violent conflicts along sectarian and political divisions went in parallel with cultural and political efforts that aimed to increase identification among the Hazaras along ethnic lines. As Canfield (2004) has described in detail, these cultural and political initiatives among the Hazara mujahideen as well as others on the government side in Kabul were converging towards a common consciousness as an ethnic group. Among the Shi'a Hazaras, the trend led to the formation of Hezb‐e Wahdat Islami Afghanistan, under the leadership of Abdul Ali Mazari in 1989.…”

Section: The Shi'a and Sunni Hazarasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The state, identity politics and ethnic boundaries in Afghanistan: The case of Sunni Hazaras

Ibrahimi

2023

Nations and Nationalism

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In recent years, a growing number of activists in Afghanistan have been proactively self‐identifying as Sunni Hazaras. The trend demonstrates an important shift that illuminates how ethnic boundaries may change and evolve in response to elite politics and state policies in Afghanistan. Many of the communities that are the subjects of new collective identity discourses share important commonalities, including shared belief in a common origin, with the Shi'a Hazaras. However, because the Shi'a Hazaras were persecuted and marginalised under successive regimes in Afghanistan, it was not common for these communities to publicly identify as Hazaras. Instead, they tended to identify with local identity categories such as those based on places of origin or as Tajiks because, like most Tajiks, they speak Dari and practise Sunni Islam. This article contributes to understanding these dynamics through a detailed examination of the National Council of the Sunni Hazaras of Afghanistan. Taking a social constructivist approach, it develops an argument that emphasises an interactive process between state formation and top‐down programmes of national identity construction and bottom‐up resistance by groups that appropriate and articulate ethnic and other forms of ethnic identities to demand political representation and symbolic recognition.

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Section: The Shi'a and Sunni Hazarasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The state, identity politics and ethnic boundaries in Afghanistan: The case of Sunni Hazaras

Ibrahimi

2023

Nations and Nationalism

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“…While, the majority's social capital, hence its ability to act, diminishes, that of the militants increases, inserted as they are into highly mobilized networks (Baczko et al, 2016). Identity capital is affected by an abrupt denaturalization of hierarchies among groups-being a Hazara in Afghanistan, a Banyamulenge in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, or a Sunni Arab in Iraq no longer implies the same things after the outbreak of civil war as before-and among a country's regions (Canfield, 2004;Quesnay, 2021;Vlassenroot, 2002).…”

Section: Social Orders In Violent Competitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinking about civil wars with and beyond Bourdieu: State, capital and habitus in critical contexts

Baczko

Dorronsoro

2021

Journal of Classical Sociology

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Building on Marx and Weber, Bourdieu developed a sociology for scrutinizing the processes of domination and accumulation that allow social reproduction to take place. Yet, Bourdieu rarely tackled the breakdowns of social orders and never construed war as a scientific object, even if he signaled the theoretical interest in an inverse sociogenesis of the state. Despite this limitation, we argue that his work furnishes conceptual instruments for thinking about change and remains heuristic for understanding the dynamics of civil wars. These extreme situations in return let us rethink some of the theory’s central concepts (fields, habitus, capital). Thus, in succession we examine Bourdieu’s definition of the state (which fits into the Weberian tradition), explain the consequences of defining civil war as a violent competition between social orders, and end with an exploration of the social impacts of civil war on habitus.

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“…According to Hazaras, it is a history that has been informed by Pashtuns interested in presenting their own case to the West. Both sides have a point – the first does not need explanation, but one need only look at the recounting of British explorer Mountstuart Elphinstone (Canfield :242; Elphinstone :485) to see the Hazara point.…”

Section: Life As a Researcher In Bamyanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflections from the Field from Nangarhar to Bamyan: Reactions to International Involvement in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001

Chiovenda

2016

Studies Ethnicity & National

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Since 2009, I have conducted ethnographic research in Afghanistan, initially among Pashtuns in Nangarhar Province, and then, for a longer period of time, among Hazaras in Bamyan Province. Spending time in both regions, one of which has been subjected to a worsening security situation, and the other which has enjoyed relative peace since 2001, has given me insight into the ways the majority ethnic group of each province has experienced and interpreted international intervention post-9/11. My first project involved Pashtun women working with income-generation projects through international development NGOs in 2010. Many of the women, and their families, appreciated such economic opportunities, while others were concerned with the cultural implications of women working, particularly in those families in which the women were not widows. More generally, Pashtuns in Nangarhar had very mixed feelings about intervention, particularly military intervention, especially as fighting in the region between the Taliban and mainly U.S. forces increased following the U.S. surge in 2010, which, concentrated in the south, eventually drove insurgents to the east. While the Taliban certainly terrorized civilians, collateral damage, problems dealing with local customs, and the fact that many communities might support insurgents for a variety of reasons, from a desire for self-determination to a desire to take advantage of what the Taliban had to offer, and simple resentment of foreigners' presence, also led to animosity towards the United States.Subsequently, I researched Hazara ethnic identity for fourteen months over 2011-2013. This is a group that has seen its fortunes change drastically as a result * Melissa Kerr Chiovenda completed her dissertation fieldwork in Afghanistan for an anthropology Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut. She spent a total of eighteen months in Bamyan, Nangarhar, and Kabul conducting research. She also holds an M.A. in anthropology from the University of Connecticut and in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies from Georgetown University. Melissa is an affiliated faculty member at Emerson College and a research fellow in the

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New Trends Among the Hazaras: From “The Amity of Wolves” to “The Practice of Brotherhood”

Cited by 11 publications

References 5 publications

The state, identity politics and ethnic boundaries in Afghanistan: The case of Sunni Hazaras

The state, identity politics and ethnic boundaries in Afghanistan: The case of Sunni Hazaras

Thinking about civil wars with and beyond Bourdieu: State, capital and habitus in critical contexts

Reflections from the Field from Nangarhar to Bamyan: Reactions to International Involvement in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001

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