International Society for Iranian Studies

Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan: Anthropological Perspectives by M. NazifShahrani; Robert L. CanfieldReview by: Eden NabyIranian Studies, Vol. 23, No. 1/4 (1990), pp. 141-142Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of International Society for Iranian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4310744 .

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Reviews 141

Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan: Anthropological Perspectives, ed. M. Nazif Shahrani and Robert L. Canfield, Research Series No. 57, Institute of International Studies, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California, 1984.

Of all those working in Afghanistan during the 1970s, Western anthropologists most successfully penetrated the inner workings of culture and politics. Envi- sioned during the first years of the communist coup and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, this volume brings together thirteen American and British (mainly) field anthropologists, all of whom participated in a 1980 symposium. The book represents a collective and individual effort to understand the origins and course of the Afghan Resistance from these specialists' own field experiences. There- fore, in place of the sweeping generalizations of geopolitical experts, which, in 1980, appeared so darkly correct, the contributors here have looked carefully at the grass roots developments in particular regions and valleys of the country. Specifically, they have examined the reactions in the countryside to the coup of 1978, the various Taraki-Amin government decrees, and the relationship of pop- ularly interpreted Islam to unfolding events, in particular the introduction of a Soviet presence.

This book is divided into six parts with a total of fourteen chapters. Seven of the chapters treat geographical regions while two deal with women and three with overall historical or Islamic issues. The volume also contains a glossary of Afghani terms, a list of names and places that provides pronunciation guides, a bibliography of mainly English-language publications on Afghanistan and Mid- dle East anthropology, a brief list of Mujahidin publications, and six simple line-drawn maps.

In one way or another, all of the articles treat the question that has come to be central to the entire Afghan conflict: that of Islam and its symbolic or practical role in the formation of the resistance. As each author examines the particular locale of his work, he/she concludes with direct or connoted information about attitudes toward the central government. Sometimes the antagonism toward the central government is a result of traditional anti-foreign (even Pashtun) attitudes and others because of the attempt to override custom and decree laws regarding land reform, women, and debt. A number of the authors argue that the decrees that spawned such enmity might have succeeded had the government couched them in language that grew out of Afghan and Islamic tradition, rather than out of Marxist jargon. Nancy Dupree illustrates that even the Karmal regime (which tried to use Hafizullah Amin as a scapegoat for the failure of the Saur Revolu- tion), continued to use tactics that went against the traditional Afghan character in treating demonstrations by school girls. Nancy Tapper, in examining the issue of bride-price and the legal position of women in general, discusses the place of mahr (and eschews the apologetic term "bridewealth") in the economic and social relationships of the Durrani Pashtuns, arguing that decreed abolition of such practices comes from a Westem model of modemization that may or may

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142 Reviews

not be appropriate in its details when applied to a society of a differing complex- ity from the European societies that provide the impetus for reform.

As the editors have explained, the contributions do not cover all parts of Afghanistan, although the various major parts of the country are represented, as are several linguistic groups, including Pashtuns, Pashais, Nuristanis, and Hazaras. Specific articles on the Turkic population of Afghanistan are missing from the volume, although the article by R. Tapper does offer limited back- ground material on these groups. Clearly, a contribution by Audrey Shalinsky would have helped to fill this gap. Another problem arises from the fact that the field work of a number of contributors was conducted during the early 1970s, and so is helpful in offering the background to social and political relationships, but not specifics of current alignments in the struggle.

These general problems, however, do not detract from the richness and usefulness of a study that provides the details to belie glib generalities so prevalent among would-be supporters of the Kabul regime, the Soviet invasion, and others en- gaged in the now hopefully outdated East-West confrontation over Afghanistan. The book should be of use in courses about Islam in practice, Central Asia, as well as Middle Eastern politics.

Eden Naby University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Musaddiq's Memoirs: The End of the British Empire in Iran, Muhammad Musaddiq, ed. Homa Katouzian, London: Jebhe, 1988, lxxxvii + 340 pp., appendixes 46 pp., index 7 pp., cloth $50, paperback $30.

Originally this book is rightly titled in Persian Khatirat va ta'allumat-e MuFaddiq. The Persian title is intended to convey that the book entails more than the official memoirs of a person who happened to be the prime minister of Iran at a turbulent phase in the history of that nation. Ta'allum is an Arabic word used in Persian to mean suffering pain. And that is what the book is try- ing to reveal to readers as a backdrop to the author's involvement in politics and to his achievements in this developing nation.

The book is divided into three sections: a comprehensive and long introduction by one of the translators of the book, and two other parts written by Musaddiq himself.

In the introduction Homa Katouzian presents a very informative and condensed history of the national movement in Iran and Musaddiq's role as a leader who guided Iran toward the nationalization of its oil industry.

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