Bazaar Politics: Power and Pottery in an Afghan Market Town

Noah Coburn

Published by Stanford University Press 2011

Bazaar Politics

Power and Pottery in an Afghan Market Town

Noah Coburn

In the series Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804778909

Overview
Contents

About this book

Examining politics in a small Afghan town that managed to remain relatively peaceful in the years following the fall of the Taliban, this book calls examines how and when violence erupts and calls into question the international community's approach to developing stability in Afghanistan.

Author / Editor information

Noah Coburn has worked as a specialist for the United States Institute of Peace in Kabul, Afghanistan, as well as a researcher for the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Between 2006 and 2008, he spent eighteen months doing research in an Afghan village on the Shomali Plain. He holds a PhD in anthropology from Boston University, and has taught at the University of Michigan, Boston University, and Skidmore College.

Reviews

Roland Paris:
"[Coburn's] single-case, ethnographic approach has a distinct advantage: It allows him to paint a fascinating and finely detailed portrait of a local political system that defies many Western categories and concepts of governance . . . an invaluable perspective on the international operation."

Thomas Barfield:
"Coburn explores and explains a strange paradox in Afghan politics: that local communities appear to have the means to maintain stability even when the national government does not. This is the first ethnographic study published on post-2001 Afghanistan, and is highly recommended not only for those interested in Afghanistan, but those seeking a new perspective on comparative politics more generally."

Nancy Lindisfarne:
"This book is based on an ethnographic study of Istalif, a small town north of Kabul. . . Coburn's strongest opinions emerge when he writes about local NGO's, and about the presence of international military and development groups in the town. . . [His facts] raise many questions about class relations in Istalif and in the region, and other important questions about the effects of current styles of imperial war on everyday lives."

Ronald Neumann:
"Soldiers and civilians deploying to Afghanistan and those writing policy papers can all profit from Coburn's work. The focus on a single village opens understanding of crucial factors about Afghanistan that need comprehension; the complexities of political power, why decisions are often difficult to achieve, the superficiality of NGO and foreign interventions, and the fictions that sustain political interactions are as enlightening as they are humbling to our theorizing. This book is worth reading."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
A Rocky Road Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Groups and Violence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
Ethnography and Suspicion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
2 Social Organization in Istalif Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
Making Pots Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
3 How Making Pots Bound People Together Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
The Art of Finding a Bargain Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
4 How Selling Pots Tore People Apart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Telling Stories Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
5 Leadership, Descent, and Marriage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
Dinner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
6 Cultural Definitions of Power in Istalif Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
Election Day Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
7 Masterly Inactivity: The Politics of Stagnation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
The Director of Intelligence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
8 The Afghan State as a Useful Fiction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
Paktya—Eighteen Months Later Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
9 Thinking About Violence, Social Organization, and International Intervention Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 272
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 8

eBook

Published: September 28, 2011
ISBN: 9780804778909