Pashto Border Literature as Geopolitical Knowledge

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Main author: Caron, James
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-29943
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic DS Asia
G Geography (General)
JC Political theory
JZ International relations
PK Indo-Iranian languages and literatures
description In this article I read a selection of Pashto literatures as critical thought about geopolitics. Drawing on Michael Shapiro’s concept of aesthetic subjects, as well as on border theory, I argue that the authors, the content, and the literary networks of these works all comment on global relations of power, ranging from the local bordering effects of geopolitics, to systems of knowledge embedded in the spatiality and temporality of empire. I argue that past and current imperial processes have led to fragmenting effects in Afghan society, and literature both reflects and analyzes this. Beyond that, I argue—through the examples of authors’ lives as well as their work—that literary activity in Pashto has actively negotiated such processes throughout its history, and offers strategies for countervailing notions of global connectivity in action as well as thought. The decentralized and multiperspective images of life in these works sit in counterpoint not only to the systems-oriented views that drive military and other policy in Afghanistan during the ongoing US moment, but also to universalist perspectives upon which disciplines like world history and geopolitics traditionally rely. Additionally, though, Pashto literary networks themselves also produce alternative structures. This contributes to the aesthetic turn in IR by arguing that it is not only the aesthetic vision in works that challenges dominant knowledge; the shape of the Pashto literary formation itself, organic with its content, is an alternate form of knowledge-in-practice about the contemporary world.
format Journal Article
author Caron, James
author_facet Caron, James
authorStr Caron, James
author_letter Caron, James
title Pashto Border Literature as Geopolitical Knowledge
publisher Taylor and Francis
publishDate 2019
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29943/

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