Afghanistan has been disrupted over the past 25
years by civil wars, invasions, rule of the Taliban, and terrorist
activities which have destroyed much of the country's culture,
family and tribal connections, thus creating hundred's of thousands
of refugees. As a result, it becomes difficult to discuss Afghanistan's
culture as many of the traditions and ways of life have been ignored
and overturned. However, family and tribal life is resuming, refugees
are slowly returning and being resettled, and some of the traditional
patterns of life are being re-established.
Since Afghanistan society is basically a tribal
one, tribal affiliation is often more important than a sense of
nationhood. Tribes have traditionally had strong patrilineal organization
which was essential in the nomadic days of the past. Today, this
patrilineal and patriarchical system is reinforced by Islam, the
religion of all the various Afghan tribal groups. Like other nomadic
groups, the idealized Afghan leader is a warrior poet; prowess
in arms and facility in composing and reciting poetry are the
twin avenues to respect and recognition in traditional nomadic
society. Thus, poetry is the chief literary form of most Afghanis
and famous poets of the past and present are known throughout
the country.
The patriarchical and patrilineal tribal organization
promotes certain customs and values that are different from those
of non-tribal societies. For example, the extended family is the
important social and economic unit, not the nuclear family as
in the U.S. In this extended family, the power of the eldest male
(usually the grandfather) is absolute: he controls the family's
money, work, and makes all decisions regarding the family's activities
and welfare. The eldest female, usually his wife, runs the household,
and is in charge of the other women including her daughters, the
wives of her sons, any other wives her husband may have (Islam
allows each man to have 4 wives but most are too poor to afford
this), and any unmarried or widowed cousins, aunts, etc. who live
with the family. Each family engages in competition with other
families for land, resources, wives, etc; however, they unite
with related families against outsiders. Thus, a man's first loyalty
is to his extended family, then to his tribe, then to his ethnic
group and only finally to his nation. Conflict between ethnic
groups, tribes, sub-tribes, and families has made competition
and fighting an inherent part of the Afghan character. Politically,
an assembly of all adult males votes to decide important matters
at the village or sub-tribe level. Derived from this is the Afghan
tenet that ultimate sovereignty of the nation rests in national
elected assemblies: this was most recently seen in the assembly
which established an interim government in 2002.
The constant sense of competition is shown in
the legendary toughness and resilience of the Afghan fighter;
Afghan legend, poetry and myth is full of stories of war, victory
against incredible odds, and heroic individual struggles. This
toughness is shown in the favored sport of Afghanistan, polo (buzkashi),
played not with a ball but with a goat or calf carcass. It is
a rough and tumble sport, played on horseback with few rules and
no safety measures.
The tribal and extended family life of Afghanistan
(and these extended families are often still found in cities as
well as in the countryside), have preserved a code of values stressing
male control of families as well as the masculine virtues of strength,
ferocity, and endurance. Women are subordinate to men but have
primary responsibility for the household, entertaining guests,
raising children, etc. To an Afghan, his family is private and
personal and no person, no government or social agency, has the
right to interfere in or even ask about, his family members. In
fact, it is a grave breach of manners to ask about a man's women
(wife, mother, female children); among more conservative Afghans,
an expression of interest in his female relatives, may be a matter
requiring fighting or even killing. This sense of family privacy
was re-enforced by the Taliban in the strictures against women
in public; while the bans against women working or being uncovered
in public may be stricter than the average Afghani desired, they
were in accord with the sense of family privacy.
Social life in Afghanistan centered around the
extended family and visiting was common both among men and women;
many affluent homes had special facilities for guests and it was
the women's duty to ensure that guests were comfortable and as
well fed as the household could afford. While women spent much
of their time in the homes, caring for their families, they participated
in rural and village life with other women. The family was central
in the lives of all its members and Western style individualism
did not exist; each family member was responsible to and cared
for by the family, and all decisions, from marriage to schooling
to economic endeavors, were family decisions. This dependence
on the family structure is allied with a striking sense of independence
from outside interference; Afghans do not like others, including
governments, telling them what to do in their private lives.
While Afghanistan is composed of a number of tribes,
they tend to share certain key values: these values are associated
with the nomadic way of life, tempered by Islam. Often, however,
when traditional and Islamic values are in conflict, the traditional
values take precedence. An example of this is in inheritance laws.
While the Qur'an states that daughters are to receive an inheritance
equal to one/half that of a son, traditional Afghan society denied
daughters the right to inherit and divided the deceased's wealth
equally among his sons. The chief values of these tribes, especially
the majority Pashtuns, included the right and duty of revenge
against any wrong, the right of fugitives to seek refuge, hospitality
and protection of guests, defense of property and honor, defense
of one's female relatives, and such personal traits as steadfastness,
persistence, and independence.
For a site with information on the family and
tribal system as well as other aspects of culture, please
click here.
For a site dealing with the plight of women in
Afghanistan, the RAWA site has photos and essays. These can be
very disturbing; RAWA is the Revolutionary Association of Women
of Afghanistan and is the oldest women's alliance working for
the freedom of women in Afghanistan. To access this site, please
click here
Each of the ethnic groups in Afghanistan has different
cultural traits based on language and custom. However, there are
certain things they share in common, and love of poetry is one
of them. Poetry is recited at almost every social occasion, political
or tribal gatherings, and the ability to recite and compose poetry
is much admired. Many of the famous poets were illiterate as this
is a verbal, not a written, culture. Some, however, did write
down their own poetry. The internet site, www.afghan-web.com has
a section with excerpts from Afghanistan poetry of the past and
present. A perusal of these will give an indication of the themes
and structure of this poetry. This site also has much information
about other aspects of cultural achievement in Afghanistan.
The other aspect of culture is the fore-mentioned
national sport, Buzkashi, or polo. This is an ancient rough and
tumble game, played with a goat or cow carcass. It is played on
horseback and the first team to get the carcass, weighing about
150 pounds, across the other team's goal wins the game. For a
fuller discussion and pictures, please click on the following:
http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/buzkashi.html
This site also has sections on other aspects of Afghani culture.
For more pictures on men, women, children, historical
bulidings and cities in Afghanistan, please click
here
