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Cambridge University Press

This review summarizes Sayed Askar Mousavi's book "The Hazaras of Afghanistan: An Historical, Cultural, Economic and Political Study." It describes how the book argues that Pashtun domination of Afghanistan denied the distinct identities of minorities like the Hazaras. It asserts that Pashtun nationalism promoted the Pashtun identity over others. The book also describes how civil war transformed Afghanistan politically and allowed the Hazaras to flourish culturally and gain influence, though this rise was temporarily reversed by the Taliban. The review praises the book's comprehensive use of sources but notes some limitations and issues that have been overtaken by events.

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Rashid Ahmed
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59 views3 pages

Cambridge University Press

This review summarizes Sayed Askar Mousavi's book "The Hazaras of Afghanistan: An Historical, Cultural, Economic and Political Study." It describes how the book argues that Pashtun domination of Afghanistan denied the distinct identities of minorities like the Hazaras. It asserts that Pashtun nationalism promoted the Pashtun identity over others. The book also describes how civil war transformed Afghanistan politically and allowed the Hazaras to flourish culturally and gain influence, though this rise was temporarily reversed by the Taliban. The review praises the book's comprehensive use of sources but notes some limitations and issues that have been overtaken by events.

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Rashid Ahmed
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The Hazaras of Afghanistan: An Historical, Cultural, Economic and Political Study by Sayed

Askar Mousavi
Review by: Robert L. Canfield
International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2 (May, 1999), pp. 321-322
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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Reviews 321

SAYEDASKARMOUSAVI, The Hazaras of Afghanistan:An Historical, Cultural,Economic and


Political Study (Surrey: Curzon, 1998). Pp. 282.

REVIEWEDBY ROBERTL. CANFIELD,Department of Anthropology, Washington University,


St. Louis, Mo.

One of the consequences of the social dislocation of nearly two decades of war in Afghan-
istan has been the emboldening of the country's minorities, who in growing numbers have
criticized the Pashtun regimes that have long dominated the country (e.g., G. H. Kushan,
"Darbara-y Wozara wa Sofara," Nama-e Khorasan [Hayward, Calif.: Cultural Society of
Afghanistan Refugees, 1990], 1:1-4; M. Nazif Shahrani,"The State and the Futureof Local
Self-Governance in Afghanistan: A Peaceful Strategy for Structural Resolution," Critique
and Vision 7/8 [1998]: 7-64). This ambitious examination of Hazaraorigins, culture, history,
"social structure,"and activities in the recent war, both inside Afghanistan and in neighbor-
ing countries,seeks to expose the offenses of Pashtundomination,which Mousavi supposes has
ended. His general message is that the "Afghannationalism"promotedby the Pashtunregimes
has now collapsed and that the Hazaras are enjoying a cultural and political resurgence.
What has been touted as "Afghan"is in fact a creation of Afghan (Pashtun)elites who have
managed the country in their own interest. The "Afghans"(Pashtuns)have used their monop-
oly of power to deny the distinctive identities of its many populations through a process of
"Afghanistanization."In fact, the name of the country was itself created by outside powers:
the rulers of the country were calling it "Khorasan"until late in the 19th century. Under the
leadership of the Muhammadzai clan an Afghan (Pashtun) nationalism was promoted and
enforced. In the 20th century, a Pashtu Academy was created "in order to justify and promote
the supposed supremacy of the Afghan . .. people" (p. 9); it was this institution that reified
Pashtuncustomary practices into "the alleged Pashtuncode of conduct (pashtunwali)" (p. 9).
The Historical Society and the Ministry of Educationunderthe supervision of Prince M. Naim
Khan fostered the rewriting of a Pashtun-biasedhistory; they even burned precious original
works to remove contrary sources (p. 208). The reality, he says, is that the "Afghanistani-
zation" attempt did not work: the Pashtuns who moved to Kabul were soon absorbed in the
Persian-speakingsociety of the upper class; many of them (including the king) did not speak
Pashtu well. (To emphasize his rejection of Pashtun domination, he avoids using the term
"Afghan"for things having to do with the country and creates the neologism "Afghanistani.")
The Hazaras, a people with the numerical strength to threaten Pashtun dominance and
whose first language is a dialect of Persian, were systematically oppressed by a succession of
Pashtun regimes (pp. 17, 133ff., 159ff.): they were enslaved, their daughters were forcibly
marriedoff, many of them were dislocated from their home territoriesto work in government
factories in Kabul, and their murderwas overtly encouragedby Sunni religious leaders. Under
such conditions, it is hardly surprising that the Hazaras never identified with the "Afghan
nationality"promoted by the state and the educated elite (p. 156).
But the civil war between the communists and the anti-communistmujaheddingroups that
began after 1978 transformed the political situation. New opportunities opened up for the
Hazaras as the Pashtun tribal structurethat had supported the state was undermined and as
the non-Pashtunpopulations bore the brunt of the war (p. 12). The Hazarasbegan to flourish:
the new vitality of their culture and power was, for Mousavi, "totally unexpected" (p. xvii).
Old "tribal roots" were renewed among Hazaras whose families a century ago had been dis-
placed or forcibly converted to Sunnism (pp. 69, 140). Grazing lands seized by Pashtun pas-
toralists after the Hazara-Afghan war in the 19th century were reclaimed by the newly armed
Hazaras.Hazarafighting organizationswere, he says, supremely effective (p. 179). Within the
322 Int. J. Middle East Stud. 31 (1999)

Hazarajat,roads were improved and new roads built; schools were opened; libraries (some
of them mobile) were established. In a visit to the Hazarajatin 1982, Mousavi was surprised
to find such "a level of economic development, population growth, and the extensive market"
(p. 60); he marvels at the new political awareness of the Hazaras(pp. xvii, 179). A resurgence
of Hazara influence was also evident on the communist side of the war, where Hazaras were
appointed to high positions (pp. 176ff.). This renaissance of the Hazaras crested when they
overcame their historic fractiousness and united under the brilliant leadership of Abdul Ali
Mazari-who was then killed while in the custody of the Taleban.
This is a partisanwork. Mousavi looks forwardto the formationof "a sociopolitical system
based on federalism,"in which "no tribe or group feels alienated and marginalized, and where
no group can claim itself superior to others" (p. 17). He believes the Hazaras will "never
again" suffer total domination at the hands of the Pashtuns"(p. 97).
The greatest value of this work is its comprehensiveness. Mousavi draws upon many "as
yet unpublishedand previously unexaminedtexts and documents"(p. 17), including the works
by previously neglected Hazarawriters(notably,Foladian,Gharjistani,La'li, Yazdani;strangely,
he misses Emadi). He tracks the experiences of the Hazaras not only within Afghanistan but
also in neighboring countries: Pakistan, British India, Iran, and Central Asia (chap. 6). I was
intrigued by his reconsiderationof Hazara origins: he believes they have been ensconced in
roughly the same region for more than two millennia. The chapter on Hazara activities in the
1990s includes a rich description of the fratricidaland tragic battle for West Kabul.
A few features of the book will disappoint specialists. His claim that this is "a new
approach"(p. xiv) seems a little too grand:it turns out to be a "socio-anthropological"study
(p. 16) thatpresentsmore accuratelyand in more detail the experience of the Hazaras-a worthy
topic indeed but scarcely new in approach.Also, he is uneven in his grasp of the literatureon
the country generally. Gracious as he is to those of us who have written about the Hazaras,he
fails to appreciatethe work of others who have studied neighboring peoples and regions in the
country. He accuses most scholars of the country of parrotingthe Afghan nationalist propa-
ganda (p. 14). Maybe there was a time when such a claim might have had some basis, but not
any more. I offhand could tick off more than a dozen scholars for whom such a criticism is
unfair, most of them uncited in the bibliography.
Even so, this is the most importantwork ever written on the subject. It should be read by
every specialist of the region.
Unfortunately,Mousavi's presentationhas been overtakenby events. The florescence of the
Hazaras was actually based on the hazards of the main roads during the war, which deflected
trafficinto the mountainousHazaracountry.The rise of the Talebanand the encirclementof the
Hazarajatby hostile Pashtunforces has choked off traffic,and the Hazaras are languishing. It
is a situationall too similarto the oppressive structureMousavi thoughthad disappearedforever.

JURGEN PAUL,Herrscher, Gemeinwesen, Vermittler:Ostiran und Transoxanienin vormongo-


lischer Zeit (Rulers, Communities, Intermediaries:Eastern Iran and Transoxaniain the
Pre-Mongol Period), Beiruter Texte und Studien, vol. 59 (Beirut: Franz Steiner Verlag,
Stuttgart, 1996). Pp. 330.

REVIEWEDBY MARIA EVA SUBTELNY, Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civiliza-
tions, University of Toronto, Ont.

This book, which is the author's Habilitationsschrift (second doctorate in the German sys-
tem), was completed at the Oriental Faculty (Fachbereich Orientalistik) of HamburgUniver-

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