The Boundaries of Afghans Political Imagination: The Normative-Axiological Aspects of Afghan Tradition

In the book The Boundaries of Afghans' Political Imagination the author seeks an answer to the question of how tradition, specifically its normative-axiological aspects, shapes political attitudes and actions of the Afghans. The author points to two different concepts of social order which are moulded by the Pashtunwali, a tribal code being part of Pashto language tradition on the one hand, and by Sufism, the religious and philosophical current in Islam expressed mainly in Dari (Persian) language on the other hand. The two systems offered a different hierarchy of values, and organized social reality by referring to two different models of order: the circle and the pyramid. While making an in-depth analysis of the topic, the author contends that social organization of the Pashtuns was based on the principle of representation and consensus. Tribalism shaped the structure of circle in which a group was the fundamental category. Where tribal structure no longer performed its regulatory and organizational functions the pattern of social order was offered by the Sufi Brotherhoods, which had long been very popular and powerful in this part of Asia. The hierarchical organization of Sufism based on a disciple-master relationship and the principle of authoritarianism gradually established the structure of the pyramid as a model of order, also of political order. Religious Sufi Brotherhoods became the most accessible leadership pattern, besides the tribal one, that was being fixed in the Afghans' social imagination. This book will be indispensable for those interested in Afghan and Islamic societies analyzed from the perspective of sociocultural and political anthropology.