Talk by Zyenep Tuba Sungur, University of Ankara (ASBU) on Nation as Conceptualised in Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 

Cambridge Central Asia Forum invites you to a talk by

Zyenep Tuba Sungur, University of Ankara (ASBU)

on

Nation as Conceptualised in Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 

Date: 29 November

Time: 11am

Venue: Room S1, Alison Richard Building, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT

Zoom registration link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pc-ygrDssHNYlARR1yMaSAyk9A86o8ypL

Everyone is welcome.

Biography: Dr. Zeynep Tuba Sungur is a researcher on Afghanistan and South Asia (covering Pakistan, India as well as Iran), with advanced Persian language skills, specialising on the sociology and political history of the region. Her academic credentials include degrees from Boğaziçi University (BA) and Middle East Technical University, METU (MS and PhD). Dr. Sungur holds a PhD in Area Studies from METU (2020) where she previously worked as a Research Assistant at the Graduate School of Social Sciences (2014-2019) and as a Part-time Lecturer at the Department of Asian Studies (2021-22). Following PhD, Dr. Sungur was awarded the prestigious TÜBİTAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye) Post-Doctoral Fellowship to conduct research at SOAS University of London for a year (2022-23). Thereafter, Dr. Sungur joined ASBÜ Institute for Area Studies, Department of Asian Studies in September 2023.

Abstract: The departing point of this study is to understand the implications of ‘nation-building’ as a Western initiative in Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) particularly in terms of the local conceptualisation of nation. Based on that, the goal of this study is to reveal the idea of nation as presented in the discourse of education constructed by the state. To this end, the study employs three major primary resources: official documents, school textbooks and expert interviews conducted at the Ministry of Education in Kabul. Pursuing qualitative methods, the study uncovers four major elements that make up the idea of the millat-e Afghanistan or ‘nation of Afghanistan’: (1) Islam, (2) watan (homeland), (3) qawm and (4) Afghaniyat (Afghanness). Reflecting a specific understanding of nation peculiar to the context of Afghanistan, this study concludes that the Western-imposed form of nation has a local content which struggles hard to keep the idea together.