sempozyum_bildiri_kitabi

well as from ideas of women as a monolithic and measurable entity. I read these texts as outlets of
individual experiences, though, at the same time as narratives reflective of “the dominant
emotionology,” 6 in other words, of a society’s “collective emotional standards” 7 and of a collective
memory.
A common critique levelled against the use of literary text in these types of studies has been that
only the histories of the literate become accessible. However, in our case, one should first have in
mind that although literacy levels are still low in the area, especially among rural Pashtun women,
yet many women are orally literate. So, only because you do not possess the means to express
yourself in text (either in terms of lack of education or due to restrictions imposed by the family etc.)
does not necessarily make you illiterate per se. Also, some issues have been raised against the
selective nature of literature, how it tends to emphasise and leave out, and how emotion can be of
little or no relevance in certain texts. First of all, I admit that writing literature is an innately selective
project, however, a choice – the choice to remain silent as one example – is first and foremost an
intellectual manoeuvre, but it also involves processes of emotional negotiation. Thematic choice,
emotions expressed or silenced, language use, are all measured priorities which can tell us something
about the spirit of their worlds. Although most historical studies on emotions have focused on how
emotions change over time, this paper aims at tracing emotional registers of the present moment;
how emotions navigate, change, and adapt in different spaces and communities. The aim, however,
is not to deliver a conclusive result to my research questions but rather to set out the directions for a
future, more all‐embracing studies on this topic.
The material I have examined for this presentation consists of an anthology of short stories and
life stories written in Pashto and Dari by Afghan women. The book, entitled Walking with the Light,
was published in 2011 by Afghan Pen and edited by the writer Wazhma Fazli. Fazli, as with many of
the writers included in the anthology, is a member of a women’s literary society called Merman
Kulturi aw Tolniz Bahir, an organisation based in Kabul but with branches all over Afghanistan, as well
as abroad. 8 The texts included in the anthology are a mixture of life stories and literary (very) short
stories written by women of varying ages from different areas of Afghanistan; the youngest one Lima
Hafiz, being only thirteen years old.
The texts: Readings of emotion
Afghan books are generally supplied with significant paratext in the form of prefaces, biographies,
and even reviews. In this compilation, which the editor Wazhma Fazli dedicates “to every Afghan
mother and father who does not differentiate between son and daughter”, three introductory texts
are included. In one of these – “A Few Words” – the Afghan writer Nasir Ahmad Ahmadi delivers a
short but vigorous critique of an Afghan society where women at times are looked upon as
commodities. He describes a society abounding in slogans such as “Women are the one half of
society’s goblet”, but that the practice of such ideals linger in real life. He also writes that these are
nothing but empty words and that:
Still today Afghan women are deprived of the most basic joys of life. They are given
away as compensation to pay for the sins of their brothers and fathers. They are married
against their will, they lack decision over their own lives, and still in many families, after
the men have taken their hands from the soup, the women’s share is but poor bread and
gnawed bones.
Many are not allowed to study, they cannot go to the doctor without the consent of
their husbands, they do not even have their own proper names but are referred to by
labels such as syahsara [widow], kada [nomad’s wife], torsara [widow], and ajiza [poor
wretch]. They are destitute of all Islamic and human rights and in some households they
are still not looked upon as human beings. They are sold and bought in accordance with
walwar [bride price]. 9
In the same text, Ahmadi remarks on what was said earlier about women’s lives being written by
men, saying: “Even though much has now been written about the pains and problems of women,