sempozyum_bildiri_kitabi

Concluding remarks
Having read and contemplated these texts, there are a few interrelated ideas which come to
mind. First of all, these readings seem to further strengthen the notion of Afghan literature being a
child of its time. In comparison with Afghan women’s literature of the 1960s and 1970s, an output
marked by its transparency, social and political awareness, and progressiveness, these texts come
out as the opposite; as opaque, constrained, and in some sense not much different from how men’s
representations of women’s lives are shaped. The crestfallen scenario pictured by Ahmadi at the
beginning of this paper seems to encapsulate the mood in most of these stories. The conditions and
realities of being woman, mother, and child in Afghanistan, women’s lack of education, their
experiences of violence and the yoke of tradition were all central themes in these texts. The
emotional domains of fear, dejection, and injustice were at the forefront. Taken together, the texts
are reflective of two things. On the one hand, the plight and sorrows of Afghan women continue to
be a dominant subject in literary text written by women, and as such, with reference to what has
been conferred regarding the general characteristics of Afghan literature, they can be said to reflect
the often difficult social realities many women face today. On the other hand, the constraint of
expression, which I argue is present in the texts, clearly mirrors the limitations and confines, which
many Afghan women writers of today are bound to follow. Here one could easily anticipate a rather
pessimistic close to this paper; however, there is something which Ahmadi seems to have overlooked
in his despondent assessment. I would like to bring this presentation to a close by lingering a
moment at the two short stories written by Muska Sarbaz. Although both stories are plotted around
women being violated and suppressed, Sarbaz’s characters never surrender to their destiny, nor do
they comply with male authority. Instead, we find her characters, albeit subtly, enacting notions of
optimism, resistance, empowerment, and agency.
Keywords: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Pashto, Dari, History of emotions
Anders WIDMARK
Uppsala University Department of Linguistics and Philology
anders.widmark@lingfil.uu.se
Notes
1
L. N. Bartlotti and R. W. S. Khattak, eds. Rohi Mataluna: Pashto Proverbs, Revised and Expanded
Edition of the original work by M. N. Tair, and T. C. Edwards (Eugene, Oregon: Resource
Publications, 2009), 308.
2
Through his own publishing firm Taak Publication (Entesharat–e Tak) Mohammadi has published
extensively over the last few years, among others, an important anthology of short stories by
Afghan women (Dastan–e zanan–e Afghanistan, 2013). Mohammadi was recently forced into exile
after having received threats from religious factions in Afghanistan. Several books published by
his publishing firm, including his own works, have been accused of expressing un–Islamic ideals,
immoral views, and unpatriotic sentiments.
3
Lila Abu–Lughod, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on
Cultural Relativism and Its Others,” American Anthropologist 104, no. 3 (September 2002): 783–
790.
4
Susan J.Matt, “Current Emotion Research in History: Or, Doing History from the Inside Out,”
Emotion Review 3 (2011): 123.
5
William M. Reddy, Navigation of Feeling: A Framework for the History of Emotions (Port Chester:
Cambridge University Press, 2001), 318.
6
Peter N. Stearns and Carol Z. Stearns, “Clarifying the History of Emotions and Emotional
Standards,” The American Historical Review 90:4 (1985): 830.
7
Ibid., 813.