The Graveyard of Empires
Haunting, Amnesia and Afghanistan’s Construction as a Burial Site
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12980683 |
|---|---|
| Authors | N Manchanda (0000-0002-2852-9577, University of London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 307-320 |
| Publication date | 2019-07-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Middle East Critique (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1943-6149 • E-ISSN: 1943-6157 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/19436149.2019.1633745 |
| OpenAlex | W2958732443 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 10 |
Afghanistan appears to exist in a different time from ‘us.’ Modernization theory, linear narratives of progress, teleological tales of growth and common sense stories of development seem to have met their match when it comes to this landlocked country. This paper considers the ubiquitous construction of Afghanistan as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’ to explore the ways in which representation, memory-making, and an allegory of mythic import perform a constitutive function and help suture an otherwise disjointed history of Afghanistan. Conducting a sustained inquiry into the political valence of the Graveyard trope, the paper reveals that it is especially ill-chosen on three counts. (i) It is ahistorical, relying on a selective evocation of history. Related to this ahistoricism, it sets up the past as the ‘key’ to understanding the Afghan present. On this account, another future is not possible. (ii) It is geographically or at least ‘physically’ deterministic: Afghanistan is constructed as a land of unconquerable terrain, its topography menacing and ultimately unassailable. Not only does this present the physical environment as an immutable entity, it also feeds into representations of Afghans as rugged warriors, bred to be weathered and connately austere. (iii) It is racialized: Afghans as inhabitants, creators and living relics of this graveyard are constructed as inured to hardship, belligerent and always already girded for combat. Thus the ‘graveyard of empires’ becomes a politically charged trope that is engaged in a continual re-inscription of the Afghan population as an alien other
Aesthetics · Afghan · Art · Elegiac · Evocation · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Trope (literature · Anthropology · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East
Ghostly Matters
Queer/Early/Modern
Race and Racism in International Relations
Geography, nature, and the question of development
Through, against and beyond the racial state
The Imperial Sociology of the ‘Tribe’ in Afghanistan
Problems in Establishing Legitimacy in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |