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Thank you very much, PashtunQueen, for sharing this!
It's good that we Pashtuns ourselves are venturing on researching our own roots (though some might make the legitimate point that at this point in our history, that should not be one of our major concerns at all). In fact, researching ANYTHING related to Pukhtuns done BY Pukhtuns is something I completely support. My personal favorite is Pukhtunwali and its connection with Islam -- e.g., how it has been re-interpreted so that many Pashtuns today believe that Pashtunwali = Islam = Pashtunwali.
Whenever I read books about Pashtuns written by non-Pashtuns, the authors almost always say: "Because of the language barrier, it's very difficult for us to fully understand and appreciate Pukhtuns and Pukhtunwali. Therefore, anyone who's fluent in both English and Pashto should consider doing fieldwork or any other type of research with Pashtuns."
So I'd encourage all Pukhtuns to go into it. We need to have ourselves heard and speak for our own selves. We should be wondering why there are so many well-educated Pukhtuns but very few books are written BY us about ourselves, our history, our culture, our language. I agree with people like James Spain (quoted above, although the same quote is shared by Charles Lindholm and other anthropologists whose research surrounds Pashtuns) that if we know Pukhto and English, we can give Pukhtuns their due credit and fully appreciate and understand Pukhtunwali.
Umm... k, going TOTALLY off-topic, I know, but that was just to say ... good job to those Pukhtuns who are out to contribute to Pukhtun history and literature!
P.S. Just in case anyone wonders, here's a link to the original location of the article.
It's good that we Pashtuns ourselves are venturing on researching our own roots (though some might make the legitimate point that at this point in our history, that should not be one of our major concerns at all). In fact, researching ANYTHING related to Pukhtuns done BY Pukhtuns is something I completely support. My personal favorite is Pukhtunwali and its connection with Islam -- e.g., how it has been re-interpreted so that many Pashtuns today believe that Pashtunwali = Islam = Pashtunwali.
Whenever I read books about Pashtuns written by non-Pashtuns, the authors almost always say: "Because of the language barrier, it's very difficult for us to fully understand and appreciate Pukhtuns and Pukhtunwali. Therefore, anyone who's fluent in both English and Pashto should consider doing fieldwork or any other type of research with Pashtuns."
So I'd encourage all Pukhtuns to go into it. We need to have ourselves heard and speak for our own selves. We should be wondering why there are so many well-educated Pukhtuns but very few books are written BY us about ourselves, our history, our culture, our language. I agree with people like James Spain (quoted above, although the same quote is shared by Charles Lindholm and other anthropologists whose research surrounds Pashtuns) that if we know Pukhto and English, we can give Pukhtuns their due credit and fully appreciate and understand Pukhtunwali.
Umm... k, going TOTALLY off-topic, I know, but that was just to say ... good job to those Pukhtuns who are out to contribute to Pukhtun history and literature!
P.S. Just in case anyone wonders, here's a link to the original location of the article.