THE AFGHANISTAN SOCIETY

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• Resources

  Here we list information on external lectures, webinars, and programmes of interest. Please let us know of other cultural resources via secretary@afghanistansociety.org.uk

  
  Untold [http://untold-stories.org/] is a development programme for writers in areas of conflict and post-conflict. Its current project, Write Afghanistan, works with women writers across the country to develop their writing, share their stories with readers in their own languages, and reach new global audiences in translation. 

  In December 2020, four of these writers were published in US literary magazine Words Without Borders  https://wordswithoutborders.org/about/mission/    

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•  'Turn this Air Conditioner On, Sir' https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2020-12/december-2020-afghan-women-writers-turn-this-air-conditioner-on-sir-author/

•  'Khurshid Khanum, Rise and Shine' https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2020-12/december-2020-afghan-women-writers-khurshid-khanum-rise-and-shine-author-b/

•  'The Decision' https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2020-12/december-2020-afghan-women-writers-the-decision-author-d-zarghuna-karg/

•  'Daughter Number Eight' https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2020-12/december-2020-afghan-women-writers-daughter-number-eight-afghan-author-a/

Across November and December 2020, the Bagri Foundation, one of Write Afghanistan's supporters, featured profiles and excerpts from works-in-progress from ten of the writers. Read more about the project here  https://bagrifoundation.org/write-afghanistan/

Bilingual (Dari & English) proceedings from an international conference on “Preserving the Cultural Heritage of Afghanistan” held in Kabul in November 2014, organised by The University of Chicago, the US Embassy Kabul, the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University, and the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture. The volume comprises both papers and summaries of the panel discussions held at the conference. 

https://oi.uchicago.edu/preserving-cultural-heritage-afghanistan

A truly extraordinary resource, comprising collections of historic photographs of Afghanistan, ranging from key events, portraits, cultural sites, customs and more. Created and managed by the Foundation Bibliotheca Afghanica, based in Switzerland, the initiative is supported by the Swiss Federal Office for Culture. As well as providing a resource for research, the project aims to raise awareness and contribute to strengthening Afghan national identity. .

https://www.phototheca-afghanica.ch

 

Afghanistan Center at Kabul University ACKU serves as an information hub that collects and preserves documents about Afghanistan in digital and print format. At the same time, it focuses on promoting literacy and facilitating academic research https://acku.edu.af

And see videos

https://acku.edu.af/category/media/videos/

https://www.facebook.com/acku.edu.af/videos/?ref=page_internal

 

AEPO is the largest educational radio program-making NGO in Afghanistan which produces  educational radio drama ( New Home, New Life) and educational feature programs for adults and children.

https://www.facebook.com/aepo.af/

 

Aid Afghanistan for Education (AAE) provides education to marginalised Afghan women and girls over the age of ten, who are denied access to the formal education system.

https://www.aidafghanistanforeducation.org

 

Afghanistan Cultural Heritage Consulting Organization (ACHCO) is an apolitical, non-profit, cultural organisation which aims to contribute to the preservation of Afghanistan’s rich cultural heritage, with particular emphasis on historic monuments.

https://www.achco.org.af

Pahar Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset has an extensive archive of material from Afghanistan, and the wider Central Asia region, including maps, photo collections, journals and more.

http://pahar.in

 

Cultural Property News contains an interesting overview of current programmes involved in the protection of Afghanistan's cultural monuments and sites, including the Buddhist Stupa at Shewaki, Kabul's Bala Hissar, the Musalla Complex's fifth minaret in Herat, and Mes Aynak. There's a short reading list at the end.

https://culturalpropertynews.org/can-taliban-be-trusted-to-preserve-afghan-heritage/

Afghanistan Digital Library According to its website, the library's immediate objective is to 'retrieve and restore the first sixty years of Afghanistan’s published cultural heritage. The project is collecting, cataloging, digitising, and making available over the Internet as many Afghan publications from the period 1871–1930 as it is possible to identify and locate'. Most of the publications in this archive are in Dari or Pashto.

http://afghanistandl.nyu.edu/afghanistan/index.html

Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) As explained on its website, AREU  is an independent research think tank based in Kabul. AREU’s mission is to inform policy and practice by conducting high-quality, evidence-based research and actively disseminating the results, and to promote a culture of research and learning. 

https://areu.org.af/

The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at the University of Chicago has brought out a beautifully illustrated e-book on the treasures in the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul. Published in 2022, A History of Afghanistan in 100 Objects by Gil J. Stein,  Alejandro Gallego Lopez and M. Fahim Rahimi can be accessed through the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC) website. Follow this link for both the English and Dari versions.

https://isac.uchicago.edu/research/projects/preservation-cultural-heritage-afghanistan