Don’t forget your shovel.

So you want to write a paper on Afghan Education??!

Students often approach me, sometimes on the recommendation of their professors, because they want to write a paper on some aspect of Afghan Education for a course. However, usually the main concern is to ask about resources. Where can they find resources on Afghan Education?

I got a bit tired of answering the same questions over & over. So, I’ve put together this page. The first three sections simply suggest books I’ve enjoyed on Afghanistan and Afghan politics in a general sense. Further down I provide a bibliography of resources (some of which are online), directly related to education. I’ve read most of these, but not quite got to all of them (plus at least one resource is labelled as missing at Robarts!!! ). And finally, I admit that my own writing is here, as is that of some people I personally and/or professionally know. If you’ve written something which you’d like me to include, please email me: jdicum at oise dot utoronto dot ca

(The Resources listed below are subject to change.)

If you have any specific questions about Afghan Education, please contact me *after* you have read through these resources.

Refereed/Peer-reviewed Journal articles are denoted by *

On the Politics of Afghanistan

Cooley, J.K. (2000) Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America, and International Terrorism. London: Pluto Press.

Coll, S. (2004) Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. Penguin Classics.

Rashid, A. (2000) Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil & Fundamentalism in Central Asia. New Haven: Yale Note Bene.

Biographical Works by Journalists & Ficitional Books

Journalist & Aid Worker biographies

Kaplan, R. D. (2001) Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan. New York: Vintage Books.

Stewart, R. (2006) The Places In Between. Toronto: Penguin Canada.

Fiction on Afghanistan

**To be added later**
Hosseini, K. (2004) The Kite Runner ??: River Trade.

On (& Sometimes by) Afghan Women

Abirafeh, L. (2005, Nov) “From Afghanistan to Sudan: How Peace Risks Marginalizing Women” Forced Migration Review. HERE

Abirafeh, L. (2005, Sep) “Lessons from Gender-focused International Aid in Post-Conflict Afghanistan…Learned?” Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Report. Online HERE

Abirafeh, L. (2004, Oct) “Burqa Politics: The Plights of Women in Afghanistan” Chronogram Special Report, Chronogram Magazine. Online HERE

Das, M. (2006) Taliban’s War on Women: Life experiences of women in transit on ethnicity and their identity. London: Asia Research Centre. Available Online HERE

Delloye, I. (2003) Women of Afghanistan. Saint Paul, Minn: Ruminator Books.

Ellis, D. (2000) Women of the Afghan War. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Gauhari, F. (1996) An Afghan Woman’s Odyssey. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Mehta, S. (ed.) (2002) Women for Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Claiming the Future. New York: Palgrave Macmillian.

Sharavini, M.K. & Robison, W.R. (2005) Women and education in Iran and Afghanistan : an annotated bibliography of sources in English, 1975-2003. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.

Pont, A. M. (2001) Blind Chickens and Social Animals: Creating Spaces for Afghan Women’s Narratives Under the Taliban. Portland: Mercy Corps.

*Pourzand, N. (2004) Afghan Refugee Women’s Organisations in Pakistan (1980-2001): struggles in adversity. in Resources for Feminist Research. Toronto: OISE. Online HERE

Tapper, N. (1991) Bartered Brides: Politics, Gender, and Marriage in an Afghan Tribal Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

On Afghan Children

Lowicki, J. (2002, May) Fending for Themselves: Afghan refugee children and adolescents working in urban Pakistan. New York: Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. Last Accessed: March 5, 2006 from: HERE

n.a. (2004, 13 October) Pakistan: Child Labour Still Widespread in NWFP. Peshawar: Irin News. Last Accessed March 5, 2006 from: HERE

Sabawoon, S.J. & Tariq, A. (2002, May 28) Carpet Weaving Throws Lifeline to Refugees. Peshawar:Institute of War and Peace Reporting. Last Accessed March 5, 2006 from: HERE

Save the Children Federation Inc. (2003) The Children or Kabul: Discussions with Afghan Families. Westport, CT: Save the Children Federation Inc. Available HERE.

Afghan Education Resources

Websites & Web Collections

Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) Papers on Afghan Education Click Here **

The Development Gateway Afghanistan Reconstruction Page: Click Here

The Teachers’ College @ Columbia University: Afghan Education Project: Textbook & Curriculum redesign @ elementary level post-2003 Click Here

**If you happen to be going to Kabul, they have a non-lending library full of resources related to Afghanistan. This includes some info. on education. See the AREU website for details.

Books, Journals, NGO resources

Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) (2002) Basic Education for Afghan Refugees. Peshawar: GTZ.

*Dicum, J. (2005) (Re)Building A Feeling of Belonging in Complex Emergencies: Challenges and Opportunities in the education of refugee children through the experiences of Afghans in Pakistan. Ethnologies. 27 (1), 54-76.

Pourzand, N. (2006) Education and Citizenship in Afghanistan. in Nira Yuval-Davis and Pnina Werbner (eds.) Women, Citizenship, and Difference. London: Zed Books.

*Pourzand, N.(1999), “The Problematic of Female Education, Ethnicity and National Identity in Afghanistan” (1920-1999) Social Analysis, 43(1), Mar 73-82

Rugh, A.B. (2000, July) Home Based Girls’ Schools in Balochistan Refugee Villages: A Strategy Study. Islamabad: Save the Children USA. Available online at: HERE

Rugh, A. (1998) Education for Afghans: A Strategy Paper. Islamabad: Save the Children & Unicef Afghanistan.

Save the Children USA (SC/US) (2000, March) Home-Based Girls’ Schools in Balochistan Refugee Villages: Briefing Paper. Islamabad: Save the Children Federation, Pakistan-Afghanistan Field Office.

Save the Children USA (SC/US) (2000, March) Education Programs in Balochistan Refugee Villages: Briefing Paper. Islamabad: Save the Children Federation, Pakistan-Afghanistan Field Office.

Sharavini, M.K. & Robison, W.R. (2005) Women and education in Iran and Afghanistan : an annotated bibliography of sources in English, 1975-2003. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.