One of my constant frustrations is that I have grand aspirations to learn more about Afghan culture, but I lack the language to make much progress. It’s like trying to download a huge file with a poor internet connection—it might get done eventually, but it’s nonetheless frustrating.

One of the ways that we can get in some culture learning without the language barrier is by reading translated stories. (Properly, the language barrier is still there, it’s just being dealt with by the translator.) If you’re a reader, this might be a fun way to pick up on some broader cultural themes. Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Op Mercy has published stories in English, such as Grandpa’s Stories, Historical Legends of Afghanistan, Memoirs of an Afghan Village, and Treasures of the East. (Of course, you can get these books in Dari as well.)
• Amazon has many Persian short story collections in Kindle form
• Encyclopaedea Iranica has an article about moden Persian literature in English translation
• Project Gutenberg has free translations of classical Persian literature (see especially The Persian Literature)
• Orhan Pamuk is a Nobel Prize winning Turkish author
• Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-American author of popular books about Afghanistan (though this is not without controversy)

I’ve included a variety of suggestions in the list above, including suggestions of Iranian and Turkish authors. None should be accepted uncritically as authorities on Afghan culture. Some non-Afghan pieces might give you insights into ideas in the broader Islamic world that are applicable to the situation in Afghanistan. (I thought that Orhan Pamuk’s novel Snow gave me greater insight into Afghan culture than anything that Khaled Hosseini has written, for instance.)

It might be profitable to consider questions like these, perhaps in a group discussion.

• Which of the characters’ actions would seem reasonable or unreasonable, from an Afghan perspective?
• What values or ideas does the author take for granted about the culture?
• What in the book reminds you of Afghan culture?
• Who is the intended audience? Are the stories produced for fellow countrymen (as would certainly be the case for Iranian literature), or for another audience? (as with Khaled Hosseini’s books, which are transparently written for an American audience)
• Does the author have an ax to grind? Does that reflect on a broader issue?
• Does the literature reflect concerns internal to the culture, or does it deal with people who engage more broadly with world culture?
• What segment of Afghan society might reflect the ideas presented in the literature? (urban/rural, educated/uneducated, Western-/Islamic-/Communist-outlook)

Happy reading. Be sure to recommend any good books to a friend!

This post is about culture learning. Aside from linguists, most people study language to get at the underlying culture. LCP wants to support culture learning as much as we can—our new name reflects that desire (Language & Culture Programme, rather than just Language Orientation Program).

How can we learn more about Afghan culture? There are lots of ways; you can google “ethnographic field methods” if you need some concrete suggestions and methods. The Exploring Culture web site also gives a lot of concrete activities. Let’s take a step back though, and think about culture quite generally. I found two “onion” diagrams about culture online, which I’ll share here.

The Bunkowske diagram offers seven layers of culture, in three groups: the actualizing level (lightest), the evaluating level (medium), and the foundational level (darkest).

The outer shells of culture are artifacts (i.e., things people make) and behavior. The artifacts of Afghan culture are in the outermost layer for two reasons. First, they are there for everybody to see. Second, they depend on the next layer in: behavior. So you can read this diagram several ways:

• Artifacts depend on Behavior, which depends on Feelings, which depends on Values, which depend on Beliefs, which depend on Worldview, which depend on Ultimate Allegiance.
• It is easier to get information about Artifacts than about Behavior, which is easier to get information about than Feelings, Values, Beliefs, Worldview, and Ultimate Allegiance (in that order).
• Ultimate Allegiance determines Worldview, which determines Beliefs, which determine Values, which determine Feelings, which determine Behavior, which depend on Artifacts.

The shape of the diagram implies (to me) that one has to burrow through the outer layers to get to the inner layers. I think there’s something to that. It is easy to observe the artifacts and behaviors relating to naan in Afghanistan, for example. It’s harder to come to grips with how people feel about naan: the respect they show it at meals, why it can never be thrown away, etc. It’s harder still to understand the connections to the deepest beliefs, which perhaps related to faith in the providence of God, for example.

This diagram challenges me to think about how deeply I have gone in Afghan culture. I’m not doing too badly on Artifacts and (most) Behavior. But how much do I trust my intuitions about Feelings, Values, and Beliefs? I’m on much shakier ground there.

The Hofstede diagram takes a more conceptual approach, encouraging us to look at symbols, heroes, rituals, and values.

I call this diagram “conceptual” because the relations are logical. Values may determine rituals, but it’s a lot easier to observe rituals than values! I also like the inclusion of Heroes as an explicit category. As I was recently reading Dari schoolbooks, I was impressed by the selection of heroes: how people are commended and for what.

I also like that in this diagram, Practices (i.e., Behavior) cuts through the diagram. Occasionally we have an experience that gives us a deep insight into the culture. An offhand remark, or an emotional reaction, gives us the angle we need to understand something, “Ah, so that’s what this was all about.”

Where are you in your cultural learning? What would you like to know more about, and how can you get where you want to go? Surely the answer will involve talking to people. Some of the links above can give you concrete ways to start.