Date

2020-9

Author

Sungur, Zeynep Tuba

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The departing point of this thesis is to understand the implications of nation-building as a Western initiative in contemporary Afghanistan in the post-2001 period. Based on this larger question, the thesis investigates the meaning of ‘nation’ as a concept that is externally introduced to this country. In this framework, the goal of this thesis is to reveal the idea of nation as presented particularly in the discourse of education constructed by the state of Afghanistan. To this end, the thesis employs three major primary resources: (1) official state documents; (2) school textbooks; and (3) expert interviews conducted at the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan. The thesis poses three major research questions on what the content of the idea of nation is; what it tells about the society of Afghanistan; and whether it suggests the modern idea of nation as defined in the West. Pursuing a qualitative research methodology, the thesis interprets the data through several themes that emerge as the constituents of the millat-e Afghanistan (‘nation of Afghanistan’). More specifically, the thesis uncovers and examines: (1) three national symbols including the national flag, national anthem and national heroes, as well as national history; (2) four national concepts including national unity, citizenship, national will and national interests; and (3) four major elements of the nation including Islam, qawm, Afghaniyat (Afghanness) and watan (homeland). Findings of this study clearly reveal that the Western-imposed form of nation has a local content in Afghanistan which is a product of its own context.

Subject Keywords

Education, Nation of Afghanistan, Afghanistan, nation-building

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/69216

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis