Kabul Carnival: Gender Politics in Postwar Afghanistan

257 Pages·2015·2.65 MB·English

by  Julie Billaud

Kabul Carnival
THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF POL ITI CAL VIOLENCE
Tobias Kelly, Series Editor
A complete list of books in the series
is available from the publisher.
KABUL CARNIVAL
Gender Politics in Postwar Af ghan i stan
Julie Billaud
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2015 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used
for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this
book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written
permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104- 4112
www .upenn .edu /pennpress
Printed in the United States of America
on acid- free paper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Billaud, Julie, author.
Kabul carnival : gender politics in postwar Afghanistan / Julie Billaud.
pages cm — (The ethnography of political violence)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8122-4696-4 (alk. paper)
1. Women—Afghanistan—Social conditions—History—21st century. 2. Nationalism and
feminism—Religious aspects—Islam—History—21st century. 3. Postwar reconstruction—
Afghanistan. 4. Public spaces—Afghanistan—History—21st century. 5. Violence against
women—Afghanistan—History—21st century. I. Title. II. Series: Ethnography of political
violence.
HQ1735.6.B55 2015
305.409581—dc23
2014040354
Carnival is not a spectacle seen by the people; they live
in it, and everyone participates because its very idea
embraces all the people. While carnival lasts, there is no
other life outside it. During carnival time life is subject
only to its laws, that is, the laws of its own freedom. It
has a universal spirit; it is a special condition of the
entire world, of the world’s revival and renewal, in which
all take part. Such is the essence of carnival, vividly felt
by all its participants.
—Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World
PB Dorothy L
CONTENTS
Prologue: “If Only You Were Born a Boy” 1
Introduction: Carnival of (Post)War 5
PART I. PHANTOM STATE BUILDING
Chapter 1. Queen Soraya’s Portrait 31
Chapter 2. National Women’s Machinery: Coaching Lives
. Hodgson in the Ministry of Women’s Aff airs 62
Chapter 3. Public and Private Faces of Gender (In)Justice 85
PART II. BODIES OF RE SIS TANCE
Chapter 4. Moral Panics, Indian Soaps, and Cosmetics: Writing
the Nation on Women’s Bodies 111
Chapter 5. Strategic Decoration: Dissimulation, Per for mance,
and Agency in an Islamic Public Space 147
Chapter 6. Poetic Jihad: Narratives of Martyrdom, Suicide,
and Suff ering Among Afghan Women 177
Conclusion: Th e Carnival Continues 203
viii Contents
Chronology 211
Notes 219
Bibliography 227
Index 241
Ac know ledg ments 245
P B SSeecctt
PROLOGUE
“If Only You Were Born a Boy”
“As I grew up, my mother constantly repeated to me: ‘if only you were born
a boy.’ So I eventually became one.” Th is is the pragmatic way in which
eighteen- year- old Zahra explains how she became Zia. Zahra rents a small
room in a family house located next to Kabul Polytechnic University. When,
a couple of years ago, her parents divorced and remarried, none of them wanted
her around anymore. Mistreated by her stepfather, neglected by her mother,
and with no relatives to take care of her, she set out to take her future into
her own hands and not to rely on anyone. Because of the fact that as a girl
she could not enjoy this level of autonomy, she cut her hair short, purchased
boys’ clothes, changed her gender identity, and found herself a job in a small
cultural or ga ni za tion. With her big hazel eyes, her confi dent appearance, and
her direct way of staring at people, Zahra— who becomes Zia as soon as she
steps outside the house— easily passes herself off as a handsome young man.
I met Zahra through my friend Fawzia who boards at the National Wom-
en’s Dormitory. Fawzia befriended Zahra at the self- defense class they both
attend once a week at Bagh- e Zanana, the women’s park. Th e walls of Zahra’s
bedroom are covered with posters of Jackie Chan and Bollywood movie
stars. As she casually lights up a cigarette, tipping her head back to blow away
large clouds of blue smoke, she comments: “Now, I can do what ever I want.
I can ride a bike, do the shopping, go to work. I can even be mahram [an un-
marriageable kinsman; a woman must be accompanied by such an escort out-
side her house] for my girlfriends! I will never go back!”
“You see, Julie, she is a bacha posh [girl dressed like a boy]! She even thinks
like a boy! Deep inside, she is a boy and a beautiful one!” says Fawzia, and
then she leans forward to whisper in my ear: “I love Zahra! Zahra is my boy-
friend!” and she bursts into laughter.