Book Review: Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Ngugi says that the very words we use are a product of a collective history (p. x-xi). He says that the present predicaments of Africa are often not a matter of personal choice; they arise from an historical situation. Their solutions are not so much of a matter of personal decision as that of a fundamental social transformation of the structures of our societies starting with a real break with imperialism and its internal ruling allies. Imperialism and its comprador alliances in Africa can never never develop the continent (xii).

According to the author 'the biggest weapon wielded and actually daily unleashed by imperialism against that collective defiance is the cultural bomb. The effect of a cultural bomb is to annihilate a people's belief in their names, in their languages, in their environment, in their heritage of struggle, in their unity, in their capacities and ultimately in themselves (p. 3). Ngugi remembers the time when speaking his native tongue Gikuyu in school led to punishment (p. 11). Writing about his younger days he also narrates how a button was used as a tool to punish those students who spoke their native tongue (p. 11).

The author writes that Swahili in East and Central Africa is used as a means of  communication across many nationalities, but it is not a carrier of culture and history of many of those nationalities whereas in parts of Kenya and Tanzania, particularly in Zanzibar, Swahili is inseparably both a means of communication and a carrier of the culture of those people to whom it is a mother-tongue (p. 13). Ngugi writes that 'rival imperialisms and the colonial practice of divide and rule introduced contradictory representations of the sound systems of the same language, let alone of similar African languages within the same colonial boundary. For instance the Gikuyu language had two rival orthographies developed by protestant and catholic missionaries (p. 67). 

Ngugi was put in prison, banned from teaching at the University of Nairobi and the exiled (p. 62). He was at his home on 31 December 1977. Ngugi wrote on toilet paper when he did not have paper in jail (p. 74). There was so much repression from 1952 to 1962 during the Mau Mau struggle that more than five people were deemed to constitute a public gathering and needed a license (p. 37).

The author stresses that African literature can only be written in Africa languages, that is, the languages of African peasantry and working class, the major alliance of classes in each our nationalities and the agency for the coming inevitable revolutionary break with neo-colonialism (p. 27). Ngugi stresses on the oral literature (orature). According to him orature ha sits roots in the lives of the peasantry. It is primarily their compositions, their songs, their art, which forms the basis of the national and resistance culture during the colonial and neo-colonial times (p. 95).

The land question is basic to  an understanding of Kenya's history and contemporary politics, as indeed it is of twentieth century history wherever people have had their land taken away by conquest, unequal treaties or by the genocide of prat of the population (p. 44). The colonizers also introduced categorization. The good African was the one who cooperated with the European colonizer whereas the bad African character was the on who offered resistance to the foreign conquest and occupation of his country. The bad character was portrayed as being ugly, weak, cowardly and scheming (p. 92).

Because of its intermediate economic position between the many contending classes, the petty- bourgeoisie develops a vacillating psychological make-up. Like a chameleon it takes on the color of the main class with which  it is in the closest touch and sympathy (p. 22). The author states that under the colonial system, through the racist ideologies the private appropriation of wealth was ensured in a few hands- mostly white (p. 66).

On page 53, Ngugi shares a play in which one of the character named Wangeci says: 

"Think about today and tomorrow.

Think about our home.

Poverty has no permanent roots!

Poverty is a sword for sharpening the digging sticks..."

Ngugi says that 'when that day comes, when the African writer will naturally turn to African languages for his creative imagination, the African novel will truly come into its own, incorporating into itself all the features developed in the different parts of Africa from the different cultures of African peoples as well as the best progressive features of the novel or fiction developed in Asia, Latin America, Europe, America, the World (p. 85). Ngugi also writes that 'drama is closer to the dialectics of life than poetry and the fiction' (p. 54).

While writing about the main aim of the book the author states that 'in this book I have pointed out that how we view ourselves, our environment even, is very much dependent on where we stand in relationship to imperialism in its colonial and neo-colonial stages; that if we are to do anything about our individual and collective being today, then we have to coldly and consciously look at what imperialism has been doing to us and to our view of ourselves in the universe' (p. 88). Ngugi says that 'economic and political control of a people can never be complete without cultural control' (p. 93). 

On page 105 Ngugi quotes Brecht who says in a poem:

"Your science will be valueless, you'll find

And learning will be sterile, if inviting

Unless you pledge your intellect to fighting

Against all enemies of Mankind."

Further in the book Ngugi also writes about colonialism in education, Kamiriithu Community Centre, racism of Hume, Thomas Jefferson and Hegel, class origin of discoveries, his view about the appropriation of the novel, his learnings from different writers, African children and colonial schools. Ngugi has very clearly addressed the main issues on the language question in literature. This book is the author's farewell to English as a vehicle for any of his writings.

In the concluding chapter Ngugi writes that the aim of this book has been about 'national, democratic and human liberation' (p. 108). I want to paraphrase but I think it would be injustice to the powerful words of the author. Ngugi says that 'the call for the rediscovery and the resumption of our language is a call for a regenerative reconnection with the millions of revolutionary tongues in Africa and the world over demanding liberation. It is a call for the rediscovery of the real language of humankind: the language of struggle. It is the universal language underlying all speech and words of our history. Struggle. Struggle makes history. Struggle makes us.  In struggle is our history, our language and our being. That struggle begins wherever we are; in whatever we do; then we become part of those millions whom Martin Carter once saw sleeping not to dream but dreaming to change the world' (p. 108).

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Book Review: What Went Wrong?: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response by Bernard Lewis

Islam was at the forefront of human achievement for many centuries. This included military and economic power in the world. Europe was considered as something from which there was nothing to learn or to fear from. Europe changed drastically- first on the battlefront and the marketplace. After that it progressed in every aspect of public and private life. Lewis tries to understand how things changed and how the West rose to dominate the rest. At some places in the book, Lewis writes in a very patronizing tone. The author explains how the Middle East turned its attention towards understanding European weaponry and military tactics, commerce, industry, government, diplomacy, education and culture.

Lewis writes about the differences between the Western and the Middle Eastern cultures from the 18th to the 20th centuries. He makes comparisons of themes related to music, arts, women, civil society and religion. He presents an account which helps in understanding the historical relationship between the Middle East and Europe. The author writes in the early 1600s the Persian won a number of successes against the Turks (p. 12). The Turks were ready to make peace. The Treaty of Carlowitz 1699 was of special importance as it was the first peace signed by a defeated Ottoman Empire with victories Christian adversaries (p. 18). Lewis states that Carlowitz  had two lessons. The first was military, defeat by a superior force. The second lesson was diplomatic- learnt from the process of negotiation (p. 19). For Ottomans philosophy was not useful, but history was.

In the 16th and 17th centuries Arabic Chairs were established in major European universities (p. 42). First the pasha of Egypt, then the sultan of Turkey and then the shah of Persia sent selected groups of students to London, Paris and elsewhere (p. 44). Young Ottomans persuaded the Sultan to proclaim a brand new constitution with the help of some pressure from the European powers (p. 58). There were constitutional revolutions in Persia in 1906 and in Turkey in 1908 (p. 60).

Lewis says that the title of ayatollahs of Iran is quite a modern times and unknown to classical Islamic history (p. 109). He also mentions about interesting examples of how cigarette was used to measure times, invention of sundial and water clock in the Middle East (p. 123). The writer also writes about crusades, Muslim and Christian methods of warfare, migration and government services, telegraph and the changes it brought, the notion of political freedom, money and power in the East and the West, Islamic egalitarianism, slaves in Islam, roots of secularism, separation of powers in Christianity, Jami's Frankish glasses from the 15th century, the notion of frontier and demarcation, Sultan Mahmud's help from abroad.

Further in the book the author writes about the translations in various languages, the three forms of cultural influence (visual, musical and literary), team sports, dinning and dancing. The West European empires taught their subjects English, French, and Dutch because they needed clerks in their offices and counting houses (p. 61). Lewis says that the most valued commodity brought from the East to Europe were slaves(p. 26). Slavery was abolished in Yemen and KSA in 1962 (p. 89).Coffee originally came from Ethiopia (p. 50). 

Bernard Lewis states that 'every dominant civilization has imposed its own modernity in its prime' (150). Printing, translation and newspapers accelerated the process of modernization (p. 50). Steamships, railways and building of road networks accelerated communication (p. 52). Clock, timetable and calendar were the instruments by which modernity was introduced (p. 131). Lewis says that the most powerful instrument of change in the whole process of modernization seems to have begun with railway (p. 130). Modernizers by reform or revolution concentrated their efforts in three main areas, which includes military, economic and political. 

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Book Review: The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture by Theodor W. Adorno (Edited and with an introduction by J. M. Bernstein)

Theodor Adorno emerged as a critic from the renowned Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. I mention some of the interesting points covered in the book. He believes that all culture shares the guilt of society (p. 17). Curiosity is the enemy of the new which is not permitted to exist anyway (p. 84).

Adorno says that the power of the culture industry's ideology is such that conformity has replaced consciousness (p. 104). He further stresses that 'the total effect of the culture industry is one of anti-enlightenment, in which, as Horkheimer and I have noted, enlightenment, that is the progressive technical domination of nature, becomes mass deception and is turned into a means for fettering consciousness. It impedes the development of autonomous, independent individuals who judge and decide consciously for themselves' (p. 106).

Regarding fascist propaganda Adorno says that it is 'only to reproduce the existent mentality for its own purposes'... (p. 150). Adorno also writes about mass media and says that 'the more inarticulate and diffuse the audience of modern mass media seems to be the more mass media tend to achieve their 'integration' (p. 163). On page 173, Adorno states that: ….."what matters is mass media is not what happens in real life, but rather the positive and negative 'messages', prescriptions, and taboos that the spectator absorbs by means of identification with the material he is looking at." 

Writing about artistic production, the writer states that 'certainly, no artistic production can deal with ideas or political creeds in abstracto but has to present them in terms of their concrete impact upon human beings'... (p. 173). The writer is of the view that 'the consumers are made to remain what they are: consumers. That is why the culture industry is not the art of the consumer but rather the projection of the will of those in control onto their victims'... (p. 185).

Adorno discusses advertisements and political slogans, sports and mass culture, music, concepts of order, the total effect of culture industry, festivals, dance, the idea of a leader, fascist agitation, culture industry and administration, television, film and free time. Adorno's finest essays are compiled in this book which offers his thoughts on Culture. He argues that the culture industry commodified and standardized all art.  This in turn suffocated individuality and destroyed critical thinking.

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Doing the Right Thing

Yesterday I saw my neighbor busy with supervision of cementing the front yard of his house. He had directed the laborers to create a a gentle slope using cement. Now, the cement slope exceeds the boundary of the plot and very clearly violates the parameters of the main road.

This makes me think about "doing the right thing." In this country, creating problems for others has become a fashion now. In PK, I see people parking on footpaths which creates hurdles for the pedestrians. Moreover, motorbikes use footpaths for shortcuts and their own convenience. If you want to risk your life, just try using a zebra crossing (pedestrian crossing). Any type of car or bike would not make an effort to stop for the pedestrian to pass. In fact, the person driving would resort to honking. Nowadays in ICT, driving on the wrong side of the road is another issue which has increased the risks of accidents.

In PK, a trend of fancy number plates was on the rise when I was studying in high school. Back then, I saw plates put on cars, with 'Barrister', 'Lawyer' and 'Press' inscribed on them. Later, after passing my undergraduate studies I met a person in Lahore named S. Other than the original number plate, S used a specially designed plate which had 'Attorney at Law' printed on it. These days in ICT, I see people using stickers on the top left side of the windscreens of their cars. These stickers have logos of law enforcement agencies including police and the military.

While growing up, although not common, but I did see teenagers kicking volleyball, playing football with basketball, playing cricket in a football ground and playing football in a hockey ground. I also saw people cleaning their front yard and putting the garbage in front of other people's house. I often think, when would people stop doing these foolish acts?

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Book Review: Married to a Bedouin By Marguerite van Geldermalsen

 

This story is about a New Zealand-born nurse who marries Mohammad Abdallah, a Bedouin souvenir-seller from Petra in Jordan. In 1978 Marguerite and her friend travel to the Middle East where they meet Mohammad. She marries Mohammad and starts living with him in an old cave on a hill side. She becomes a nurse for the locals, learns Arabic, converts to Islam and gives birth to three children.

The author believes that she married a ‘wonderful man, who started his day by praying that God would be pleased with him, and that his parents would be pleased with him, and then went off to his work with a flick of his mendeel and a joyful step, while I did what I felt like without a care in the world’ (p.33).

Marguerite admits that her marriage was much larger than just marrying an individual. Describing her own wedding the she mentions her brother in-laws who work for road companies.  She also mentions a Chinese company building a road along Wadi Araba from the bottom of the Dead Sea, where a potash industry was being established, to the port of Aqaba’ (p.56). Mohammad and his wife also visit New Zealand. Marguerite’s parents also visit Petra.

As I was reading the book I kept thinking about the whereabouts of the couple until I discovered that unfortunately Mohammad passed away in February 2002. This is a very interesting read about a lady who shares her own life experiences. I really enjoyed reading this book!

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Book Review: The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by Bell Hooks

 

Bell Hooks says that militant feminism gave women permission to unleash their rage and hatred at men but it did not allow us to talk about what it meant to love men in patriarchal culture, to know how we could express that love without fear of exploitation and oppression. To simply label men as oppressors and dismiss them meant we never had to give voice to the gaps in our understanding or to talk about maleness in complex ways. She believes that feminist thinking and practice are the only way in which the crises of masculinity can be addressed.

The author writes that ‘we live in a culture where emotionally starved, deprived females are desperately seeking male love.’ She admits that many women cannot hear male pain about love because it sounds like an indictment of female failure. Moreover, she also writes about her own case where she did not want to hear about her partner’s feelings and pain. Moreover, in the book the author says that majority of the patriarchal attitudes are taught by mothers. These attitudes are reinforced in schools and religious institutions.

The author states that dismantling and changing patriarchal culture is the work that men and women must do together (p. 24). Further in the book, the author writes that feminist researchers are often unwilling or reluctant to target practical thinking. She believes that when men embrace feminist thinking and practice, which emphasizes the value of mutual growth and self-actualization in all relationships, their emotional well-being will be enhanced.

The popularization of gangsta rap, spearheaded by white male executives in the music industry, gave a public voice to patriarchy and woman-hating. The author views contemporary books and movies offer clear portraits of the evils of patriarchy without offering any direction for change. In her view until there is creation of a popular culture that affirms and celebrates masculinity without upholding patriarchy, there will be no change in the way masses of males think about the nature of their identity.

Further in the book, the author writes that it is possible to critique patriarchy without hating men. Without citing any figures, the author states that working women are far more likely than other women to be irritable. She states that ‘women want to be recognized, seen, and cared about by the men in our lives.’ She further stresses that love cannot exist with domination.

In the concluding chapter the author writes that those of us who love men do not want to continue our journey without them. We need them beside us because we love them. She believes that a culture of healing that empowers males to change is in the making. Healing does not take place in isolation. Men who love and men who long to love know this. She stresses that women should stand by them, with open hearts and open arms (p. 188).

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Book Review: Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

 

Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others to get the outcomes one wants. This can be done through coerce by threats, induce them with payments or through attraction and co-option. Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. When you can get others to admire your ideals and to want what you want, you do not have to spend as much on sticks and carrots to move them in your direction. The U.S government spends four hundred times more on hard power than on soft power.

Soft power involves agenda setting, attraction and co-opt. Government policies at home and abroad are another potential source of soft power. For example, in the 1950s racial segregation at home undercut American soft power in Africa. Much of American soft power has been produced by Hollywood, Harvard, Microsoft, and Michael Jordan. It is true that firms, universities, foundations, churches, and other nongovernmental groups develop soft power of their own that may reinforce or be at odds with official foreign policy goals. Credibility is an important source of soft power.

The author categorizes power into three types. This includes military power, economic power and soft power. He further stresses that soft power is not a constant, but something that varies by time and space. Stating culture as a source of soft power, the author quotes Secretary of State Colin Power saying that ‘I can think of no more valuable asset to our country than the friendship of future world leaders who have been educated here.’ He further argues that hard power created the stand-off of military containment, but soft power eroded the Soviet system from within.

Regarding the soft power of NGOs, the author says that the information revolution has greatly enhanced it. NGOs and network organizations have soft-power resources and do not hesitate to use them. The early efforts of soft-power resources can be observed in France. In the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France promoted its culture. One example is the creation of Alliance Francaise in 1883 for the promotion of French language and literature. In Britain BBC was founded in 1922 which later broadcasted in all major European languages. As far as the United States is concerned VOA broadcasts in 53 languages to an estimated audience pf 91 million people (p. 104).

The author mentions three dimensions of public diplomacy. First is daily communication which involves explaining the context of domestic and foreign policy decisions. Second, is strategic communication in which a set of simple themes is developed, much like what occurs in a political or advertising campaign. Third is the development of lasting relationships with key individuals over many years through scholarships, exchanges, training, seminars, conferences, and access to media channels.

The author believes that the United States cannot meet the new threat identified in the national security strategy without the cooperation of other countries. He creates a need for learning how to better combine hard and soft power to meet new challenges. He wants the budget of public diplomacy to be doubled. In the concluding paragraph of the last chapter the author stresses that ‘America’s success will depend upon our developing a deeper understanding of the role of soft power and developing a better balance of hard and soft power in our foreign policy. That will be smart power. We have done it before; we can do it again.’

Ney emphasizes that soft power will help America deal with critical global issues that require multilateral cooperation.

 

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Book Review: One-Dimensional Man by Herbert Marcuse

 

In 1940s there were two tendencies within the history of Critical Theory. First, the philosophical-cultural analysis of the trends of Western civilization developed by Horkheimer and Adorno in Dialectic of Enlightenment. Second, the more practical-political development of Critical Theory as a theory of social change proposed by Marcuse and Neumann. For them, Critical Theory would be developed as a theory of social change that would connect philosophy, social theory, and radical politics- precisely the project of 1930s Critical Theory that Horkheimer and Adorno were abandoning in the early 1940s in their turn toward philosophical and cultural criticism divorced from social theory and radical politics.  Horkheimer and Adorno had neglected the theory of social change. It is exactly what Marcuse and Neumann were focusing on.

One-Dimensional Man was first published in 1964. It critiques the new modes of domination and social control. As capitalism and technology developed, advanced industrial society demanded increasing accommodation to the economic and social apparatus and submission to increasing domination and administration. Marcuse writes that independence of thought, autonomy, and the right to political opposition are being deprived of their basic critical function in a society. According to him, political power asserts itself through its power over the machine process and over the technical organization of the apparatus.

He distinguishes between true and false needs.  According to him, the need to relax, to have fun, to behave and consume in accordance with the advertisements, to love and hate what others love and hate, belong to this category of false needs. The distinguishing feature of advanced industrial society is its effective suffocation of those needs which demand liberation- liberation also from that which is tolerable and rewarding and comfortable- while it sustains and absolves the destructive power and repressive function of the affluent society.

The means of mass transportation and communication, the commodities of lodging, food, and clothing, the irresistible output of the entertainment and information industry carry with them prescribed attitudes and habits, certain intellectual and emotional reactions which bind the consumers more or less pleasantly to the producers and, through the latter, to the whole. The products indoctrinate and manipulate. They promote a false consciousness. The indoctrination becomes a way of life. Thus, emerges a pattern of one-dimensional thought and behavior.

Technology rationality reveals its political character as it becomes the great vehicle of better domination, creating a truly totalitarian universe in which society and nature, mind and body are kept in a state of permanent mobilization for the defense of this universe (p.20).  

Just as people know or feel that advertisements and political platforms must not be necessarily true or right, and yet hear and read them and even let themselves be guided by them, so they accept the traditional values and make them part of their mental equipment. Domination has its own aesthetics, and democratic domination has its democratic aesthetics. It is good that almost everyone can now have the fine arts at his fingertips, by just turning a knob on his set, or by just stepping into his drugstore. In this diffusion, however, they become cogs in a culture-machine which remakes their content.

The rulers of the world are losing their metaphysical features. Their appearance on television, at press conferences, in parliament, and at public hearings is hardly suitable for drama beyond that of the advertisement, while the consequences of their actions surpass the scope of the drama (p.74). Free election of masters does not abolish the masters of the slaves (p.10).

The established societies themselves are changing, or have already changed the basic institutions in the direction of increased planning. In Marcuse’s view the power of reason and freedom are declining in the late industrial society. With the increasing concentration and effectiveness of economic, political, and cultural controls, the opposition in all these fields has been pacified, coordinated, or liquidated. One-dimensional man means conforming to existing thought and behavior and lacking a critical dimension and a dimension of potentialities that transcend the existing society. ‘’One-dimensional man’’ has lost, or is losing, individuality, freedom, and the ability to dissent and to control one’s own destiny.

Marcuse was one of the first theorists to analyze consumer society through analyzing how consumerism, advertising, mass culture, and ideology integrate individuals into and stabilize the capitalist system. One-dimensional man does not know it’s true needs because its needs are not its own- they are administered, superimposed, and heteronomous; it is not able to resist domination, nor to act autonomously, for it identifies with public behavior and imitates an submits to the powers that be. Lacking the power of authentic self-activity, one dimensional man submits to increasingly total domination (xxviii).

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Book Review: With Our Own Hands: A Celebration of Food and Life in the Pamir mountains of Afghanistan and Tajikistan by Frederik van Oudenhoven and Jamila Haider

 

This co-authored book provides the description of the recipes of a longlist of dishes prepared in the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It also gives details of the various days of celebrations in this region. I found many interesting points in this book.

A day without Shirchoy in the Pamirs is impossible to imagine. Shirchoy isn’t from these valleys and tea cannot even be grown here. Shirchoy has become more Pamiri than most Pamiri dishes.

In the book the authors inform the reader that farmers in Tajik Rushan tell how, during the Civil War (1992-1997), foreign aid agencies promoted a high-yielding wheat variety to help prevent famine. Later they realized that they made a bad choice as the new variety rotted when placed in the field to dry and the taste was also poor. According to some people the best tasting mixed floor comes from Ghund valley in Shugnan.

One of the apple species found in the area is the ancestor of all cultivated apples in the world. Malus sieversii belongs to the Pamirs and the Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan further to the north. Other fruit trees in the region includes Walnut. The oldest Walnut tree in the Pamirs is a 700-year-old tree in the Tajik valley of Yazguliam. A group of Cuban scientists did the measurements.

Talking about the factor of dependency one farmer from Chidz says: “We became lazy because we received everything”. “We became dependent on Soviet fuel and we are still dependent today. Afghans aren’t. The war has given them an instinct for survival. They are always ready to work. They are ready for everything. When we have a problem, we go and look for a development agency and ask for help. When Afghans have a problem, they look for a development agency and ask for help. When Afghans have a problem, they look for a solution. We feel powerless, because we have become linked to a global system which is entirely out of our control. If oil prices go up, we suffer. If Moscow hits a recession, we feel it here.”

In the book there is also mention of the Haji Rehman Qul. Russian soldiers came to Haji Rahman Qul’s tent at night. He and his father were given the option of getting shot or drink poison. They preferred poison. As soon as the soldiers left the khan fetched a large bowl of yoghurt and drank from it. They vomited it up and rid their bodies of the noxious fluid.

The Amu Darya is a very fast flowing river; only the Mississippi and the Indus move more quickly. As far as irrigation is concerned many villages were quite autonomous in the way they maintained and used their water supply, but as governments, and their thirst for water, changed, so did the freedom communities had over their water. During the Soviet collectivization of land in Tajikistan, first under Lenin then under Stalin, water managements continued to be collective, but its control was taken out of the hands of the people and transferred directly to the central state. Today very few Tajik Pamiri villages have a proper system of water management at all.

This heavy book has a lot of pictures and I doubt if anyone has more encyclopedic information on the subject of food in the Pamir region of Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

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Book Review: Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Kyrgyz Republic published by UNESCO

 

This book provides brief and interesting information about the Kyrgyz way of life. It starts with the Akyns. These were the Kyrgyz epic tellers who combine singing, improvisation and musical composition. They were the figures who participated in story telling contests. The pre-eminent Kyrgyz epic is the 1000-year-old Manas trilogy which is known for its length (16 times longer the Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey). The Kyrgyz epic trilogy of Manas, Semetey and Seytek describes the unification of the scattered tribes into one nation.

The Kyrgyz population lives in yurt. Yurts are Turkic nomadic dwellings which remain the symbol of family and traditional hospitality, fundamental to the identity of the Kazakh and Kyrgyz peoples. Yurts are made from natural and renewable raw materials. Felt is also used by Kyrgyz for making items such as carpets, cloths and headwear. Sheep wool is used for felting. The Kyrgyz male headwear is Kalpak and the female one is called elechek. In the past Kalpak showed the social status of a person.

Komuz is the most popular and wide-spread string musical instrument in Kyrgyzstan. Metalworking masters are called usta or zerger. I might be a Persian word. For Kyrgyz people the most valued metal is silver, which is also as white metal. Silver is also used as an amulet against evil spirits.

The Kyrgyz have many traditional games. One of them is Besh tash, which literally means a game of five stones or group of stones). It is also mentioned in the Manas epic. Another game is Kyz kuumai, a game in which a woman rides a horse as fast as she can, while being chased by a male participant. First a man chases a woman. After reaching a certain point the woman chases the same man. If she manages to catch up with him, she whips him with a horse whip.

When a child is born, every child in the surrounding wants to be the first one who brings good news about the childbirth to other relatives. Genealogy played an important role in Kyrgyz culture, especially in choosing a partner for marriage. All Kyrgyz people must know at least seven generations of their forefathers.

Islamic Nikah is the main wedding ceremony. A cup of water is prepared for this ritual. Some sugar is added to water and sometimes a silver coin is placed at the bottom of the cup. After reciting verses from Quran, the newly-wed couple drinks water from the cup. The meaning of sharing water is that the couple agrees to live through thick and thin.

Some of the few Kyrgyz quotes are

“whoever does not know one’s forefather becomes a slave.”

 “a proverb is a father of words.”

“the one without a horse is like the one without legs.”

For food the Kyrgyz people eat lamb, beef, horse, meat, camel and yak meat. The most valued meat is lamb and horse meat. Horse meat is usually used for big celebrations. Chuchuk is a horse meat sausage which is made out of horse intestine stuffed with horse meat and fat.  Traditional Krygyz cuisine has seasonal variations. In spring and summer, most of the food is made out of fresh meat and the main beverage is Kymyz, fermented mare’s milk. Krygyz nomads use dried and jerked meat in winter. The winter beverage is bozo, a beer-like thick slightly alcoholic beverage. The main ingredients in Kyrgyz cuisine are meat, milk and flour. The youngest person goes around with a jar with water and a flat bucket and pours water to the hands of those sitting around the tablecloth.

Chuchuk, one of the main delicacies is a horse meat sausage. This is made out of horse intestine stuffed with horse meat and fat. Horse stomach, mane and boiled meat are also served as a meat plate. When Kyrgyz eat food the most respected person receives the sheep head. Gulazyk, is another meal of the Kyrgyz people. It is meat made into powder. This was done in the olden times for longer journeys. Kurut is also produced by Kyrgyz people. Kymyz- a drink made from horse, cow and camel milk. The one made out of mare’s milk is considered to be the best. Kymyz is considered to be the beverage of heroes.

This publication contains information on the intangible cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz people including traditional knowledge related to everyday life, livelihoods cultural practices as well as arts and crafts. This book could be of use to university students, scholars, tourists and the general public.

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Book Review: Cities of the Dead: The Ancestral Cemeteries of Kyrgyzstan by Nasser Rabbat, Elmira Kochumkulova and Altyn Kapalova

 

I learn from this book that the Kyrgyz territory was formally incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876. In Kyrgyz tradition the living does not visit the graves of the dead. There is a popular Kyrgyz saying that ‘a Kyrgyz is born in the yurt and will die in the yurt.’ Yurt is the traditional home of the nomadic Kyrgyz people

Due to Stalin’s sedentarization policy the Kyrgyz and the other nomadic peoples of Central Asia were forced to give up their nomadic life. While reading the book, I also came across many words in Kyrgyz language which are commonly used by other mountain societies in Central Asia. For instance, Boorsok in Krygyz language is referred to a particular type of bread. It is also used by other communities in the region.

On page seven of the book, one of the authors named Elmira says that for many Kyrgyz their ethnic identity overrides their religious identity as Muslim. Overall the hybrid nature of Kyrgyz cultural identity can be summed up in the following expression: “We are born as a Kyrgyz, we live as a Russian, but we die as an Arab.”. Furthermore, in the book I see the transition in the Gumbez structure. Gumbez is the traditional Kyrgyz burial marker.

The book has a lot of pictures and less text. The different ways in which Gumbez were constructed is shown. The most interesting thing for me is the yurt structure around the graves during the Soviet period. Metal replaced the original yurt material. This book gives me an idea of working in the change in burial rites and sites in my native district and region.

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Book Review: Being Pakistani- Society, Culture and the Arts by Raza Rumi

Being Pakistani is a compilation of articles by Raza Rumi that addresses topics related to devotion, literature, arts and personal experiences. Rumi writes about Sufis, legends related the Indus region and cult of the feminine in Sindh province. Moving on to literature, the author writes about Qurratilain Hyder, Manto, Intizar Hussain, Fehmida Riaz and Mustafa Zaidi. Rumi tries to bring out a new understanding embedded in the writing of these writers. He creates new meanings in their work, discusses their influence and also gives his personal encounters with a few of them. This also helps in introducing many of the contemporary writers to the readers.

Moreover, in the book, Rumi writes about arts. Within arts he explains the life and work of various maestros of the field. Some of the unsung heroes are also part of his list. Mehdi Hasan, Alamgir, Runa Laila and Asim Butt’s work are explained in great detail. Lastly, under personal essays Raza Rumi unveils his personal experiences of visiting Bangladesh. He traces the injustices with the people of Bangladesh and also talks about the hospitality that he receives in the country. Rumi’s life in Lahore and his love for the city are explained in the last chapter of the book.

Raza Rumi tries to reflect on the tradition and diversity of the South Asian region, and provides an alternate view in many subjects under discussion in the book.

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Book Review: The Culture and Civilization of Pakistan by Kishwar Naheed

This publication which I read today is a version translated by Amina Azfar and published by OUP. The book is written by Kishwar Naheed who wrote it in Urdu. In the prologue Kishwar describes this book as the “vindication point” in her life and for “future generations”.

The author talks about literature, language, sports, attire and geography of the different areas of Pakistan. She gives a general overview and does not delve into details. I discovered some mistakes in her book. At one point she says that in Gilgit and Hunza there are twenty-two local languages but Urdu is spoken and understood everywhere. Wacholi language, which I did not know before to have existed, is spoken in Central Sind.

At another place Kishwar mentions that: “Because of the conflict with the army and the bureaucracy, the people of East Pakistan decided to establish a country of their own”. She does not even mention Bhutto’s role in this saga. In one chapter she writes about artists and musicians from Pakistan. While discussing historical place and shrines, she mentions many of the forts, mosques and other historical sites in Pakistan. Moreover, she writes about theatre, films and food in Pakistan. In the chapter on Cuisine Kishwar says: “From Balochistan to Gilgit and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, truck drivers to tribal chiefs are in the habit of stuffing their cheeks with snuff which they keep sucking.” I believe this is a very generalized sentence and she needs to revisit it. She has skipped the majority province of Punjab.

From there on she discusses festivals, sports and dresses in Pakistan. She covers a chapter on means of communication where she discusses the old transport methods in the country and later the airline industry in Pakistan. She writes that in 1961 the Family Laws Ordinance was promulgated. Following this, women were given the right to inherit and own agricultural land. At a point in the book the author states that: “The day women get rid of their mental bondage to men and learn to make their own decisions, our culture will change.” In the next chapter the men of Pakistan are discussed, starting from the Pakistan movement and the issues of unemployment they face. On page 126 Kishwar suggests that the population of Pakistan is 400 million. I believe this figure is not accurate. Her estimations seem very random. Furthermore, in the book issues of health care, education and languages in Pakistan are discussesd. Kishwar says: “In Gilgit Baltistan people speak Balti among themselves. Sheena, Wafi, Brushaski, Khawar, and Domki are also languages of Gilgit Baltistan but they are rarely written”. This reflects her limited knowledge regarding Gilgit-Baltistan region.

Kishwar adds chapters on fruits, vegetables and canal system in Pakistan. Khishwar writes that: “At the time of partition river water was also divided, under an agreement. It is known as the Indus Water Treaty. I reckon Indus Water Treaty took place in 1960. The last chapters of the book address novelists, poets, provinces and culture in Pakistan. Reading some part of the book made me think that it was for tourists and at a later stage I thought it was written to touch over all the aspects of Pakistan in one book. Most of the times, a story narrating style is followed.

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