Crafting Masculine Selves: Culture, War, and Psychodynamics in Afghanistan

by Andrea Chiovenda

Overview

Against the backdrop of four decades of continuous conflict in Afghanistan, the Pashtun male protagonists of this book carry out their daily effort to internally negotiate, adjust (if at all), and respond to the very strict cultural norms and rules of masculinity that their androcentric social environment enjoins on them. Yet, in a widespread context of war, displacement, relocation, and social violence, cultural expectations and stringent tenets on how to comport oneself as a "real man" have a profound impact on the psychological equilibrium and emotional dynamics of these individuals. This book is a close investigation into these private and at times contradictory aspects of subjectivity. Stemming from five years of research in a southeastern province of Afghanistan, it presents a long-term, psychodynamic engagement with a select group of male Pashtun individuals, which results in a multilayered dive not only into their inner lives, but also into the cultural and social environment in which they live and develop. Behind the screen of what often seems like outward conformity, Andrea Chiovenda is able to point to areas of strong inner conflict, ambivalence, and rebellion, which in turn will serve as the seeds for cultural and social change. These dynamics play out in a setting in which what was considered legitimate and justifiable violence on the battlefield has now spilled over into everyday life, even among non-combatants.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190073558
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/18/2019
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Andrea Chiovenda is a post-doctoral research associate in the department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and an affiliated faculty member at Emerson College, Boston. He received his PhD in anthropology from Boston University, and his doctoral fieldwork was carried out in Afghanistan, where he investigated the psychological impact of strict cultural idioms and norms of masculinity among Afghan Pashtun men. His new, ongoing ethnographic project is taking place in Greece, where he is studying the psychological consequences of displacement and migration among Afghan refugees.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Historical and Ethnographic Background
Chapter 2: Rohullah - Shifting Subjectivities, and the Crafting of a Private Masculinity
Chapter 3: Umar - The Making, and Un-making, of a Religious Militant
Chapter 4: Baryalay - Between Cultural and Personal Representational Worlds
Chapter 5: Rahmat - The Dilemmas of a "Perfect" Pashtun
Chapter 6: Between What "Was" and What "Is": Four Tales of Development and Growth
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Because of my experience in Afghanistan, I would recommend Crafting Masculine Selves for those working in or returning from the region. ... In a political science or international relations course, Crafting Masculine Selves could be challenging because it is rooted in a very different academic discipline. The perspective and insights are worth the challenge." — Alisa Stack, Terrorism and Political Violence

"[T]he current anthropological interest in person-centered ethnography, the study of subjectivity, and the anthropology of suffering offers a new point of contact with current psychoanalytic thinking and gives renewed life to the field of psychoanalytic anthropology." — Robert A. Paul, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

"Crafting Masculine Selves demonstrates how ethnographic method can be expanded to include interdisciplinary expertise, while remaining critical of the knowledge production processes that undergird this expertise. ... This in itself is a significant contribution to the critical processes of how we develop analytical frameworks and expertise practices in academic disciplines." — Sonia Ahsan, Iranian Studies

"This book offers a remarkable glimpse into the psychological lives of individual Pashtun men, achieving everyday masculinity at a time of extraordinary violence in Afghanistan. The book reframes our understanding of both Pashtun masculinity and the place of psychoanalytic interpretation in the practice of person-centered ethnography. A rare achievement pointing to new directions for psychological anthropology." — Byron Good, Harvard University

"One of the most compelling examples of person-centered ethnography in recent years. Chiovenda uses his background in anthropology, psychoanalysis, and military culture and ethos to illuminate intimate aspects of the development and performance of masculinity in contemporary Afghanistan. An important contribution to the emerging study of cultural psychodynamics." — Douglas Hollan, University of California, Los Angeles

"Enthralling ethnographic investigation of prolonged conflict and psychological dynamics when trained on masculinity. Essential reading for scholars of psychological life, psychoanalysis, and cultural meaning." — Janis H. Jenkins, author of Extraordinary Conditions: Culture and Experience in Mental Illness

"Crafting Masculine Selves is a tour de force: Andrea Chiovenda provides psychodynamically sophisticated portraits of Pashtun men as they behave aggressively or avoid aggression in reaction to their community environments. There are unprecedented insights in this book." — Robert A. LeVine, Harvard University

"In this impressive and challenging study, Andrea Chiovenda draws on extensive dialogues with a range of Pashtun men in Afghanistan to show how alternative masculine identities are constructed and transformed within their violent cultural and political milieu. His book not only gives the reader a deep understanding of the vicissitudes of masculinity in Afghanistan, it also provides a much-needed new paradigm for integrating contemporary psychoanalytic theory with ethnographic practice. It has the potential to be a game-changer for both fields." — Charles Lindholm, Boston University

From the Publisher