This course begins by exploring the famous equestrian folk game of northern Afghanistan and Central Asia: its roots in nomadic Mongol culture, its evolution over the centuries, and its place in contemporary Afghan life. Film clips and photographs document its dynamism.

Anthropology reveals how, in addition to play, buzkashi serves as a celebration of ethnic heritage, a metaphor for social conflict, and an arena in which political reputations rise and fall. The course will use anthropological readings to compare buzkashi with American rodeo, Spanish bullfighting, and (a classic analysis by Clifford Geertz) cock-fighting in Bali. Participants are encouraged to read suggested articles and take part in discussions.

This course includes an introductory webcast next 13th of April:
Webcast «Buzkashi: Anthropology, Afghanistan, and the Wildest Game in the World»

Teacher:

Dr. Whitney Azoy. Scholar, author, and master story-teller, Whitney Azoy has studied and chronicled buzkashi for the past half century. His Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan, the first full-length ethnography of play ever written, has been updated in three English editions and now is available in Spanish translation. Restricted by Covid-19 to his shelf-load of field notes, he has recently published A Buzkashi Reader with ten extended stories based on first-hand experiences with the game. A former U.S. diplomat, four-time Fulbright Scholar, and retired director of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies in Kabul, Dr. Azoy will conduct this webcast from Lanzarote in Spain’s Canary Islands.

Language: English.