Helmand Baluch - A Native Ethnography of the People of Southwest Afghanistan

In the 1970s, in his capacity as government representative from the Afghan Institute of Archaeology, Ghulam Rahman Amiri accompanied a joint Afghan-US archaeological mission to the Sistan region of southwest Afghanistan. The results of his work were published in Farsi as a descriptive ethnographic monograph. The Helmand Baluch is the first English translation of Amiri's extraordinary encounters. This rich ethnography describes the cultural, political, and economic systems of the Baluch people living in the lower Helmand River Valley of Afghanistan. It is an area that has received little study since the early 20th Century, yet is a region with a remarkable history in one of the most volatile territories in the world.

List of contents

Download Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Editors' Foreword

William B. Trousdale and Mitchell Allen

Note on Translation and Transliteration

William B. Trousdale

About the Author

Babrak Amiri

About the Editors

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1. History of Sistan

Chapter 2. Geography of the Helmand Basin

Chapter 3. Agricultural and Pastoral Production

Chapter 4. Crafts, Trade, and Travel

Chapter 5. Labor and Family Relationships

Chapter 6. Education, Health, Religion, and Cultural Norms

Conclusions

Afterword: The Helmand Baluch and Native Ethnography

Mitchell Allen

Appendix A: Tribes of the Lower Helmand Valley

Appendix B: Climate Data from Zaranj and Deshu Meteorological Station

Appendix C: Monthly Water Flows at Charburjak Station

Glossary

References

Index

About the author

Ghulam Rahman Amiri, a historian at Kabul University, served as Director of the Training Center for the Department of Civil Aviation of Afghanistan and was then an academic member of the Kabul Museum.  After the Soviet invasion of 1979, he was elevated to the role of Minister of Tourism for Afghanistan.  Several years later, he ran afoul of government policies, was jailed, then forced to flee to India. Amiri eventually emigrated to Denmark, where he passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) in 2003.

Summary

This volume, the first English translation, describes the cultural, political, and economic systems of the Baluch people living in the lower Helmand River Valley of Afghanistan.

Product details

• Authors: Ghulam Rahman Amiri
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.11.2020
• EAN: 9781800730427
• ISBN: 978-1-80073-042-7
• No. of pages: 264
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Afghanistan, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social groups, Archaeology, Social and cultural anthropology, Social groups, communities and identities