Much has happened since this book first appeared, almost all of it horrific for Afghanistan. The past quarter century devastated this country more than any other on earth. No country in all history has proven more resilient. No people alive today are more worthy of admiration, respect, and support. Now available from Waveland Press as an updated Second Edition, Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan is not only the first full-scale anthropological examination of a single sport, but also a beautifully written case study about a place and a people that have been largely ignored in the social science literature. Buzkashi, perhaps the wildest game in the world and a vivid feature of Afghan life, entails the aggressive struggle of hundreds of horsemen over a mutilated calf carcass. Shortly after the first appearance of Azoy's book, the world press came to use the actual play of buzkashi in print as a metaphor for Afghan politics. Azoy's incisive analysis of Afghan political dynamics demonstrates how play and politics, ordinarily perceived as separate activities, can interpenetrate one another. Sadly but truly, buzkashi continues to prove itself to be an apt metaphor for ongoing Afghan political control and chaos. The Waveland edition includes two new chapters: "For Real (1978 2002)," which describes buzkashi as played over the past twenty years in new places by new people, and a chapter serving as a personal tribute to the author's friend and field informant.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Whitney Azoy is a great inspiration: a scholar, an adventurer, whose love of Afghanistan and Afghans--and his deep understanding of the place--runs through everything that he does." --Rory Stewart, British Member of Parliament and author of The Places In Between and The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq
"Azoy has been master of the game ever since this book was first published. Nobody can understand Afghanistan without understanding buzkashi and nobody can do that without reading Azoy. Power rests on personal reputation and performance--that is the criteria for politics in Afghanistan and for the game buzkashi which best reflects that. Azoy has brought his brilliant analytical skills to study a game through which we can decipher Afghan history, politics, and the present US occupation of that country. Over the decades, this book has held its ground amongst all the learned tomes that have been published on Afghanistan. The reason is that Azoy was the first and the best at understanding what makes the country tick--a game of the headless goat." --Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban: The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and Beyond and Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
"Buzkashi is the definitive description of this Central Asian sport in all its complexity. Although `only a game,' the strategies employed in organizing buzkashi competitions transfer so readily to Afghan politics that the book constitutes a veritable `Afghan Art of War' in which personal competition, reputation building, lavish spending, and alliance building are keys to success and survival. In this new and revised edition, Azoy's interviews with the most powerful commanders who fought Afghanistan's wars in the north demonstrate that the buzkashi model has lost none of its power in explaining today's Afghanistan." --Thomas Barfield, President of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies and author of Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History Thomas Barfield, President of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies and author of Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History
"Full of a master storyteller's love of Afghanistan, Whitney Azoy's book transcends its subject of the game of buzkashi to reach a deeper sense of today's Afghan culture where institutions no longer exist and reputations, the only currency to gain followers and political momentum, are constantly in flux. Fun, heroic, and frequently sad, the latest edition of Buzkashi provides a window of understanding on a human level into what Afghanistan has endured and become." --Ronald E. Neumann, former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, President of the American Academy of Diplomacy, and author of The Other War: Winning and Losing in Afghanistan
"This new edition of Buzkashi turns a great book into a classic. Once again we witness subtle political analysis, a mapping of the political into ritual that stays current with our daily lives, and a rendering of human passion that adds a final touch to the height of drama--the reading of a tragedy. Buzkashi, the game and the spirit, a ritual enactment of a tradition that once tied together the Euro-Asian landmass, now enters our studies and classrooms with all the majesty, human resilience, and folly our world can allow." --Frederick H. Damon, Professor of Anthropology, University of Virginia and co-editor of On the Order of Chaos: Social Anthropology and the Science of Chaos --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
"Azoy has been master of the game ever since this book was first published. Nobody can understand Afghanistan without understanding buzkashi and nobody can do that without reading Azoy. Power rests on personal reputation and performance--that is the criteria for politics in Afghanistan and for the game buzkashi which best reflects that. Azoy has brought his brilliant analytical skills to study a game through which we can decipher Afghan history, politics, and the present US occupation of that country. Over the decades, this book has held its ground amongst all the learned tomes that have been published on Afghanistan. The reason is that Azoy was the first and the best at understanding what makes the country tick--a game of the headless goat." --Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban: The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and Beyond and Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
"Buzkashi is the definitive description of this Central Asian sport in all its complexity. Although `only a game,' the strategies employed in organizing buzkashi competitions transfer so readily to Afghan politics that the book constitutes a veritable `Afghan Art of War' in which personal competition, reputation building, lavish spending, and alliance building are keys to success and survival. In this new and revised edition, Azoy's interviews with the most powerful commanders who fought Afghanistan's wars in the north demonstrate that the buzkashi model has lost none of its power in explaining today's Afghanistan." --Thomas Barfield, President of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies and author of Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History Thomas Barfield, President of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies and author of Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History
"Full of a master storyteller's love of Afghanistan, Whitney Azoy's book transcends its subject of the game of buzkashi to reach a deeper sense of today's Afghan culture where institutions no longer exist and reputations, the only currency to gain followers and political momentum, are constantly in flux. Fun, heroic, and frequently sad, the latest edition of Buzkashi provides a window of understanding on a human level into what Afghanistan has endured and become." --Ronald E. Neumann, former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, President of the American Academy of Diplomacy, and author of The Other War: Winning and Losing in Afghanistan
"This new edition of Buzkashi turns a great book into a classic. Once again we witness subtle political analysis, a mapping of the political into ritual that stays current with our daily lives, and a rendering of human passion that adds a final touch to the height of drama--the reading of a tragedy. Buzkashi, the game and the spirit, a ritual enactment of a tradition that once tied together the Euro-Asian landmass, now enters our studies and classrooms with all the majesty, human resilience, and folly our world can allow." --Frederick H. Damon, Professor of Anthropology, University of Virginia and co-editor of On the Order of Chaos: Social Anthropology and the Science of Chaos --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
From the Publisher
Titles of related interest from Waveland Press: Barth, Nomads of South Persia: The Basseri Tribe of the Khamseh Confederacy (ISBN 9780881332070) and Omidian, When Bamboo Bloom (ISBN 9781577667001).
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful and Vivid,
This review is from: Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan (2nd Edition) (Symbol and Culture) (Paperback)
Azoy describes a fascinating relationship between Afghanistan's "national sport" and its political evolution. Witty and genuine, his firsthand accounts of traditional Afghan notions of power, status and honor give the book a unique flavour. Buzkashi is short, but informative. Easy to read and enjoy, it made me want to ride like the wind, dead goat in hand, to victory and glory!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for dealing with Afghans,
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This review is from: Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan (2nd Edition) (Symbol and Culture) (Paperback)
I am a senior military advisor to the Afghan military. I found this book to be invaluable. I have shared it with fellow senior advisors and they agree of its value and wish they had read it earlier in their tour.
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