Description
An innovative exploration of how colonial interventions in Afghanistan have been made possible through representations of the country as 'backward'.
About the Author
Nivi Manchanda is a senior lecturer in International Politics at Queen Mary University of London. Her research interests include postcolonial theory, histories of race and empire, and gender studies. She is co-editor of Race and Racism in International Relations: Confronting the Global Colour Line (2014) and currently serves as editor in chief of the journal Politics.
Reviews
'Theoretically deft and empirically rich, Imagining Afghanistan is a searing account of how imperial narratives facilitate 'humanitarian' interventions. Manchanda forensically dissects this orientalist imaginary forged from a large corpus of hoary cliches about states, tribes and eternal warriors, and deeply gendered portraiture of brown women in need of rescue from threatening brown men. A brilliant book.' Laleh Khalili, author of Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies
'In its secret history of the war in Afghanistan, US military officials confessed that they 'didn't have the foggiest notion' of what they 'were undertaking'. Nivi Manchanda's Imagining Afghanistan explains why not, in painstaking and painful detail.' Robert Vitalis, author of The Myths of Scarcity and Security That Haunt US Energy Policy
'Imagining Afghanistan is an important work that clearly demonstrates how terminology shapes perceptions, and also how the depiction of a country, people, and even a situation can change with the political and social vicissitudes of the day ... Highly recommended.' T. M. May, Choice
'... it allows us to look at the historical, political, and social processes around Afghanistan from a new perspective ...' Georgi Asatryan, Pacific Affairs
Book Information
ISBN 9781108811767
Author Nivi Manchanda
Format Paperback
Page Count 263
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 387g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 14mm