This talk explores the role of American occupation in racialized self-conceptions among Kabul’s literati of the post 9/11 generation. Based on my recent research, it demonstrates that the technologies of U.S. occupation and empire – including civilian surveillance by aerial blimps, the segregation of the city between Afghans and western nationals, and the negotiation process between the U.S. and the Taliban, which excluded the Afghan civil society - contributed to a racialized self-conception of the young literati as Afghans. I seek to show that a global social structure – that of empire - effects self-conception by its local manifestations. The U.S. occupation is violent not only to the Taliban but also to the sense of self of those it is purporting to save from them: in this case highly educated liberal men and women of Kabul. This talk will specifically focus on one part of the project which explores what Afghan identity meant for the highly educated young Kabuli literati.
Image: Syeda Masood: Surveillance blimp in Kabul during American occupation of Afghanistan