ATSS context Flashcards
What was Hosseini’s childhood like?
He was born in a cultivated and cosmopolitan area of Kabul to a mother who taught Persian literature and a father who worked in the foreign ministry encouraging their move to France in 1976 as he was signed to the embassy
What happened in 1980 for Hosseini?
His family applied for political asylum in the United Sates causing them to move to San Jose with no English or possessions, Khaled and his father tended a flea market with other refugees where he felt a drive to succeed
When was the kite runner released?
2003
What did Hosseini learn from his experiences as a good will envoy for the UN refugees agency?
- “Their incredible stories of survival were always with men…part of my inspiration for this novel came from their collective spirit,”
- “Their life stories were truly heartbreaking… found myself thing about those resilient women over and over,”
What position did Hosseini gain in 2006?
He became a special envoy for the UN high commissioner for refugees as sitting displaced persons in war zones but especially from Eastern Chad and Afghanistan
When was A Thousand Splendid Suns published?
May 2007
What are Hosseini’s views on women?
They are denied human rights as they are forced into marriage, imprisonment and prostitution encouraging the novel to take a femininst lens when looking at the endurance of women
What causes abasement of degradation and despair for Hosseini?
An insensitive and authoritarian patriarchal culture inside the home
What percentage of marriages were forced in Afghanistan?
80%
What is the dowry price?
10,000 Afghanis or livestock
Who were the Taliban?
A group of ethnic Pashtuns that emerged in 1994 from former Mujahedeen fighters from the Afghan civil war calling for an Islamic state. They held power from 1996-2001 and again from 2021
What were female school statistics like in 1978?
5000 female teachers in primary schools, 250,000 girls in primary schools and 60% of university students were female
Who were Pashtuns?
They spoke Pashto and made up 2/5rd of the population including Tariq and Rasheed. Most are Sunni Muslims but some were Shia. Pashtuns are more likely to be wealthy and education
What were women banned to do under the Taliban?
- Leave the house without a man
- Showing skin in public
- Involvement in politics
- Access to healthcare through male doctors
- Wash clothes in streams
- Tailor and make clothes for themselves
- Wearing makeup
What was Afghanistan like in the 1960s?
Stable with wealth and the freedom to move from place to place
What were people banned to do under the Taliban?
- Listen to music
- Shave their beards
- Keep, pictures, portraits and pigeons
- Fly kites
- Gambling
- Use of narcotics
- Having British and American hairstyles
- Have interest on loans
- Dance
- Do sorcery
- Play drums
- Not attend mandatory praying times
What did Muhammed believe?
The entire woman is an evil. And what is worse is that it is a necessary evil. Women are like cows, horses and camels for all to be ridden
What was the 2007 interview quote from Hosseini on urban rural divide?
“The real oppression of women in Afghanistan occurs in deeply tribal, conservative rural areas”
When was education made free for 5-15 year olds?
1969 and it catalysed the building of a new high school in Kabul where Dari was the standard language
What did the Taliban ban?
Girls from the age of 10 going to school and Kabul university was closed plus 70 - 80% of schools were destroyed so children were taught at home or in a mosque
What was Herat like?
- Lots of fertile agricultural land but it was densely populated
- Economic capital of Western Afghanistan
- Central government had weak control over the area
- In 1960, the Herat-Kandahor highway was built with Soviet assistance connecting it to Afghanistan
- Soviet airforce bombarded the city in 1979
- Mostly spoke Persian
- Lots of wide main streets, extensive bazaars and industries such as handicrafts, textiles weaving, cotton ginning, flour, oil seed milling and the fur trade
What percentage of Afghan girls were married by 12?
50%
What it the writing style of ATSS?
Verisimilitude, Tragedy and Bildungsroman
What was normalised?
Rape of female servants
How many wives could men take?
4
What are Tajiks?
A social group that speak Farsi/Persian which include Laila and probably Mariam due to social status and relaxed attitudes on values towards women
How young could marriage be?
11
Why were love matches less strict?
Women could choose their husband
Could wives ask for a divorce?
Yes but it had to go through court and align with the opinion of the husband
What did UN information in 2009 find?
- 1 in 3 Afghan women experienced physical, sexual and psychological violence
- 87% of women were illiterate
What was the Khaled Hosseini foundation?
It provides humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan by helping to shelter families, educate 15,000 students and expanding maternity clinic
Where does the title come from?
A poem by Saib-e-tabrizi celebrating the beauty of Kabul
What does Sharia law state?
Women who were suspected of adultery could be publicly executed or forced to marry Taliban officers. This included moral offences that caused Mariam’s execution
What happened in 1957?
Women were allowed to enter the workplace and go to university
What happened in 1973?
The Khan overthrows the last king in a military coup making the country a republic with him as president and he grants women’s rights, modernise the country and dispose opposition
What happened in 1978?
The Khan is killed in a communist coup leading to a shift towards Islamic principles in alliance with Soviet Russia
What happened in 1979?
Since the American ambassador was killed, troops were withdrawn and encouraging the soviets to invade on Christmas Eve creating a civil war between them and the Mujahedeen rebels
What happened in 1982?
2.8 million fled to Pakistan and 1.5 million fled to Iran as Afghan guerillas controlled rural areas and Soviet troops held cities
What happened in 1984?
The UN investigates reports on human rights violation in Afghanistan
What happened in 1986?
The Mujahedeen receives arms from the USA, Britain and china via Pakistan
What happened in 1989?
A peace treaty in Geneva guaranteed Afghan independence and the withdrawal on 100,000 soviet troops
What happened in 1992?
The Mujahedeen storm Kabul supported by Hezb-e-Islami’s shelling where between 1,800 and 2,500 people were killed where Najibullah becomes president as supported by the UN
What happened in 1995 -9?
- 1 million flee to Pakistan
- Drought leaves deverstated farmers and uninhabitable rural land
- Public execution of Najibullah
What happened in 1998?
Clinton attacks Afghan training camps with cruise missiles but missed the leaders
What happened in 2001?
The Northern alliance entered Kabul to end Taliban rule
What happened in 2002?
Us backed Karzai becomes the leader
What happened in 2003?
NATO takes over security in Kabul as violence is rising
What happened in 2005?
Parliamentary election took place for the first time in 30 years
What happened in 2008?
Obama gave $15 billion in aid and another 17,000 troops
What happened in August 2021?
The white house state a Taliban takeover is not inevitable leading troops to be withdrawn despite plans for them to be withdrawn in 2019 being called off however, the Taliban took control
What are the Bamiyan Buddhas?
- It used to be a fortress until it was destroyed 1000 years ago by Genghis Khan to defend the area
- The area used to be home to Buddhist monks who carved caves for living quarters as a place of sanctuary for pilgrims
- The monks painted frescoes along the walls and roofs
- The statues were carved in 6th century Afghanistan before being destroyed in 2001, they were the world’s largest buddha statues
- The Taliban purposefully destroyed them in 2001 as they didn’t reflect Islamic belief, as part of the groups’ extremists iconoclasm campaign and the use of Western money for their preservation through air-tank mines in several weeks due to their size
How does Hosseini illustrate history in the novel?
He interweaves historical facts, dates and leader’s names with the fictional narrative to show the extent in which politics has impacted every Afghan person’s life
How many marriages in Afghanistan are forced or underage?
60-80% according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission
What is an androcentric society?
A society wherein a masculine point of view is favoured to any other point of view and is placed at the centre of cultural and historical views
