I want to both highlight and create a searchable bookmark here in the TPS Teachers Network for the April 18, 2024 blog post, Afghanistan Reflected in the Collections at the Library of Congress. A guest post by Iranic World Specialist (Iranic is a new word for me) Hirad Dinavari, it features beautiful photos of manuscript fragments and caligraphy, and also highlights more recent multimedia and multilingual sources.
It provides a mini-historical overview of Afghanistan, and notes:
- The African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) at the Library of Congress has been active in expanding and enhancing its collection of Afghan materials, including providing digital access to Afghan related resources. Such materials include illuminated manuscripts and a unique collection of Persian and Pashto language lithographs and early imprints from Afghanistan. Collecting Afghan materials, however, requires looking beyond sources published in native Persian (Dari) and Pashto languages. There is a plethora of sources in various languages such as in English, particularly regarding British and American involvement in Afghanistan, in Russian documenting the Soviet invasion, and Arabic and Urdu content covering religious movements and diaspora refugees in neighboring Pakistan, Iran, the region and around the world.
Check out the multimedia sources below, and consider how you might use these resources for cultural connection and what is termed "culturally sustaining pedagogy," as well as promoting strong research and inquiry skills that take advantage of home language strengths and other knowledge.
Zhvandūn : majallah-i haftagī. Volume 31, Number 49, Saturday, February 23, 1980
(Afghan Life magazine) Featuring Young Women and Men Athletes, Pre-Soviet Invasion Publication). Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division.
Digital Afghanistan:
The Afghan Media Resource Center
(A collection acquired through collaborative effort with Afghan partners featuring 1,175 hours of videotape, 94,651 black & white and color photos and slides, and 356 hours of audio recordings on 40 plus hard drives.) Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division.
(A collection of more than 420 audio recordings documenting Afghan music, folklore, and culture.) Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division.
(A collection of photographs documenting the Anglo-Afghan Wars.) Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division.
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I think students of all nations would be interested in following stories of Afghan athletes in current media. There's a real civics lesson in what has happened to Afghan athletes not only since the 1980 pre-Soviet era of the image in this post by 
Alison Noyes
, but more recently since the Taliban takeover of the government and other institutions.
Today those athletes are demonstrating courage beyond anything American athletes have experienced. For example, only last week, Afghanistan's first female Olympian called for a ban of the Summer 2024 Paris Games over the Taliban's rights record:
And in September 2023, Afghan volleyball women defied Taliban rules at the Asian games:
https://www.reuters.com/sports/displaced-afghan-women-athletes-defy-taliban-asian-games-2023-09-27/
What else can students find out? How do athletes show courage?
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