Mataluna

"For a Pashtun, the world is a dangerous place. . . . To negotiate such a world, a man or woman needs wise words. . . . Pashto proverbs provide critical lessons about faith and honor, human nature and relationships, friends and enemies, power and revenge, in short, how to live in a society that is at once fragrant with friendship, fraught with ambiguities, and seared by treachery." You are invited to look into the world of the Pashtun through the pages of Rohi Mataluna: Pashto Proverbs. This selection of 1,350 Pashto proverbs (mataluna) from the mountainous (rohi) Afghan borderlands, with English translation and cultural annotations, aims to preserve some of the original flavor of an oral literature that reflects a traditional culture now facing turmoil and inevitable change. This second edition has been completely updated, revised, and expanded with new material, while taking care to preserve and honor the original work of the first edition. It includes: -- Cultural background and context of the Afghan frontier -- Explanations of key words and concepts -- Examples of the use of texts in social situations -- Observations on the form and structure of proverbs -- Parallel and variant texts -- Background stories -- Index of key words, persons, and places This book will appeal to readers and students of Pashto and English, to scholars and tourists, to anthropologists and folklorists, and to all those interested in learning more about the Pashtun people of the Afghan frontier.

This book collects 43 regular papers received from 18 countries that present innovative advances in intelligent and distributed computing, encompassing both architectural and algorithmic results related to these fields. Significant attention is given to new models, techniques, and applications for distributed intelligent architectures and high-performance architectures, machine learning techniques, Internet of Things, blockchain, intelligent transport systems, data analytics, trust and reputation systems, and many others. The book includes the peer-reviewed proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Intelligent Distributed Computing (IDC 2021), which was held in online mode due to the COVSARS2 pandemic situation, during September 16–18, 2021. The IDC 2021 event included sessions on Internet of Things, data analytics, machine learning, multi-agent systems, algorithms, future intelligent transport solutions, blockchain, intelligent distributed computing for cyber-physical security, and security and trust and reputation in intelligent environments.

A new History of Persian Literature in 18 Volumes. Persian literature is the jewel in the crown of Persian culture. It has profoundly influenced the literatures of Ottoman Turkey, Muslim India and Turkic Central Asia and been a source of inspiration for Goethe, Emerson, Matthew Arnold and Jorge Luis Borges among others. Yet Persian literature has never received the attention it truly deserves. A History of Persian Literature answers this need and offers a new, comprehensive and detailed history of its subject. This 18-volume, authoritative survey reflects the stature and significance of Persian literature as the single most important accomplishment of the Iranian experience. It includes extensive, revealing examples with contributions by prominent scholars who bring a fresh critical approach to bear on this important topic. This companion volume deals with two of the most under-researched areas of study in the Modern Iranian field: the Persian oral and popular literature of Iran, Tajikistan and Persian-speaking Afghanistan on the one hand; and the written and oral literatures of the Kurds, Pashtuns, Baloch and Ossetians on the other.

The paper in this volume are organized in three parts: scriptural, contextual and theological. The central question being addressed is: how do Christians living in contexts, where Islam is a majority or minority religion, experience, express or think of the Cross? This is, therefore, an exercise in listening. As the contexts from where these engagements arise are varied, the papers in drawing scriptural, contextual and theological reflections offer a cross-section of Christian thinking about Jesus and the Cross.

‘The Pashtun Tribes of Afghanistan is a tour de force – combining erudite analysis, historical research, atmospheric story-telling, page-turning prose and above all, profound passion.’ - Sir Nicholas Kay, NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan (2019-2020) & British Ambassador to Afghanistan (2017-2019) The abrupt withdrawal of US and NATO forces in 2021 ushered in a new era for Afghanistan. The subsequent Taliban takeover facilitated a reversion to some of the worst hallmarks of Afghanistan’s past, including bans on women’s education and other rights-related roll-backs. Navigating this new reality necessitates that more constructive relationships are built between Westerners and Afghans, particularly with the majority ethnicity – the Pashtun tribes. The Pashtun Tribes in Afghanistan: Wolves Among Men is the toolkit for doing so. It provides the knowledge needed to navigate a complex tribal environment. Framed by first-hand experience and balancing in-depth analysis with engaging anecdotes, it sheds light on the Pashtun way of life still enshrined in the ancient “Pashtunwali” honor code. It explains the tribal structure, tribal territories, historic battles, prominent figures and even Pashtun proverbs and poets. It also highlights how recent wars are destroying the tribal arena. Focusing on people rather than politics, this book unveils the layers, paradoxes and subtleties of the world’s largest tribal society. On turning the final page, readers will understand the Pashtun brand of tribalism and how it influences Afghanistan today. They will be aware that tribal life has been permanently challenged but that the Pashtun identity remains intact – in psychology if not always in practice. They will recognize why Pashtuns are not a single entity and should not be treated as “one”. The need to understand the tribes as they understand themselves will also be clear, particularly their concept of honor. This book illuminates why, from Alexander the Great to Winston Churchill, and even with the Taliban today, Pashtuns are still stereotyped as primitive, violence-prone barbarians. But were men like Rudyard Kipling right to characterize tribesmen as being “as unaccountable as the grey Wolf, who is his blood brother?” This book has the answer.

In this book, The Boundaries of Afghans’ Political Imagination, the author seeks an answer to the question of how tradition, specifically its normative-axiological aspects, shapes the political attitudes and actions of the Afghans. The author points to two different concepts of social order which are moulded by the Pashtunwali: on the one hand, a tribal code which is part of Pashto language tradition; and on the other hand, by Sufism, the religious and philosophical current in Islam expressed mainly in the Dari (Persian) language. The two systems offer a different hierarchy of values, and organize social reality by referring to two different models of order: the circle and the pyramid. While making an in-depth analysis of the topic, the author asserts that the social organization of the Pashtuns is based on the principle of representation and consensus. Tribalism is shaped in the structure of a circle, in which a group is the fundamental category. Where tribal structure no longer performs its regulatory and organizational functions, the pattern of social order is offered by the Sufi Brotherhoods, which had long been very popular and powerful in this part of Asia. The hierarchical organization of Sufism, based on a disciple-master relationship and the principle of authoritarianism, gradually established the structure of the pyramid as a model of social order, and also of political order. Religious Sufi Brotherhoods became the most accessible leadership pattern, besides the tribal one, to be fixed in the Afghans’ social imagination. This analysis from the perspective of sociocultural and political anthropology will be indispensable for those interested in Afghan and Islamic societies.

Temples are the most prestigious buildings in the urban landscape of ancient Italy, emerging within a network of centres of the then-known Mediterranean world. Notwithstanding the fragmentary condition of the buildings’ remains, these monuments – and especially their richly decorated roofs – are crucial sources of information on the constitution of political, social and craft identities, acting as agents in displaying the meaning of images. The subject of this volume is thematic and includes material from the Eastern Mediterranean (including Greece and Turkey). Contributors discuss the network between patron elites and specialized craft communities that were responsible for the sophisticated terracotta decoration of temples in Italy between 600 and 100 BC, focusing on the mobility of craft people and craft traditions and techniques, asking how images, iconographies, practices and materials can be used to explain the organization of ancient production, distribution and consumption. Special attention has been given to relations with the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece and Anatolia). Investigating craft communities, workshop organizations and networks has never been thoroughly undertaken for this period and region, nor for this exceptionally rich category of materials, or for the craftspeople producing the architectural terracottas. Papers in this volume aim to improve our understanding of roof production and construction in this period, to reveal relationships between main production centres, and to study the possible influences of immigrant craftspeople.