Afghan Rumour Bazaar: Secret Sub-Cultures, Hidden Worlds and the Everyday Life of the Absurd
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Nushin Arbabzadah
Hurst
224 pages, £15.95
A book that reveals the quotidian absurdities of lives framed against the backdrop of a savage war. Offering daringly new perspectives on a country readers may erroneously assume they know, Arbabzadah delves into the unacknowledged but real secret sub-cultures and hidden worlds of Afghans, from underground converts to Christianity to mysterious male cross-dressers to tales of bacha-posh girlboys. Arbabzadah reveals for the first time Afghans’ own vibrant internal deliberations—on sex and soap operas; conspiracy theories; drugs and diplomacy; terrorism and the Taliban.
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