Kisisi's Pidgin Language Is Not Unique

I recently began to read Perry Gilmore’s book, Kisisi (Our Language): The Story of Colin and Sadiki. It is a kind of autoethnography as well as linguistic case study and a memoir. In the prologue she tells the story of his son Colin and his playmate Sadiki, a Samburu boy in Kenya and how their unique and prosperous relationship led them to create their own private language, which was called a Swahili pidgin. She says that her book is an ethnographic exploration of young children’s ability and creativity in creating a language of their own.

In chapter three (I skipped the first two chapters, which I might return later) Gilmore discusses the role of play in her son Colin and Sadiki’s creative ways of communication. On page 37 she claims that the “play served as a space and a resource for the inventive verbal activities that generated their shared language." Gilmore goes into details how Colin and Sadiki created a lexicon for scatological artifacts, which to some degree influenced by sound play and onomatopoeia. She quotes Sutton-Smith who has suggested that play and fantasy are ground of generating new ideas that can even be used for later purposes. In the case of Colin and Sadiki, the entertainment aspect of their lives led them to linguistic invention in which the two could easily communicate.

This is interesting, but I personally didn’t find this English-Swahili-based creole something impressive or unique in a way that the author illustrates. In fact, this kind of creole is pretty common in developing countries, especially in societies with material deprivation. Further, this could happen anywhere in the world where the average household consists of at least five or six people. In such environment, rivalry among siblings are common and this is where children becomes creative. In order to compete with their siblings – even with their parents – over resources and positions, they devise new languages for communication.

I personally remember when I was very young, my brothers and I invented a language that was only apprehensible for us in the household. We were bitten a couple of times by older siblings and even by our parents for not talking the language that was spoken in the house. We were accused of speaking in the language of djinn and told us that the we would bring curse or spell hex on others.

Inventing creole was not unique to us, it was actually pretty common among children in our my village. When we were forced to quit speaking our pidgin language, we came up with a new idea. In our clique we decided to speak our native language Hazaragi (a subdialect of Farsi) backward. We became so fluent that we did not see the need to switch back to normal, but when necessary.

So, the quesiton is why children of third world countries are able to create languages of their own and children in the modern world, let’s say the Western world, are not able to be that creative?
Well, the answer is very straightforward. As I mentioned earlier, the family size matters. We were eight siblings and had nothing to do at the house except fighting all the time, but never stayed inside. We left the house at the crack of dawn and returned when it was really dark. During the day no one needed us or came after us. We used to spent most of our time playing, climbing on trees, finding foods in the nature, sometimes even stealing fruits from trees of farmers. We were out with other children in the playgrounds, on the farm and in the mountains, we were experiencing our ultimate freedom. There was no adult watching us and telling us what to do and what not to do. We had nothing but to come up with something new and language was one of them. In order to be unique and keep our schemes secret, we invented language. No one was interested in our speech and when we grew up, we gave up once and for all. It is I personally still can speak my native language backward. I tried with my sister, she was surprised.

Anyway, Gilmore’s book is interesting, especially for people who may think Colin and Sadiki’s case were unique. In fact, in the Western context, it is unique, particularly where children spent most of their time either with their parents or technological tools, and they are given very little time to spend with their peers.
I might come back to this book later.

Systematic Attacks Against Hazaras in Afghanistan

Yesterday, a suicide bomber entered into a classroom of tow-hundred students in an education center and blew himself up. The attack happened in Dashte Barchi, a predominantly Hazara area in western of Kabul. As a result, 48 people were killed and more than 70 were injured. They were all students aging from ten to eighteen, and they were all from ethnic Hazara.

This kind of attacks have been increasing against the Hazaras. The central government which is run by Ashraf Ghani, an ethnocentric leader, has done nothing to stop violence against the Hazaras, instead, he and his government have shown acceptance and enthusiasm for the Taliban  and ISIS insurgents who commit the atrocities.

Hazaras are left alone, and targets against them are even justified by the Afghan government. This BBC journalist tweet indicates that. An official of the Afghanistan's National Security Council has told him that Hazaras are Iranian spies. This is a dangerous machination to dehumanize the Hazaras and it makes them more vulnerable to systematic targets. Calling Hazaras spies of Iran is a sinister technique of othering and sub-humanization, which has been happening for the past decades. This is a clear green light to the Taliban and ISIS to target the Hazaras more than before. Such statement comes from an Afghan official who is sitting at the national security council, which is being chaired by Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani.

Foreign media organizations have failed to report on the nuances of widespread attacks on innocent Hazaras. They have been simply framing them as attacks against the Afghan civilians, and sometimes highlighted their religious belief. They have not paying attention to ethnic lines as much as it requires. The Taliban and the ISIS targets are the Hazaras, because they are different, they speak Farsi, practice Shi'ism, and they look Asian. These are inherent guilts of a minority called Hazaras whose ancestors have been Buddhists and Shamanists.

Afghan Saffron at Whole Foods

A couple of days ago, I was listening to NPR while making my breakfast. There was an interview with two American veterans in Afghanistan Keith Alaniz and Emily Miller talking about their efforts to import Saffron from Afghanistan and sell it in the United States. (Check out the their interview here). I wrote a note for myself to write something about it and today, as I was cleaning the closet, I saw the note.

This is actually for the first time an Afghan product is going to be available nationwide in the United States. Saffron is the most coveted and the most costly spice in the world  For the past decade an a half, this "red gold" spice has been given an incentive for Afghan farmers to grow as an alternative to opium poppies, which is a source of heroin.
It is exciting to hear that a high quality spice from Afghanistan is going to be found at American kitchens soon. This may provide a different image of Afghanistan and its people, other than war and violence, something that people have been used to hear.

One of the intriguing things about this product is the name of the company that carries the spice. It is called "Rumi Spice." Rumi is becoming a household name in the West and especially in the United States. Whoever came up with this name is praiseworthy.

In terms of quality, the Afghanistan's Saffron is considered the best in the world, according to the International Taste and Quality Institute in Brussels and it has been rated the best for three consecutive years. I hope the veterans' efforts bear fruit. It will definitely impact the lives of the Afghan farmers, specially the women who are mainly employed for harvesting the spice.

Contradiction: Islamic Dogma and Modern Values

There is an uproar on social media, particularly on Twitter over a video about showing how Muslims are the coolest creatures. The video was published here. Muslims activists and non-activists called out for lack of racial diversity. I, on the other hand (not as a Muslim), looked at it from a different angle and that is the issue of Muslim identity.

Why sometimes people take what a short video or article shows or says at face value is beyond understanding, albeit, this could be a way of struggle for recognition of certain groups of Muslims. Despite diverse backgrounds, Muslims, by outward appearance, try to be identified as Muslims in the West. However, coming from a particular region or belonging to a particular culture is neither necessarily representing a religious identity nor amounts to religiosity of a particular.

A video like this one does not show the real Muslims at all, it rather shows how some Muslims (from various backgrounds) have not been able to assimilate and integrate with the indigenous people and and to accept their culture in the West due to their Islamic dogma. It also shows how Muslims are willing to be segregated, find their collective and like-minded people, clinging to their ancestors' beliefs and disregard modern values.

It is impossible to overstate how incongruous the video is. In fact, in the eye of Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia, these people could be heretics and conceivably from some other Muslims' view point in the Middle East, these people do not deserve to be called Muslims at all. Creating a video to show how cool Muslims look like when men and women mingle with each other is of course great and cool, but it contradicts with the nature of Islam, which is against equality between men and women. The video clip is an indication of struggle for identity, for some; an identity that is based on dogma which is truly contradictory with modern values. 

The Head-spinning Deportment at DC Metro

A couple of days ago I had to change metro line from green to red at Fort Totten metro station. I went to upper level and looked at the schedule on the screen, which said the next train comes in 9 minutes. I stood and rested my back on the column by the a long bench where a young couple was sitting. They spoke Spanish and had a son (who could have been 7 or 8 years old) who was playing game on his father's cell phone. A moment later with hands holding his crotch, the little boy asked his mom to take him to the restroom. She was glued to her cell phone. At first she ignored, then the boy kept yelling at her mom. She said something that the boy turned to his father.
His father told him in English: "Pee!," pointing to the ground "Here! Pee here!" The little boy turned around and looked at me and turned his back as shyness manifested in his face.

I was observing this with a great surprise as the father kept yelling at his young son to pee at the station platform while the mom was holding her cell phone close to her face swiping up and down on the screen.

I was the spectator. I was watching something that was unpleasant, impulsive and irresponsible that was caused to unfold by the careless parents.

It gave me a feeling of a complete abhorrence. I couldn't resist to be the spectator and I couldn't resist the temptation of not saying something to the parents. As the father kept yelling at his son to pee on the platform, I finally decided to interrupt him. I said: "Excuse, if you let your son pee on the platform, I am going to call the police." I said it seriously and loud. Then, I looked at the train schedule which we still had another 7 minutes. I asked the parents to take their son to lower level and ask the conductor to let their son use the restroom.

The parents spoked gruffly as seem to be infuriated. Both parents, as I could see astonishment and anger in their face, looked me. Then the mom pulled out a bottle of water from her purse, emptied the water on the platform and asked her son to pull down his pants. She then shoved it to her son's crotch and asked him to pee.

I thought, well, maybe that's an alternative if you are lazy to take your son to the restroom. But much to my dismay, the situation became uglier. The mom got off the bench while holding the bottle filled with her son's urine and went to the edge of the train platform and emptied the bottle on the train track. At worst, she threw the bottle on the track.

I was left speechless as I was watching the head-spinning deportment of the crude parents.

A moment later, the train arrived and I got on the train and left the station.

What to Remember from World Cup 2018

I was very much liked to see a small nation underdog team is going to collect the trophy of FIFA World Cup in 2018, but as sheer bad luck Mario Mandzuki own goal put France ahead of Croatia and that underpinned an ominous augury of loss.

I followed the match live on my mobile phone but I couldn't watch the game live. I watched it later at night when I came from work. The Croatian players had possession of the ball for much of the game but it doesn't actually matter since we have seen the game between Russia and Spain. The Spanish players have dominated the game and played almost 80% of the ball at Russian's field, but just maintaining the ball is not enough. Spain passed the ball 1,100 times, while Russian barely completed 300 passes and it was Spain, finally, at penalty that was knocked out.

I am not an expert but I read opinions and statistics about Croatian previous matches. One thing that caught my attention was that a winning team must be ambitious to win by scoring not dragging to extra time and finally penalty, which was exactly what happened at the game between Russia and Croatia. Having that in mind and then their game with England at extra time, I was not very optimistic, but I did not lose the hope for Croatia to win this year’s World Cup.

Anyway, there is a lot to remember about this year’s FIFA World Cup. We might forget that France won the World Cup and it may not matter at all, but we will definitely remember some upsetting and exciting moments. We remember the painful knockout of the defending champion Germany by Mexico, we will remember Russia's stunning victory over Spain and we defintely will remember the remarkable rise of small-nation teams like Iceland and Croatia.

Other moments to remember is that Japan lost a winning game while 2-0 leading with less than 25 minutes but Belgium's counterattack snatched the win at last with stunning play 3-2 against Japan.

Of course the world will remember the moment when Messi missed a decisive penalty for Argentina that would bring victory against Iceland. Of course the world and the soccer lovers will remember the Cristiano Ronaldo's hat trick that did not only earned Portugal a thrilling draw against Spain, but also made history.

Finally, we all remember that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) that was used for the first time in the World Cup. Though the VAR is impressive to be used in the any soccer match, it has one serious problem: There is one person in the field to make the final decision and that's one-field referee.

An Encounter with a Protester

This afternoon, I was on my way back from the Folklife Festival at the Mall in downtown Washington DC, as I was about to cross the 12th street and Pennsylvania Ave I was flagged down by an old lady named Mary. I got off my bike and went close to her to hear what she was trying to say. She asked me where the National Portrait Gallery is. I gave her the address but our short exchange struck up an interesting conversation in which lasted a couple of minitues.

I asked her where did she come from and has she ever been to DC before. She told me that she was in DC to join the protest against Trump's policy on children's separation from their parents at the borders tomorrow on June 30. I asked her a few more questions on what exactly she thought of immigration and especially child separation and eventually what would she think of illegal immigration and as a protester what she would ask Trump to do. She did not have much to say but her final words were "I am here to protest against Trump," "He is not my president and I don't like him." I asked her whether she reads the newspapers, she said, she doesn't trust the newspaper any longer.

Mary has travelled from Denver Colorado at the behest of her daughter who is an attorney in Washington DC.  She told me that her daughter called her to come to DC and join her for a protest tomorrow.

As we separated, I started thinking about the expenses of her flight that could be spent on children's shelters and children's education, perhaps, to those children who are now separated from their families at the border. And of course I thought of Mary's lack of recognition and understanding why she was going to protest besides frustration and anger which is now becoming inherent in liberals. It is this anger, frustration, and ignorance that now play a big role in creating a big rift between right and left. The result of this gap is the rise of populism on both sides, which eventually could be a backlash to democracy and liberal values.

Feeling Absurd

Absurdity doesn't go away, it has recently been persistent in numerous ways. I began to think if it is in fact the existence itself that perpetuates the absurdity. One may wonder weather it is an entity that operates within the sphere of life and if so, wouldn't it be proper to say life is absurd?

Feeling absurd is just like you become part of it. It carries you from one level to another, it passes through your judgement, it blurs the path which you go through, lest you find the trace. You are thrown into an opaque world. You are absurd.

The landscape that absurdity occupies is not minatory, you are not being thrown into a hostile state, it is rather a placid tedium not known to you. Absurdity is a liminal world, albeit not in spiritual sense or something that would include ritual. The climate of absurd world is desolate, dolorous and inescapable. It forces itself into you to do away with your desire to live. Such is the state that I am thrown in.

This is an undated note which I found in my notebook. I thought I should post it here. It reminds me of the Myth of Sisyphus that I read a couple of years ago.

From the University of Arkansas

In regards to my previous blog post on Bahar Jalali's racist tweet, today, I received the following e-mail from the University of Arkansas saying that Bahar Jalali does not work in their institution. 

The University of Arkansas was contacted by a reader of your blog, http://www.afghanlord.org/2017/09/bahar-jalali-afghan-educator-or-racist.html regarding Bahar Jalali. There is no employee on our campus named Bahar Jalali, so to refer your readers to Dean Michael Miller isn't useful to your cause. If you could please correct this on your blog, I would be most appreciative.

Thank you,
Laura Jacobs
associate vice chancellor

The information is corrected in my previous blog post. I would like to ask the readers of this blog that please do not contact the university anymore. I am sorry that I misinformed you. Bahar Jalali has probably worked their before but not anymore. She may have forgotten to update her Linkedin profile, which says that she currently works there. 

Bahar Jalali: An Educator or a Racist?

Bahar Jalali is a well-educated Afghan-American woman. According to her Linkedin profile, she has received her MA from the University of Chicago and studied her doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley. She has taught at American University of Afghanistan for six years.

I was hoping that those Afghans who grew up in the West have skipped the inherited hatred of the Hazaras, but it turns out that I have been wrong. Here it is an evidence from an American born Afghan woman:

What makes Bahar Jalali, an American born Afghan to harbor such hatred towards the Hazaras who have been persecuted throughout the history? She says that the Hazaras should leave Afghanistan. That is exactly what the Taliban wanted almost two decades ago.

In November 1998, when the Taliban force took over the city of Mazar-e Sharif for the second time, the Taliban/Pashtun governor of Balkh, Mullah Manan Niazi, announced that the Hazaras are infidels and killing them is not a sin. Niazi then gave Hazaras three options: convert to Sunni Islam, leave the country, or die.

It is surprising to read such a racist tweet by an Afghan-American woman regarding the Hazaras who have been oppressed by her people for centuries. She must know better than anyone else what the Hazaras have been through. I can't help but to surmise that she has is a racist and she hates the Hazaras; the same people who have been working hard to rebuild the country. The sons and daughters of the same people whom she hates serve in army and police. In fact, when Jalili worked at American University of Afghanistan, the Hazaras have been protecting her from danger. The Hazaras were security guards at the compound where she held her classes.

I might write another blog post on this, but for now what can be done about it? What would you do to help her learn that she must take responsibility for her actions?
Remember she is an American citizen and she lives and works in the US.

Stories of Eclipse from Around the World

Wouldn't be interesting if stories and reactions of people regarding the eclipse collected from around the world?

That would a fascinating work because it would not only be entertaining but also enlightening and informative. People will learn about different culture and people's myths regarding the eclipse. It would also tell us about the world view of particular culture influenced by religions and traditions. I guess this would be an anthropological project for, perhaps, a Ph.D. candidate or anyone else who would be interested in folk culture and myths.

If I do this project, I would start from my father. He used to tell us stories that earth is on a giant horn of an ox. But the weight on its long horn of the ox causes its neck to hurt or ache. And that is when the earth quake happens when the ox is changing the burden from one horn to another.

When the eclipse happened, he blamed it on people's sin that evaporates like cloud in the air and rise up until it reaches the solar or moon and finally covers it. Maybe most of the stories would narrate in similar fashion, but I'm doubtful that a person in Africa or South America would think the same way that my father does. It would definitely be different and collecting stories of such myth is worth it.

Professor: Jesus Made the Eclipse

This man believes that Eclipse is Jesus's work. He said, he's a professor.

On Monday, August 21, more than 20,000 spectators gathered at Sanford Stadium on the University of Georgia campus for a "Blackout Eclipse Watch Party." (You can see some photos here.) When the eclipse was over and everyone was trying to make their way through throngs of people towards open areas, some encountered unexpected scenes. 

There were some individuals, like this person, who were preaching the gospel to the students. This person in the picture believed that Jesus made the eclipse. I approached him and made a tongue-in-cheek comment: "Hey, saying such thing that Jesus made the eclipse on a university campus is insulting to human intelligence," in which he answered: "Oh you are insulting me, sir!" He was obviously serious, but I was not. I left. Some students stopped by and took selfie while joking and laughing. 

This man reminded me of my father. Just a reminder for those of you who visit this blog for the first time and read this post, I was born in a far-flung village in central highlands of Afghanistan known Hazarajat. 

Every time there was a solar or lunar eclipse, my father used to tell us that it is the work of God. He used to ask us to read the Qur'an, (I used to joke with my brother that how terrifying verses of the Qur'an would be to stop God from what he likes to do) loud enough that can be heard across the planet. He himself used to weep while standing upright in front our house or sometimes on the roof for supplication. He was sad and made us sad, but we were sad because our dad was sad, not because of lunar eclipse. We had no idea what that was. Our sadness also had another element. When my father was sad, he would get irritable and difficult. We had avoid engaging with him in any sort of conversation. He would become unpredictable and that was not good. So, when the eclipse was happening, one could read from my father's face that the world was ending and we had to be careful not to contribute to it.

Yes, I grew up with such myths, that God does such and such and if you do wrong you go to hell and if you do right, you go to heaven. My father is an illiterate peasant. He can't read and can't write. But when I encounter someone blaming the eclipse on human sin and says he's a professor, I feel hopeless and sad, not for the society, but for that individual person who still lives in the dark.

Trump's New Strategy, a New Hope for Afghans

Tonight, President Trump, announced his long-awaited strategy on Afghanistan. He vowed to work with Afghan government, to increase the number of troops and most importantly, to pressure Pakistan into ending harboring terrorist networks in its land. Trump's new strategy will ignite hope across Afghanistan, especially among young Afghans.

Factually, this speech was by far one of the most important of Trump's speeches both historically and geopolitically. It is true that Pakistan is the nest for all sort of terrorist networks. Surprisingly, these terrorist networks are controlled and administrated by the Pakistani intelligence service ISI and the army. We all know that the ISI was complicit in harboring Bin Laden for years and we also know that the 2008-Mumbai attacks were carried out by the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist network based in Pakistan. Trump has put his finger on the pulse of the problem in Afghanistan. That is that the Pakistan must end its support for the Taliban.

Trump's words tonight will reverberate across Afghanistan, especially among the youth. The exodus of Afghan refugees to Europe since 2014 was as a result of U.S. troops drawdown by the Obama administration. It was a mistake. Obama's speech in 2014 on troops drawdown like a bolt of thunder among Afghan people, especially the young ones. It left them weakened and terrified because in the absence of U.S. presence, the Taliban can run over the capital overnight. Currently, Afghan security forces are so ill-equipped and inadequately trained to take over the country's security.

However, Trump did not specify how many troops he will send to Afghanistan. Nevertheless, whatever number it would, it will boast the morale of Afghan government, its security forces and most importantly it will diminish the fear of living under stress and threats from the Taliban among Afghan people.

Finally, this new strategy will also ease the anxiety of U.S. ally, especially some of European countries that are being inundated with Afghan refugees. Trump's speech tonight was a promise that the U.S. will not leave Afghan people alone. Any troop surge on Afghanistan will enhance security and Afghans would be reluctant taking long and perilous journey to Europe. 

Solar Eclipse in Athens, GA

In a few minutes, we will have a complete solar eclipse in Georgia. A a few minutes ago, I was sitting outside the Journalism Department preparing for my tomorrow's class. A little girl who was playing at the lawn came to me and asked me if I need eclipse glasses. I said yes and thanked her. She was jolly and sprang back to her mom across the lawn. A minuter later she returned with a pair of eclipse glasses.

This reminded me of my childhood in far the far-flung of the central highlands of Afghanistan. I remember we had a few solar eclipse and moon eclipse in our village. It was different. We were told that our sin has blurred the sun or the moon. We felt guilty. So we had to go through various rituals of repentance and when the eclipse was over, we were relieved. We believed that our prayers helped the eclipse go away. I will write more on the eclipse in another post, but here is a photo of me prepared for the eclipse. I'm excited to watch the nature's beautiful event. I must stop this line here otherwise I miss the eclipse.

There were more than 20,000 spectators at Sanford Stadium at UGA

I hate to take selfie but well, this time I loved it @ Sanford Stadium at UGA

How do You Feel When Strangers Touch Your Hair?

Yesterday, I took a stroll in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. On my way out from the Silver Spring library, on Wayne Avenue, a group of African-American teenagers was walking towards me. I was not paying attention much as I was approaching them. Then suddenly one of them who looked a tad lanky moved towards me and said: "How you doin?" "Fine," I said. Then the same person touched my hair and in a funny tone he said: "Nice hair." I said thank you. His friends laughed gleefully.  I think there were maybe five or six of them. 

I don't know what they had in mind and why one of them took his courage in both hands to touch my hair. I was quite amused, honestly. I was a bit in hurry otherwise I would ask them why they touched my hair. As I kept walking, I began thinking that maybe these kids had something else in mind. I have heard that sometimes African-Americans are annoyed by white people when they touch their hair, which I don't know why, maybe out of curiosity. I was wondering if this kid was taking vengeance. After all I am not a Caucasian, my features resemble Asian. Anyway, I was amused by their loopy behavior.