Mariam & Ashraf Ghani. Ashraf Ghani

      100 Notes – 100 Thoughts / 100 Notizen – 100 Gedanken

      Nº029: Mariam & Ashraf Ghani

      Afghanistan: A Lexicon

      dOCUMENTA (13), 9/6/2012 – 16/9/2012

      Artistic Director / Künstlerische Leiterin: Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

      Member of Core Agent Group, Head of Department /

      Mitglied der Agenten-Kerngruppe, Leiterin der Abteilung: Chus Martínez

      Head of Publications / Leiterin der Publikationsabteilung: Bettina Funcke

      Managing Editor / Redaktion und Lektorat: Katrin Sauerländer

      Editorial Assistant / Redaktionsassistentin: Cordelia Marten

      English Copyediting / Englisches Lektorat: Melissa Larner

      English Proofreading / Englisches Korrektorat: Sam Frank

      Graphic Design / Grafische Gestaltung: Leftloft

      Production / Verlagsherstellung: Christine Emter

      E-Book Implementation / E-Book-Produktion: LVD GmbH, Berlin

      © 2011 documenta und Museum Fridericianum Veranstaltungs-GmbH, Kassel;

      Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern; Ashraf Ghani; Mariam Ghani

      Illustrations / Abbildungen: p. / S. 1: Dar ul-Aman Palace, 2010 (detail / Detail), © Mariam Ghani; all other images: see image credits p. 47 / alle anderen Abbildungen: siehe Bildnachweis S. 47

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      Cultural Foundation

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      Mariam

      & Ashraf Ghani

      Afghanistan:

      A Lexicon*

      (*selective; associative; may include myth, speculation, and rumor as well as facts)

      Afghanistan: A Lexicon* uses the form of a lexicon to present a nonlinear narrative of twentieth-century Afghan history as a recursive loop of modernization attempts, revolts, collapses, and recoveries. The lexicon covers seventy-one terms, most illustrated by archival and original images, including: vocabulary unique to Afghan politics, like bi-tarafi, jirga, and nizamnamah; terms that have specific meanings or resonances in the Afghan context, like “infidel,” “martyr,” and spetsnaz; key players and places, from Bacha-i-Saqqao to Hizb-i-Islami and from the Bala Hissar to the Microrayan; and special entries on recurrent events and themes that form the weft and warp of the century, like constitutions, coup d’état, exile, fire, invasion, opposites, reform, unfinished, and vanishing. The lexicon begins with a close reading of the reign of King Amanullah (1919–29), whose successes and failures set the pattern for subsequent Afghan reformers. Amanullah’s influence is followed through, among other things, a series of entries linked to his Dar ul-Aman Palace and the larger plan for a “new city” of which it was a part, tracing how Dar ul-Aman shapes the spatial politics of the twentieth century—as space of exception, site of contention, prototype for future plans, and symbol of past failures.