Afghan Traditions

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
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Original Air Date: 
February 23, 2014

Not every story about Afghanistan involves guns and soldiers.  We see the country through art, poetry and games - from the ancient sport of Buzkashi to Afghanistan's famous hand-woven carpets. Also, Charles Yu on living safely in a science fictional universe.

"Buzkashi Boys" - Sam French

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

The film “Buzkashi Boys” is a coming of age story set in Afghanistan’s national sport, Buzkashi. It's a game of horse polo played with a dead goat instead of a ball. Plus, a coda from novelist Khaled Hosseini.

For Afghan weavers, the world is a carpet

Afghan carpet for sale
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Anna Badkhen spent a year in the remote Afghan village of Oqa. She got to know the master weavers, who make some of the world's most beautiful carpets.

Generations of Afghan women sharing the landay

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Afghan women are complicated. They pray, have affairs, and get mad at their children. But it seems one thing binds them — the landay. Poet and journalist Eliza Griswold went to Afghanistan in 2012 learn more about a type of poem that Afghan women have been sharing since 1700 BCE.

Length: 
10:02

Sonic Sidebar: Khaled Hosseini's "Mountains"

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
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Afghan-born writer Khaled Hosseini, author of "The Kite Runner," reads from his latest novel, "And the Mountains Echoed."

BookMark: Hanan Al-Shaykh

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
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Hanan Al-Shaykh bookmarks "Season of Migration to the North" by Tayeb Salih.

On Our Minds: Science Fictional Universe

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
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Charles Yu on quantum parenting, time travel and other science fictional paradoxes. Yu is the author of the acclaimed novel "How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe."

Extras

Background Music: The Silk Road, --Cocktails on the Planet of the Apes - The Metrolites, --Panta Rei (Max Cooper Remix), --"Tamer Animal/Other Side" by Atoms for Peace, --"Ingenue" by Atoms for Peace

Show Details 📻
Airdates
February 23, 2014
Guests: 

Sam French

Director

Anna Badkhen

Writer
annabadkhen.com

Eliza Griswold

Poet and Journalist
poetryfoundation.org
newyorker.com

Khaled Hosseini

Author
To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Hanan Al-Shaykh

Charles Yu

Author
Categories: 
Politics and History
Last modified: 
August 02, 2024