The Writing of History and the Conception of Time in the Narrative of Afghanistan

Abstract This article examines school history textbooks in Afghanistan and investigates the particular ways in which conceptualizations of temporality, history, and the use of calendars contribute toward the construction of the national narrative. It investigates three generations of history textbooks, published between 1998 and 2021 under the Islamic Emirate of the Taliban (one generation) and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (two generations), respectively. The findings show that the textbooks of the Islamic Emirate and the first-generation textbooks of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan tend toward a religious conception of time and history, while the second-generation textbooks of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan tend toward a secular progressive conception of time and history. The use of calendars in the textbooks evinces narrative and genre hybridity and ideological preferences.