Education for liberation and rights: the case of Hazaras in Afghanistan

This article analyses the Hazara people’s perceptions and experiences of education as a means of liberation under oppression in Afghanistan during the 2001–2021 era. Combining the theoretical works of Paulo Freire, Johan Galtung and Pierre Bourdieu and using a critical ethnography methodology, the article argues that the Hazaras in their efforts to respond to their conditions viewed education as a crucial means of liberation. The Hazaras’ case provides an important framework to scrutinise the shifting meanings of education, explaining how education can reproduce social hierarchies, reinforce structural and symbolic violence, and become a political tool of liberation for the marginalised in the contested context of Afghanistan. The article concludes that increased access to and demand for education improved the Hazaras’ collective and individual awakening of consciousness significantly, giving them the perspective and agency to challenge discriminatory political structures and social institutions.