Set to a backdrop of conflict-driven social fragmentation, this seminar will explore the changing nature of marriage before and after the cessation of widespread violent conflict in the Central Highlands of Afghanistan.
By linking socio-economic changes to current marriage practices this presentation will argue that changing gendered and generational power relations, coupled with a changing marriage market and emerging state intervention, is resulting in more ‘love’ marriages and cases of elopement. While the ascendancy of these forms of marriage has the potential to overcome long standing social divides caused by conflict, it is in the short term also contributing to inter-group violence.
About the Speaker:
Naysan Adlparvar, a PhD student at the Institute of Development Studies, is currently preparing his thesis on emerging patterns of social change in the Central Highlands of Afghanistan. He previously worked as a researcher (Afghanistan, Iraq) and policy advisor (Jordan) for the United Nations Development Programme on poverty reduction issues. Prior to this he spent a number of years working for NGO’s in Afghanistan.