Talking About War

Our last post centered on comments as a means of exchange, leading up to the visit the Afghan students make to America. This week has seen a specific exchange of commentary that illuminates how casual, topical interface between students on any given subject can make way for exchanging more profound insights that prompt discussion on political, historical, moral, and philosophical issues.

Earlier in the month, an American student who maintains an active interest in military history asked the Afghan students at via the shutterfly site what their opinion was of the Taliban and the war on terrorism. The “Taliban is not just a threat for Afghanistan,” A Marefat student named Bismullah responded, “but for every nation in the world, that is why they have to be defeated, and I think this is the interest of all those who participate in the war.” He went on to argue that “war itself for tackling a group like Taliban is not wrong, but ways we selected strategies can be right or wrong and effective or not effective.” In other words, the ends justify the means—as long as the means are effective.

Bismullah’s opinion is informed by the community he belongs to. Marefat High School is made up predominantly of Hazaras, an ethnic and religious minority in Afghanistan who have suffered disproportionately under the Taliban, and would again be among the worst treated should the Taliban prevail in Afghanistan again. This is an engaging way to interpret the social, political, and cultural influences on the opinions of students in another country. That analysis can help students see how their own views are formed.

For the time being, Bismullah has posted his matter-of-fact answers to two of the most pressing contemporary political questions—one of which has been relevent for as long as mankind has been around, the other has only become an issue within the last several years. Can you justify war? And: does the Taliban constitute a threat to the international community, or is it purely a nationalistic movement, as it claims to be?

We’ll wait to see whether anyone disagrees with Bismullah’s opinions. Bismullah, for his part, hopes that someone does. “You are asking interesting questions, “he says. “Please keep asking such questions so that we can exchange ideas and views.”

The Importance of Exchange

One of the most immediately rewarding and informative aspects of Being
We, the People is the students' exchange of commentary. Though all
students have been strongly encouraged to post comments on the
Shutterfly site, they've never been obliged to by any mechanism; it's
not a requirement for completing the project, they're not graded on
comments, and there is no extra credit they might earn. Instead, when
American students have questions about Afghanistan, we've reminded them
that there is a rich resource at their disposal--their counterparts in Afghanistan-who are eager and able to answer questions. In addition to cultivating the skill and inclination to actively seek out answers, this method has helped the students develop an understanding of "human capital," the resource their partners can be to them, and they can be to their partners.

The progression in the commentary's subject and tone is informative in
its own right. As the students have become more comfortable with the
project, their comments to one another have become more substantive. At
the outset, students' comments were rarely deeper than their approval of
a given image. The teachers in both Philadelphia and Kabul encouraged
the students to begin employing the photography skills and nomenclature
they were learning to evaluate each others' images, and soon students
were posting evaluations that touched on concepts like "the rule of
thirds" "sense of moment" and "framing." As the students became
comfortable being critical of one another's work, they extended their
comments to include questions of context-about what the photographer had
wanted to say with the image, rather than merely what it looked like.

Now, it's no longer just photographs inspiring comments, but comments
inspiring photographs as well. Students are asking eachother
questions--how are people with mental disabilities cared for in your
country; how does the Taliban and the war on terrorism effect your
life?--and in so doing, inspiring eachother to go out and find or enhance
their answers. The conversations have sparked ideas of new themes, and
the students have agreed to try to take photographs of, for example,
mental health care in their respective countries, after becoming
interested in how it compares. The students are beginning to understand
the respective benefits and drawbacks of "showing" versus "telling." And
more importantly, they're learning the history and culture of another
country, as told through the eyes (and words) of that country's youth.