historical narratives

This paper investigates the intricacies of crafting historical narratives within secondary school textbooks in Afghanistan throughout the past century. Employing critical discourse analysis, the study scrutinizes five compelling examples illuminating the complex interplay between historiography, political ideologies, and artistic subjectivity in shaping students’ conception of national identity. The first case centers on the invention of fictional historical figures like Amir Kror that link Afghan lineage to powerful dynasties, but lack scholarly rigor and threaten social cohesion. Second, the analysis explores identity distortions woven into textbook images that portray figures like Genghis Khan with distinctly Afghan features, blurring historical accuracy. Third, it highlights methodological limitations and potential regional biases that cloud academic debates on the origins of dynasties like the Kartids. Fourth, the construction of demographic averages regarding ethnicity and religion without empirical basis raises concerns about perpetuating damaging stereotypes. Finally, the ubiquitous name “Afghanistan” itself reveals imbalanced emphases on particular eras, shaping modern conceptions of nationhood. Collectively, these five examples underscore the need for responsible scholarship and factual precision in history education to foster authentic engagement with Afghanistan’s rich and diverse heritage. As the curriculum shapes students’ notions of identity and selfhood, commitment to academic accountability and balanced historiography becomes essential to nurturing inclusive discourse and national cohesion.

The Middle East has witnessed many identity conflicts and rising violent extremist groups after 2003. The most prominent one has been the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has come to the sphere of politics, in the post Arab Spring era. The goal of this paper is to examine the roots of the emergence of violent extremist groups, principally with reference to ISIS rising in Iraq. To do this authors propose “the four-dimensional thick recognition” model that consists of four concepts i.e., 1) historical narratives, 2) self-esteem 3) ontological security, and 4) hubristic identity. This model highlights that historical narratives of conflict, along with lack of self-esteem leads to feeling of ontological insecurity. This, in turn, leads to a kind of hubristic identity crisis, which often paves the way through struggle for regaining it. By content analysis of major texts published by the ISIS through two major magazines, namely Dabiq and Rumiyah, we try to demonstrate how the rise of ISIS was rooted in the issue of thick recognition failure. The paper concludes that thick recognition failure in these four phases, led to the establishment of violent extremist groups particularly in regions with memories of conflict.