Blind Chickens & Social Animals: Creating Spaces for Afghan Women's Narratives Under the Taliban

This book investigates local female interpretations of their own situation and capures the voices and concerns of Afghan women who discuss their ideas on education, healthcare, access to information, how they spend their days, and anxieties about feeding their families. It reveals the complex heterogeneous nature of womens' position in Afghanistan today and their awakening to the wider world beyond their rural villages -- It culminates 3 years of research by interviews, project discussions and activities with women in southern Afghanistan and the refugee villages in Pakistan. --It is one of the few current books available on Afghan women.

Anna M. Pont was raised in Pakistan, and has extensive personal and professional experience of the region. She is a member of the American Association of Anthropologists and the Finnish Association of Anthropologists.

During the three years she conducted research for this study Anna Pont was employed by Mercy Corps as Community Development Specialist for Afghanistan/Pakistan. Among her responsibilities was the oversite of the curative and preventative health services provided by eight basic health units; managing, monitoring, evaluating and developing community development activities in 15 refugee villages; and managing 81 staff members.