Afghanistan and the ‘Graveyard of Empires’: Blumenberg, Under-complex Analogy and Basic Myths in International Politics (original) (raw)

Abstract

Kühn provides a concise application of Hans Blumenberg’s work on myth to analyse western interpretations of Afghanistan. In portraying historical ‘facts’ as myth, he shows how these are not false or correct but in a productive way shape our understanding by selecting what can be considered relevant and what is dismissed. Following Blumenberg, Kühn demonstrates how myths’ relative indeterminacy allows integrating incongruences, tying together historical analogies and selected real-world experiences. Myth helps structure knowledge, which Kühn illustrates by looking at the myth of Afghanistan as ‘graveyard of empires’, as ‘safe haven’ for terrorists, and fame for Afghan ‘fierce fighters’. Explaining how these myths intersect to create an image of Afghanistan taken for real, he shows how Blumenberg’s ideas can be applied to analyse contemporary politics.

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Notes

1. 1. The ‘absolutism of actuality’ is remarkably present in development policy papers. They often acknowledge the failures of the past while being unable to put forward convincing concepts departing from the ‘old ways’; thus, the hidden dynamics that turn the most benevolent of actions into their contrary remain at work (Pospisil and Kühn 2016). The absolutism of the actual case, or project, leaves no space for conceptual divergence.
2. 1. For the foundational contradiction of Christian philosophy, which is fundamentally opposed to the episodic character of metamorphoses prominently employed in (Greek) mythology, see Blumenberg (2006, 196–203).
3. 1. See, however, Bliesemann de Guevara’s (2012, 2016) work on politicians visiting intervention theatres to ‘see for themselves’ and the subsequent claims to credibility in political discourse; Bliesemann de Guevara’s notion of such visits being staged resounds military parlance for a mission environment as ‘theatre’.
4. 1. This is a result of Christian dogma being claimed as divine truths; the Christian God, revealing truth for the purpose of guidance, takes a different position than the mythical gods, which are particularistic, deficient, and unreliable. Dogma in its genealogical sense is a canon for the exclusion of heresy (Blumenberg 2006, 249).
5. 1. Transl. and emphasis F.K. (“Die Grenzlinie zwischen Mythos und Logos ist imaginär und macht es nicht zur erledigten Sache, nach dem Logos des Mythos im Abarbeiten des Absolutismus der Wirklichkeit zu fragen. Der Mythos selbst ist ein Stück hochkarätiger Arbeit des Logos.”).
6. 1. Theodor Fontane’s (2002 [1858]) ballad ‘Das Trauerspiel von Afghanistan’ [The Tragedy of Afghanistan] certainly did that for German-speaking Europe. It is disputable if his political impetus was to undermine the British Empire’s claim to power by showing that it can actually be defeated. It seems more plausible that, as correspondent in London for some years and writing 15 years after the fact, Fontane intended to demonstrate the national trauma the defeat still meant to the British public and, especially, its military elite.
7. 1. Personal conversation, former ISAF Intelligence Officer, Kabul, March 2014.
8. 1. Both are titles derived from leader or ‘king’, but do not have specific meaning beyond denominating someone with a particularly influential role in (local) society.
9. 1. Mullahs are members of the rural clergy, often illiterate but able to recite parts of the scriptures; their traditional roles of mediation and social pastoralism did not ascribe them particularly influential positions in society. Deliberate targeting in Soviet times, but also by the grown influence of military strongmen in the course of the wars, even diminished their social position. Conversely, where men were away to fight, or when radicalized Islamism took root, their teachings became more influential.

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Acknowledgements

My most sincere gratitude for support and helpful discussions on this chapter goes to Berit Bliesemann de Guevara. Also, I am grateful to the Norman Paterson School of International Relations, namely Steve Saideman, for the invitation to present parts of this research at Carleton University in Ottawa in March 2014, where Jean Daudelin and David Mendeloff provided useful insights. This trip was kindly supported by a networking grant from the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD. Michael Daxner’s ideas are, as usual, a great inspiration. Rhea Holzer, Tina Rosner, Christoph Meyn, and Jesper Nielsen supported the research at various stages. Valuable points for thinking through myth emanated from discussions at a panel jointly organised with Berit Bliesemann de Guevara at the ISA’s Annual Convention 2013 in San Francisco. All error and flaws in the argument remain, of course, my own.

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   Florian P. Kühn

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   Berit Bliesemann de Guevara

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Kühn, F.P. (2016). Afghanistan and the ‘Graveyard of Empires’: Blumenberg, Under-complex Analogy and Basic Myths in International Politics. In: Bliesemann de Guevara, B. (eds) Myth and Narrative in International Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53752-2\_8

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