November 2006

Kabul Transit

Kabul Transit

David Edwards '70 visited Taft this fall to deliver a lecture in the Paduano Lecture series and to screen his documentary Kabul Transit. Edwards, the Carl W. Vogt '58 Professor of Anthropology at Williams College, has performed extensive scholarship in the area of cultural anthropology, focusing specifically on the intersection of politics, religion, and communication in Afghanistan.

Much of Edwards' work centers around documenting ordinary life in the midst of the social and political upheaval in resulting from the waves of political and social changes instituted by the Soviet Union and the Taliban. Edwards documentary film, Kabul Transit, explores the devastation of a city wrought by three decades of war. By following the ordinary lives of city residents, the film captures harrowing stories from the citizensŐ pasts and bright hopes for their futures.

Approximately 100 students had the opportunity to view the film, and many were moved by the images of absolute devastation and the extreme incongruity that informs modern life in the Afghani capital. Edwards discussed his anthropological work in Afghanistan in his Paduano Lecture, delivered for the entire community in a School Meeting. Students and faculty alike found the lecture illuminating, especially after reading The Kite Runner, much of which takes place in Kabul, as part of Taft's Summer Reading program.

Edwards also screened the film in late November at New York's Lincoln Center.