Radios in Afghanistan: The Biography of a Commodity

Mass media and its paraphernalia are compilations of objects as well as various experiences, symbols, messages, and motivations. Debra Spitulnik writes that “Mass media… [is] at once artifacts, experiences, practices, and processes. They are economically and politically driven, linked to developments in science and technology, and like most domains of human life, their existence is inextricably bound up with the use of language” (Spitulnik, 293). Subsequently, in order to analyze an object of mass media, such as the radio, the object must be discussed in terms of its value, the way it shapes its social context and, conversely, how its social context shapes it, as well as how it conveys information to its particular audience. In the example of radios in Afghanistan, the radio is understood as a conduit of mass media as well as a commoditized object in a chronically impoverished country. The presence of radios in Afghanistan shapes local concepts of commoditization, notions of social status, and ideas about political obligations in interesting ways. As conduits for information as well as tangible symbols of economic “achievement,” radios have come to represent modernity, connectedness with the world, and a way for poor and marginalized people to enact agency through self-educating and informing. First and foremost, however, the physical nature of the radio as an object within the domestic sphere is symbolic of people’s ability to participate in the exchange and appropriation of commodities. In a social context of oppression and poverty under the Taliban regime, participating in commodity exchange is a way for people to maintain agency, represent their socio-economic status, and acquire assets that they may later sell in order to purchase food, medicine, or other essentials.

Understanding radios as commodities in Afghanistan means thinking about them in a context of oppression, poverty, and limited social and political agency. A family’s possession of a radio, as well as other commoditized objects—particularly those associated with modernity—symbolizes that family’s economic status by implying their ability to acquire as well as maintain the object, through purchasing batteries and occasional repairs. Cited by Andrews Skuse, Stallybrass discusses the British’s accumulation of wealth in the 19th century as being “not stored as money in banks but as things in the house” (Skuse, 124). Similarly, Afghanis marked their economic status through the acquisition of material objects, despite the fact that these objects may be sold later in times of economic crisis. Therefore, even after a family buys a radio, that radio never fully relinquishes its status as a commodity, as it is always understood as a resalable object (Kopytoff, 64).

Because radios are always considered resalable objects, concepts about their life spans are relatively unconventional. Kopytoff explains the life span of most objects as linear, with a beginning, use life, and “death,” that occurs over an expected span of time. Because radios are constantly being exchanged, Skuse describes their life spans as a more cyclical process, with ambiguous markers for the beginning and end of their life spans. The “death” of a radio in Afghanistan is a particularly complex concept because of two circumstances. The first is the continued circulation of radios through systems of exchange, even if the radio is disassembled in order for the individual parts to be sold. This dynamic perpetuates the radio’s use life by reducing it to its physicality and then using it to “enliven” other radios (Skuse, 124). The second complication in understanding the “death” of a radio is the customary display of the radio within the household even after the radio stops working: “Even when in a state of disrepair radios often retain their pivotal domestic positioning… and though not enlivened in the physical and electrical sense, they remain enlivened in a symbolic sense” (Skuse, 131). In this case, the symbolic worth of a radio, including its connotations of modernity, information, agency, economic capabilities, and social status are deeply ingrained in the object itself rather than in its broadcasting functions.

The symbolic importance of the radio’s physical presence can be seen in other aspects of maintenance and use. Most households give the radio a place of honor within either their family living room or hujra, which is a male guest house that is “the most common ‘public’ and therefore ‘male’ contexts of radio listening in rural areas” (Skuse, 135). The radio itself may be decorated with various patterns woven by the women of the house, but the space around the radio is often decorated as well, with weavings, fake flowers, or photographs and posters. Also, if radios are powered by large external batteries, such as those taken from trucks or cars, the family will bestow a visible place in the room on the battery, and may also decorate it as a prestigious object. Along with the decorations, household radios are also commonly covered in protective plastic sheets or woven blankets in order to keep them looking new. While these efforts are enacted mainly to ensure the radio’s resalability, it is also a sign of the symbolic importance inherent in the physicality of the radio.

Along with the physical caring for and maintenance of radios, their physical presence also serves to mark dominant social ideologies, particularly those on gender and politics. Gender segregation and inequality in Afghani society, which is most obvious in rural communities, can often be seen in decisions made about the family radio. Primarily, the male head of the house will decide when to purchase or sell a radio, how often the radio may be listened to and for how long, and which broadcasts will be listened to. Many of the decisions made about the family radio concern the conservation of the batteries, which are often too expensive for families to buy: “the essential income per person required for survival in Kabul is Afs. 140,000 (£4.48),” although families living in impoverished areas often live off significantly smaller incomes (Skuse, 126). With each battery costing Afs. 2500, or £0.08, batteries are items that require conservative use. Despite the radio existing as an object of the domestic sphere, and therefore the female sphere, men control it as a “technological” and economical object, thereby serving as a marker of gendered power inequalities within the household.

The radio also functions as a reminder of the political unrest as well as a marker of resistance to the oppression experienced under the Taliban regime. Since various forms of technology have been restricted by the Taliban, such as television, theater, and music, the radio stands out as a link to the outside world, as well as a resource for much sought after information. As a symbol of modernity and connectedness, the radio transcends the boundaries of conservative “traditionalism” that the Taliban utilize to limit the opportunities, freedoms, and ideological possibilities of the Afghani people. By listening to the radio, even for an hour each day, the oppressed and impoverished people can feel part of a larger world outside of their own, as well as receive information about their situation. Skuse quotes Mohammed Qasim, a resident of Kabul, as saying, “We have one radio cassette that needs six cells that cost Afs. 20,000 [£0.67]… this amount is too much for a poor family, but we have a duty to listen to radio to find out about our country and our gham [Pashto: suffering]” (Skuse, 126). In this instance, the radio becomes a relatively subversive object that unites the poor through their shared experiences, as well as informs them of the larger forces implicated in their perpetuated oppression.

The radio in Afghanistan is an object with a complex biography, which includes an ambiguous life span, multiple layers of symbolic meaning, and a diverse array of social functions. The physical object itself is wrapped, decorated, and preserved—an honored and prized possession amongst all members of a family. Even the outdated, malfunctioning, or completely nonworking radios carry within them the cherished symbols and meanings that the radio embodies in Afghanistan. The mere physical presence of the radio, even one that does not perform its allotted functions, compels people as it actively symbolizes and embodies meaning, prolonging its use life as a commoditized object.

Bibliography

Kopytoff, Igor; 1986. "The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as a Process," in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Spitulnik, Debra; 1993. "Anthropology and Mass Media," in Annual Review of Anthropology. 22:293-315.

Skuse, Andrew; 2005. "Enlivened Objects: The Social Life, Death and Rebirth of Radio as Commodity in Afghanistan" in Journal of Material Culture. 10:123-136.