Soundwaves of Dissent: Resistance Through Persianate Cultural Production in Afghanistan

Abstract In the decades of 1960s and 1970s, sound recording technologies—including radio cassettes—proliferated in Afghanistan reached transnational lengths. While state came to dominate these technologies, it could not prevent users from circumventing its censors with alternative perspectives discourses. This article highlights examples Farīda ʿUsmān Anwarī, a noted announcer, producer, journalist, Aḥmad Ẓāhir, Afghanistan's most popular musical icon date, showcase ways which Persianate literary canon served as medium for sounding dissent amid changing social political dynamics time. Pushing boundaries recorded speech created an space where became possible strategic use mass media paved way sonic solidarities among diverse community listeners across Persian-speaking world beyond.