The Impact of Socio-Political Events (1960s–1990s) on Contemporary Dari Poetry in Afghanistan

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 , Student of, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi, Iran.Iran

2 Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi, Iran.

Abstract

This study examines how contemporary Persian-Dari poetry reflects political, social, and cultural developments in Afghanistan between the 1960s and the 1990s. It argues that poets responded divergently to these transformations according to their ideological positions: while some aligned with state-sponsored discourse and contributed to the reproduction of official ideology, others articulated resistance through symbolic and multi-layered poetic language. Beyond its aesthetic function, poetry in this period emerged as a significant medium of socio-political engagement and a repository of collective memory. It was also instrumentalized for political propaganda through the translation of Russian literary works and the institutional activities of the Writers’ Union of the People's Democratic Party, whereas independent and dissident poets voiced protest and resistance against dominant power structures. Adopting a historical-analytical approach and drawing on a systematic study of poetic texts alongside relevant historical sources, this study offers a comprehensive and comparatively novel analysis of the representation of political and social events in contemporary Afghan poetry. It advances the field by integrating discursive, linguistic, and socio-historical perspectives within a unified analytical framework, thereby providing a nuanced understanding of the dynamic interplay between poetry, ideology, and historical experience across multiple poetic currents.

Highlights

This research demonstrates that contemporary Afghan poetry from the 1960s to the 1990s transcended purely aesthetic functions to serve as a key instrument of socio-political engagement and collective memory. Poetry of this period was characterized by a dual discursive structure: government-affiliated poetry, using sloganistic language and conventional symbols, legitimized official ideology, while resistance poetry, employing multi-layered symbolism and critical expression, voiced opposition to tyranny, occupation, and violence. A further distinction emerged between domestic and exile resistance poetry: domestic works, constrained by censorship and proximity to events, became symbolic, condensed, and multi-layered, whereas exile poetry, relatively free from such constraints, adopted explicit, rhetorical forms emphasizing alienation and displacement. Additionally, the Writers' Union and the translation of Russian works played a decisive role in shaping leftist discourse and propagandistic literature.

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Main Subjects

References

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Persian Language and Literature
Volume 79, Issue 253 - Serial Number 253
Spring–Summer 2026
July 2026
Pages 195-220

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History

  • Receive Date: 16 October 2025
  • Revise Date: 19 May 2026
  • Accept Date: 30 May 2026
  • Publish Date: 22 June 2026

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