Dani Meyer

ANT 160-008
In the book, When Bamboo Bloom written by Patricia Omidian, she tells us about her
journeys into Afghanistan where she did her anthropology work for some time. She goes through
her experiences with the Taliban and how she dealt with her situations being a white woman in a
society that oppresses women. As Omidian was traveling through the country, she had to learn
how to adjust to their culture and what she would be able to do safely. The main point of the
book so far is to teach us the differences between our culture and the culture of the people of
Afghanistan.
This assigned reading teaches us that sometimes when you study culture, you may have
to change the way you go about it because of the rules and policies that are in place in the
country. For example, Omidian informs us that she was not able to leave the hospital where she
was staying unless she was with a guard from the Taliban. She said that This meant I would be
spending the whole two weeks in the hospital compound and would not be able to do any of the
surveys myself, nor would I be able to monitor the work of those whom I trained (Omidian 50),
and in learning this she would have to change the work that her and her group did while in
Afghanistan. There was a little bit of a risk factor in her studying the Afghani culture because of
the power and control that the Taliban had while she was there. The Taliban would not have
allowed Omidian and the group to take educational surveys because they were attempting to rid
of the education in the country. Had they come across evidence of educational research that was
being done, the people working on the surveys and Omidian would have been in danger of
consequences applied by the Taliban. While Omidian was learning how to study the culture
however, she also leaned specific aspects of the culture itself like how oppressed women were
and the struggles of everyday life that the Afghanis went through with the Taliban rule over

Dani Meyer
ANT 160-008
them. One can take a lot away from a culture when living among them and figuring out how to
study their culture.
I have found many things very perplexing and interesting in this book so far. I believe
this is because of how different the culture that I live in is versus the one that Patricia Omidian
was living in at the time. Coming from a society and culture that doesnt have one specific group
controlling everyone and one where everyone has equal rights, it is difficult to get a true
understanding of how things work in a place that does. Specifically, one of the things that
perplexed me was when Omidian was telling us about a man who worked for the Taliban, but it
was not because he agreed with their policies and beliefs, it was because he had to work for them
to get money so that he could provide for his family. Omidian says, What I learned that day
should not have been a surprise, but it has stayed with me: not everyone working for the Taliban
are talibs (Omidian 54). This struck me because it was not something that I had previously
considered. I thought that as long as someone was working for the Taliban when they were, they
were a talib and shared the beliefs of the talib. I did not realize that this was a very ignorant
thought because sometimes people have to do things they dont agree with to provide for
themselves and their families. Another thing that I found striking was the land mines that were
still active and present all over the country. It is beyond me to think that when Patricia Omidian
stopped to go to the restroom by a bridge that she risked her life by walking on an unmarked
path, potentially filled with land mines. Clearly this is something that we do not have to deal
with in America, so it is difficult for me to wrap my head around that children may not be able to
go out and play, in risk of stepping on an active land mine.
As Dr. King spoke about in lecture, patriarchy is overarching male dominance. In
Afghanistan, this is present as talib males hold control in the society. These two ideas enhance

Dani Meyer
ANT 160-008
each other and it is very clear while reading the book as women are oppressed in their clothing
and almost everything that they do and the talib men control almost every aspect of the peoples
lives that live in Afghanistan.