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Technologies of Calculation and the Quest to Govern Afghanistan

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Technologies of Calculation and the Quest to Govern Afghanistan The Will Not to Count: Technologies of Calculation and the Quest to Govern Afghanistan Mohammad Ali Askar Department of Art History and Communications Studies McGill University 27 November 2019 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication Studies © Mohammad Ali Askar, 2019 1 Abstract This dissertation explores the technologies of numerical information in Afghanistan. It examines the history and politics of the tools used to produce numeral data for the purpose of governance. Based on archival research and ethnographic fieldwork, this project assesses the critical role of numbers, or lack thereof, in state practices throughout the modern history of Afghanistan. Grounded in the intersection of Media Studies and Science, Technology and Society Studies (STS), it primarily focuses on three technologies that are used for the task of calculation and control: the street sign, the identification document, and the price tag. These are critical tools, both for the state and the market, to exercise power and impose control. In studying these technologies, this research uncovers new aspects of Afghanistan’s long history of attempts to build functioning state institutions and form a stable economy. The literature on quantification has long focused on technologies of surveillance in strong states. This dissertation, however, addresses a critical gap in scholarship by examining the politics of surveillance in a weak state where the rulers have historically used force, instead of knowledge, to govern the population. Despite more than a century of on-and-off efforts, the country still suffers from a lack of reliable information on all aspects of society and the economy. The evidence presented in this research explains how the poverty of information has been contributing to the failure of the state and the economy in Afghanistan. 2 Resumé Ce travail se veut une étude dur les technologies de l'information numérique en Afghanistan. Elle analyse l'histoire et la politique des outils utilisés pour produire des données numériques en vue de la gouvernance. Basé sur les recherches archivistiques et le terrain ethnographique, ce projet évalue le rôle critique des nombres, ou de leur absence, dans les pratiques de l’États à travers l’histoire moderne de l’Afghanistan. Ancré à l'intersection des études sur les médias et de la science, de la technologie et de la société, le projet se penche principalement sur trois technologies utilisées pour le calcul et le contrôle : la plaque de rue, le document d'identification et l'étiquette de prix. Ce sont des outils essentiels tant pour l’État que pour le marché permettant d’exercer un pouvoir et d’imposer un contrôle. En étudiant ces technologies, cette recherche révèle de nouveaux aspects de la longue histoire des tentatives de l’Afghanistan pour la mise en place des institutions étatiques fonctionnelles et pour la création une économie stable. La littérature sur la quantification a longtemps été axée sur les technologies de surveillance dans les États forts. Cette thèse aborde toutefois une lacune critique dans la littérature académique actuelle en examinant les politiques de surveillance dans un État faible, où les dirigeants ont historiquement utilisé la force au lieu du savoir pour gouverner la population. Malgré plus d'un siècle d'efforts épars, le pays souffre toujours d'un manque d'informations fiables sur tous les aspects de la société et de l'économie. Les preuves présentées dans cette recherche expliquent comment la pauvreté en matière d’informations contribue à l’échec de l’État et de l’économie afghane. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgments 6 Introduction – Number and Power: On Technolgies of Counting, Knowing, and Governing 10 A Background: The Politics of Measurement Media of Inscription Methodology Chapter Summary One – The Identification Document: Governing Ghosts 44 The Oldest Tracking Technology A Stranger in Town: Travel Permit, or Rahdari, in Afghanistan A Printer in the Palace: The Arrival of Modern Technologies Tazkira: A Universal Identity Document Updates in the Identity Document Identification in the Digital Age: The e-Tazkira Saga Two – The Street Sign: Control and Calculation 113 Finding an Address in Kabul Words before Numbers 4 Emergence of Numbers and the Public Resistance House Numbering In Kabul The Struggle over Street Names The Struggle over Street Names, Again House Numbering in the Digital Age Three – The Price Tag: On Technologies of Trust 181 Trusting Strangers: The Economics of Information The Invention of the Price Tag Game Theory in the Bazaar “The Calculator:” Policing the Bazaar Prices on Paper: Early Price Tags The Price Tag Arrives In a Kabul Store The State Control of the Bazaar The Free Market Era The Price of Information Conclusion – A Note on Information and the State 252 Bibliography 262 5 Acknowledgments I would like to thank the many people and institutions whose generous support made my research on this dissertation possible. At McGill University, I am forever grateful to my advisor, Will Straw, whose mentorship was critical in the successful completion of my research and studies. Despite his busy schedules, throughout the past six years, he always offered his advice and feedback with great generosity, patience, and good humor—and very promptly, too, I should note. I also would like to thank Jonathan Sterne, a committee member of my dissertation, who carefully read this text and provided me with detailed commentaries and critiques that significantly improved the work. Ipek Tureli, my other committee member, introduced me to many new sources and helped me sharpen my arguments. Darren Wershler, Concordia University, served as my external reader and offered generous comments and helpful critiques that I used to refine key aspects of this research. I’m also grateful to Gabriella Coleman who read this dissertation and encouraged me to broaden the scope of my project. Other members of the faculty and staff at the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill have also been great sources of support whose assistance, in various ways, helped me navigate the graduate school. In particular, I would like to thank Becky Lentz, Mary Hunter, Cecily Hilsdale, Darin Barney, Matthew Hunter, Maureen Coote, Caitlin Loney, and others. A great number of people in Kabul contributed to my work on this research that I would like to thank. At the National Archives of Afghanistan, Maʿsumah Nazari, the director, went out of her way to help me find the documents that I needed. I am also grateful to her staff who patiently retrieved all those documents and made them available to me: Najib Allah Akbari, Hafizah Amiri, Ahmad Siyar Bihruz, and their other colleagues. At Kabul Municipality, I would 6 like to thank ʿAbd al-Wasiʿ Kuhi (engineer, planning department), ʿAziz Muhammad Kargar (archivist, cartography office), ʿAbd al-Jalil Sultani (director, publications department), Muhammad ʿIsa Bulbul (retired architect), Muhammad ʿAzim ʿUsman (engineer, road building department), and also two gentlemen at the market regulation department who answered some of my questions but preferred not to reveal their names to me. At the Municipality’s District 13, I want to thank Hamid Asgharzadah, a manager, who shared valuable information with me about his district. At the Ministry of Urban Planning Affairs, I am grateful to Sayyid Ziya Husaini for giving me access to documents related to the Dar al-Aman restoration project and arranged my visit to the site. At Afghanistan Center at Kabul University, I would like to thank the director ʿAbd al-Wahid Wafa, the librarian ʿAbd al-Rahim Qadrdan, and the founder the late Nancy Dupree whose encyclopedic knowledge of Kabul I found most impressive. At the Kabul Public Library, I would like to thank Suhaila Nazar and Haidari Vujudi at the press room and Hamid Allah Shahrani, the director of the library. I also want to thank the president of Afghanistan National Trade Union, Hasan Sipahi, for providing me with valuable information about pricing in the Kabul bazaar and Shabbir Ahmed, representative of Adsoft Technologies, for sharing his experiences as a Fintech salesman in Kabul. At the bazaar, I would like to thank Janbaz Akbari, Aman Allah Akbari, and Sayyid Javid Husaini, tea merchants, for generously providing me with information about their businesses. Only part of the information that I gathered in my fieldwork made it to the final dissertation, but I am grateful to everyone who took the time to share their knowledge and wisdom with me. In Kabul, I especially want to thank my parents and siblings, in particular, Hassan and Yasin. Hassan patiently served as my unpaid research assistant and still keeps sending me books, photos, and other materials that I request from Kabul. I would also like to thank my friend ʿAli 7 Amiri, Ibn Sina University, for introducing me to his contacts in and outside the government. Ahmad ʿAzizi, a fellow dissertator, was my companion during the research at the National Archives and a good friend that made my fieldwork experience richer. I am also grateful to ʿAli Ahmadi, a legal scholar and a great friend, for his hospitality and friendship during my work in Kabul and ʿAbd Allah Muhammadi for sharing his collection of documents with me. In London, I want to thank the following friends for their hospitality during my two-week stay: Rahman ʿAlimi, Asad Allah Shafayi, ʿAbd Allah Akbari, Bilal Nawruzi, Aslam Javadi, Shahbaz Iraj, Ilahah Surur, and Zahra Rasuli. In Canada, for their years of friendship, I want to thank Hadi Hakimi, Amin Mushfiq, Haji Payman, Hasan Faryar, Dr. Rasikh, Engineer Laʿli, Samir Sardar, Husain Zhakfar, Haris Jahangir, Jahantab Jahan and other friends whose names I have most probably missed. I also gratefully acknowledge the generous financial support that I received from several institutions that made my research on this dissertation possible.
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