Social Networks and Migration in Wartime Afghanistan [Hardcover]

Drawing on fieldwork in the Herat area, Afghanistan,?this book addresses migration patterns throughout three decades of war. It launches a framework for understanding the role of social networks for people's responses to war and disaster as well as?mobilizing or maintaining material resources for security and gathering information.Acknowledgements Glossary Acronyms Maps of Afghanistan in the Region and the Main Fieldwork Area Introduction Social Networks in Wartime Migration Escape Decisions Integration at Exile Return Decisions Reintegration at 'Home' Conclusions Appendix: Researching Migration in War Notes Bibliography Index

'In this systematic analysis of wartime migration, Kristian Berg Harpviken shows how the evolving structure of social networks shapes the decisions of ordinary people to leave their homes and to return. Drawing on extraordinary research in two Afghan villages, this compelling work should be read by scholars and policy-makers alike.' - Elisabeth Jean Wood, Yale University and the Santa Fe Institute, USA

'Kristian Berg Harpviken is among the few scholars to have met the empirical and conceptual challenges of analysing networks in conflict settings, as is amply shown in this timely and finely researched book on war and the Afghan diaspora.' - Nicholas Van Hear, The Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), University of Oxford, UK

'In a field saturated with macro level studies of war and peacebuilding in Afghanistan, Harpviken's stands out for giving agency to people. Afghanistan's refugees, both in exile and after return, present a compelling case for theoretical contributions to social networks, migration studies and political mobilization during wars. Few authors can claim as much experience with field work during the Taliban regime. Harpviken's first hand knowledge makes a strong case for how networks are formed and evolve in the absence of a state, for better and for worse.' - Shahrbanou Talã}