Tue., June 27, 2017 at 7:00pm
Tue., June 27, 2017 at 12:00am
Salem Public Library
821 E. State St.
Salem, OH
Salem Public Library’s Book Discussion Group will meet in the library’s Quaker Room located at 821 E. State St., Salem, Ohio on June 27, 2017 at 7pm to discuss the book, The Underground Girls of Kabul written by Jenny Nordberg.
In Afghanistan, where a society is ruled almost entirely by men, the birth of a son is cause for celebration and the birth of a daughter is considered a failure. There is a third kind of child, a bacha posh, a girl who will be raised as a boy and presented as a son to the community. These young females are usually from families where the only children are girls. They “become” boys by a family decision and then live as males as long as they can, usually until adolescence.
The Underground Girls of Kabul by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jenny Nordberg follows Afghan girls who live disguised as boys through childhood, only to be expected by adult age to transform into subordinate wives and mothers. Some bacha posh refuse to rescind their male freedom.
The book relates the story of female characters who have grown up as bacha posh. Azita, whose youngest daughter is chosen to pose as her only son; Zahra, who resists her parents’ attempts to turn her into a woman; Shukria, who was forced to marry and have three children after living twenty years as a man; and Shahed, a special forces soldier, still in disguise as an adult man. The Underground Girls of Kabul investigates the hidden practice of bacha posh that has affected generations.
Join in the provocative discussion of a culture so different from our own. No registration is needed to attend. The book is available to borrow from Salem Public Library. For more information please contact the library at 330-332-0042.
