“My God! You are a Mussulman Man Like Me!”

Abstract

This is about a conversation between me, an anthropologist, and a peasant farmer who lived in a relatively isolated village in central Afghanistan. In this conversation some of the presuppositions of the farmer about foreigners like me were overturned by some of the things he learned about me, my faith, and the world that I come from. In the end he spontaneously pronounced me a moral person like himself. I conclude with a discussion of how our interpersonal conversations can lead to deeper personal relationships.