In the course of the Aral Sea catastrophe the life of the Amu Darya delta region changed radically within just a few years. The Karakalpak and German authors of this volume deal with the people of this region, with their history and culture as well as with their experiences and strategies of dealing with the disaster and with their life in "normal" times. They approach the modern and recent history of the Amu Darya delta with the help of a moving and volatile resource of knowledge: remembrance.

The book presents the German translation of a Persian manuscript from Afghanistan with personal memories and notes of the reign of the Taliban which were written down by a local intellectual immediately at the time of the Taliban. It seems to be the first comprehensive description of the Taliban from an inner-Afghan point of view. In terms of time the manuscript gives a mostly chronological summary of the events which had taken place from the emergence of the Taliban and the rise of their power up to the end of their rule in autumn 2001. Sometimes the author refers to earlier events which may date back up to the 1950ies. From a regional point of view the main focus of the narrative is on the province of Nimroz in South-Western Afghanistan. Additional information about persons, places, ethnic groups and selected events which are mentioned in the text, is given in footnotes. The foreword presents information about the author of the manuscript, who died from an illness in April 2002. Here the editor and translator gives also a short analysis of the narrative structure of the manuscript which is aimed to show to which of our questions about the history of the Taliban this text may be an authentic testimony.

On the basis of archive material, press releases and recollections the history of the forced migration of the Jaghnobi in Soviet Tajikistan in the 1970ies is reconstructed. The Jaghnobi, a small ethnic group with a distinct language and culture, were collectively migrated from their mountainous homeland to the newly developed cotton growing areas in the lowlands of northern Tajikistan. The focus lies on the Jaghnobis’ experience and interpretations of their forced migration and their reactions to it.