Anthony Hyman (17 April 1946 – 19 December 1999) was a British academic, writer, broadcaster, and Islamicist. Anthony Hyman was a son of the author, journalist, and film writer

Alan Hyman Alan Maurice Hyman (10 January 1910 – 23 February 1999) was an English writer, journalist, and film writer. Life and work Alan Hyman was the son of A. Hyman. He was educated at St Cyprian's School, Repton School, and Magdalene College, Camb ...

(1910–1999). His siblings were the author Miranda Miller, the artist Timothy Hyman, and Nicholas Hyman. Hyman was a student at the

London School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

, where he became interested in the

Muslim world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...

. He became an expert on Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, and was a commentator for the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

for more than twenty years He was a linguist, historian, bibliophile, art lover, and traveller. His early work was on the development of

Pan-Islamism Pan-Islamism () is a political movement which advocates the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Historically, after Ottomanism, which aimed at ...

in early 20th century India, out of which grew his interest in Pakistan and the wider Islamic world. He studied the

Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

and followed

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

and

Iranian politics The politics of Iran takes place in the framework of an Islamic theocracy which was formed following the overthrow of Iran's millennia-long monarchy by the 1979 Revolution. Iran's system of government (''nezam'') was described by Juan José Lin ...

closely. In 1982, soon after Afghanistan increased its importance in

global politics Global politics, also known as world politics, names both the discipline that studies the political and economic patterns of the world and the field that is being studied. At the centre of that field are the different processes of political global ...

, Hyman's work, ''Afghanistan under Soviet Domination'', was first published. His knowledge of the

Afghan resistance The Afghan ''mujahideen'' (; ; ) were Islamist militant groups that fought against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent First Afghan Civil War. The term '' mujahid' ...

's struggle against the Soviet Union during the Soviet-Afghan War challenged the traditional view of Afghan society and its process of radicalisation. He was concerned about the disintegration of Afghan unity under pressure from

tribalism Tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. Human evolution primarily occurred in small hunter-gatherer groups, as opposed to in larger and more recently settled agricultural societies or civilizat ...

and

sectarianism Sectarianism is a debated concept. Some scholars and journalists define it as pre-existing fixed communal categories in society, and use it to explain political, cultural, or Religious violence, religious conflicts between groups. Others conceiv ...

. In later years, he was particularly critical of the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

and of what he saw as their narrow vision of Afghanistan's future. In the early 1980s, Hyman was also secretary of the Afghanistan Support Committee and worked with the Afghan Refugee Network and with

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. After the

collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, Hyman became absorbed with Central Asia, travelling there, learning

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, acquainting himself with the politics and cultures of the new states and introducing these countries to a wider audience through his writings. As with Afghanistan, he advocated a higher-profile European interest in these countries and their needs. He was a founding director of the charity Links, which worked to resolve conflict and promoted democracy in the region in the early years of transition. Hyman was at various times a research associate of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at

Chatham House The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...

, a senior fellow of the

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and ...

in New York and a visiting fellow of

Queen Elizabeth House Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. He was also associate editor of the journal ''

Central Asian Survey ''Central Asian Survey'' is an academic journal first published in 1982 concerning Caucasus and Central Asian studies. It is published by Taylor & Francis, and has four issues a year. According to the editorial staff, The editor is Rico Isaacs, t ...

''. A Memorial Lecture was set up at

SOAS, University of London The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, ...

, in 2002 and has run annually since that time. Its aim is to encourage discussion and debate about Afghanistan and its neighbours.

Selected publications

Hyman published the following books among others: * * *

References

1946 births 1999 deaths Alumni of SOAS University of London 20th-century British non-fiction writers Academics of the University of Oxford British non-fiction writers British male writers British male non-fiction writers British academic journal editors Chatham House people BBC radio presenters BBC World Service people Burials at Brompton Cemetery {{UK-nonfiction-writer-stub