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The diversity of Kurdish communities across the Middle East is now recognized as central to understanding both the challenges and opportunities for their representation and politics. This book diversifies the literature on Kurdish Studies by highlighting the Kurds' relationship to the Yezidis. Comprising the perspectives of leading scholars, chapters combine in-depth empirical work with theoretical and conceptual discussions to progress debates in the field. The study is divided into three thematic sections covering political identity, how the Kurds appear to others, and the Yezidis, to capture new insights into the heterogeneous aspects of Kurdish history and identity.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Preface
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1 Introduction: Towards a Cross-Fertilization between Kurdish and Yezidi Studies, Günes Murat Tezcür
Section I - Formations: Kurdish and Yezidi Political Identities
Chapter 2 Ehmedê Xanî’s Political Philosophy in Mem û Zîn, Mücahit Bilici
Chapter 3 Historical and Political Dimensions of Yezidi Identity before and After the Firman (Genocide) of 3 August 2014, Majid Hassan Ali
Chapter 4 Political Identity of Kurdish Refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Arzu Yilmaz
Chapter 5 Survival, Coexistence, and Autonomy: Yezidi Political Identity after Genocide, Günes Murat Tezcür, Zeynep Kaya, and Bayar Sevdeen
Section II - Perceptions: Kurds and Yezidis in the Eyes of Others
Chapter 6 Paying the Price of Dasht-i Karbala: Perceptions of Yezidis in the Ottoman Era, Bahadin H. Kerborani
Chapter 7 Orientalist Views of Kurds and Kurdistan, Zeynep Kaya
Chapter 8 ‘White Man’s Burden’ or Victim’s Hope(lessness): Armeno-Kurdish Relations and Mutual Perceptions before Genocide , Ohannes Kiliçdagi
Chapter 9 Turkish Public Opinion on Cultural and Political Demands of Kurds, Ekrem Karakoç & Ege Özen
Chapter 10 ‘We are Yezidi, being otherwise never stopped our persecution’: Yezidi Perceptions of Kurds and Kurdish Identity, Tutku Ayhan
About the author
Günes Murat Tezcür is the Jalal Talabani Chair of Kurdish Political Studies at the University of Central Florida, USA
Summary
The diversity of Kurdish communities across the Middle East is now recognized as central to understanding both the challenges and opportunities for their representation and politics. Yet little scholarship has focused on the complexities within these different groups and the range of their experiences. This book diversifies the literature on Kurdish Studies by offering close analyses of subjects which have not been adequately researched, and in particular, by highlighting the Kurds’ relationship to the Yazidis. Case studies include: the political ideas of Ehmede Xani, “the father of Kurdish nationalism”; Kurdish refugees in camps in Iraq; the perception of the Kurds by Armenians in the late Ottoman Empire and the Turks in modern Western Turkey; and the important connections and shared heritage of the Kurds and the Yazidis, especially in the aftermath of the 2014 ISIS attacks.
The book comprises the leading voices in Kurdish Studies and combines in-depth empirical work with theoretical and conceptual discussions to take the debates in the field in new directions. The study is divided into three thematic sections to capture new insights into the heterogeneous aspects of Kurdish history and identity. In doing so, contributors explain why we need to pay close attention to the shifting identities and the diversity of the Kurds, and what implications this has for Middle East Studies and Minority Studies more generally.
Foreword
Analyzes the diversity and shifting identities within Kurdish communities and the important connections between the Kurds and the Yezidis.
Additional text
This book makes a path-breaking contribution to Kurdish and Yezidi Studies. By reflecting on contingent political identities, shifting frames of victimhood and unexpected forms of resistance, the book offers critical insights into the politics of identity and collective memory. This is a must read for anyone interested in Kurdish and Yezidi politics.
