Kurdish Studies Network

EURAC Research Viale Druso, 1 – Bolzano, Italy, Friday 21^st April 2017

14:30

Welcome

15.00 – 16.00

SESSION I:  Comparative Analysis of Mechanisms for Ethnic Conflict Resolution and Management of Diversity in Complex and Diversified Contexts

Speakers:

• Joseph Marko (Eurac Research, and University of Graz):

Power-sharing without Reconciliation? Comparative Lessons from European Experience

• Karl Kössler (Eurac Research):

Governing Diversity through Autonomy – Comparative Evidence and Challenges for Constitutional Design

Moderator: Mauro di Vieste (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker – South Tyrol)

16.30 – 17.45

SESSION II: Democratic Confederalism and the Experience of Rojava/Northern Syria

Speakers:

• Kamran Matin (University of Sussex, Brighton)

Democratic Confederalism: Context and Prospects

• Ghadi Sary (Managing Partner – Governance House):

Self-government in Northern Syria: Survival and Ambitions

• Dilar Dirik (University of Cambridge):

Women’s Autonomy and Self-Defense in Rojava-Northern Syria

Moderator: Thomas Benedikter (POLITiS)

18.00 – 19.00

ROUND TABLE: Perspectives on Democratic Confederalism and Future Scenarios

Speakers:

• Kamal Sido (Programme Manager for Middle East, Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker – Germany)
• Kariane Westrheim (University of Bergen)
• Francesco Palermo (Eurac Research and Senator)

Moderator: Wolfgang Mayr (editor in chief of RAI Südtirol)

The conference is funded by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen,

Presidency and Foreign Relations, Office of Cabinet Affairs, Development Cooperation

For details click here.

Goethe University Frankfurt, 10-12 March 2017

The conference “Language Contact and Language Change in Western Asia” focuses on multilingualism in Western Asia. Within Western Asia, we aim at focusing the Kurdish-populated areas in the regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and the neighboring countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. In this area, several Indo-European varieties are spoken, including Armenian, Kurdish varieties, and Persian. A number of non-Indo-European languages are spoken as well, such as Azeri Turkic, Arabic, Neo-Aramaic, and Turkish. Finally Georgian and other Caucasian languages are also spoken in the region. Most of the above-mentioned languages exhibit a suprastratum of Semitic, Iranian and Turkic languages due to their close contact for centuries.

The conference explores the use of corpus methods in descriptive and theoretical analysis of word order change of natural languages in a multilingual area like Western Asia. Focal areas of interest include, but are not limited to language contact and language change in word order, information structure, and prosody. Furthermore, we are interested in theoretical and methodological issues pertaining to corpus-oriented research in language contact, i.e. tools, methods, and techniques in corpus assembly, annotation and analysis, the interaction between corpus linguistics and computational linguistics, the relevance of corpus linguistics and linguistic theory, the use of statistical and quantitative methods in detecting patterns of language change, as well as the impact of corpus-based vs. corpus-driven approaches on our view and understanding of morphosyntatic change in languages.

Click here for details.

Gürbey, Gülistan, Hofmann, Sabine, Ibrahim Seyder, Ferhad (Eds.)

Palgrave Macmillan, 2017

• ISBN 978-1-137-60181-0

This edited volume compares the internal dimension, politics and society in Kurdistan-Iraq and Palestine. In particular, it focuses on internal processes in Kurdistan-Iraq and Palestine (Palestinian Territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip) in their specific shaping, development and transformation. The contributing authors analyze the transformation processes of the internal power structures, the economic basics, and the civil societies and provide an overview of the current political, economic and societal situation and challenges in both regions.  The book presents the similarities and differences between both de facto states with regard to a set of guidelines: legitimacy, power relations, transformation of politics and society. It provides empirical explanations and contributes to a better understanding of both de facto states.

Click here for details.

Shakely, Farhad

Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2016

ISBN: 978-91-554-9774-3

The focus of this study is on the Kurdish short story, read from the viewpoint of literary history. The political course of events in Kurdistan, and the political and social circumstances which followed, have without question strongly influenced the Kurdish short story both in content, style, and language. The Kurdish short story has its origins in the second decade of the twentieth century. Kurdish prose arose in the beginning of the nineteenth century. There are few examples of Kurdish prose from that time; in every case, they are non-literary.Kurdish journalism played a central role in the development of the short story. The origin of the art of the Kurdish short story is directly related to Kurdish journalism. This development cannot be isolated from very conscious attempts to further the Kurdish short story with the help of translations of short stories into Kurdish from other languages – European languages in particular. This essay is an attempt to study the development of the Kurdish short story from its start until the beginning of the first decade in the 21^st century.

For details click here.

Kurt, Mehmet

Pluto Press, 2017

ISBN: 9780745399348

This study analyses Kurdish Hizbullah as a social movement and investigates this biggest Kurdish Islamist group by means of ethnographic fieldwork in their daily lives. As opposed to Hizbullah in Lebanon, whose followers are mainly adherents of the Shiite sect of Islam, Hizbullah in Turkey is populated by Sunnis, more specifically by Shafii Kurds. Mehmet Kurt charts the development of a particularly powerful Islamist social movement – Kurdish Hizbullah – from its origins in violent militancy to a more ‘civic’ mode of engagement, an engagement which nonetheless provides a rationale for disenchanted young Islamists to engage in political violence. It offers a unique insight into Kurdish Hizbullah, its political rise and the apparent power of Islamism amongst Kurds in the region, particularly in a context in which the leftist Kurdish political movement is the hegemonic political discourse. Through ethnographic field work and extensive interviews with members, leaders and supporters of Hizbullah, Kurt revelsa the manner in which Islamic civil society has taken root in a region where ethnic identity has been the primary organising tool against a repressive and violent state.

Dr. Mehmet Kurt studied Theology and Islamic Studies, and has a PhD in Sociology. He worked as a visiting researcher at Yale University Department of Anthropology. His areas of expertise are Kurdish Islamist groups, social movements, radicalisation, the Kurdish issue in Turkey, visual ethnography and oral history. He is the author of Turkiye’de Hizbullah (leti im Publication, 2015), and is the British Academy Newton Advanced Post-Doctoral Fellow at Queen Mary University of London.

The Kurdish Studies Association (KSA) announces a call for papers for the November 2017 Middle East Studies Association (MESA) meeting to be held in Washington DC, November 18-21, 2017.

Narratives of Struggle: Maintaining and Preserving Kurdish Cultural Heritage

Deadline for submission: February 9, 2017
Organizer and Chair: Christian Sinclair

This organized panel seeks to explore the narratives and politics of cultural maintenance and preservation in the face of repression and conflict. Culture, as defined by UNESCO, is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by [a human] as a member of society.” Cultural heritage can be tangible or intangible. According to Bouchenaki (2003), “[c]ultural heritage is a synchronized relationship involving society, norms, and values” and the “intangible heritage should be regarded as the larger framework within which tangible heritage takes on shape and significance.”

The overt struggles faced by the Kurds across the Middle East are well known and have a rich literature. What is less researched, and hence the theme of this panel, are the behind-the-scenes efforts to maintain, preserve, and document Kurdish cultural heritage in the face of these decades-long struggles in the region and beyond. How does culture survive decades of oppression? How is it preserved and documented when challenged by the state or even from within?

There is no singular Kurdish culture, but rather a multitude of sub-cultures that together form Kurdish cultural heritage, writ large. Questions this panel hopes to answer include: Who defines these Kurdish culture(s)? For whom is the culture maintained and/or preserved, and why? Are there competing narratives of a singular cultural element? What risks and challenges are inherent in preserving Kurdish culture in the region? What are the relationships between tangible and intangible Kurdish culture?

Points of consideration may include, but are not limited to:

• The role of institutions such as libraries, archives and museums
• Patrimony, ownership and possession
• Hegemony and representation
• Gendered perspectives on cultural heritage
• Language and ethno-linguistics
• Religion and religious institutions

DEADLINE: By February 9, 2017, please send abstracts of 300-400 words for the panel. Include a brief 50-75 word bio. Those selected for the panel will be asked to submit their abstracts to MESA via their online submission system by February 15, 2017. Abstracts for this KSA-sponsored panel should be sent to: KSA Executive Secretary, William Kopycki at w.kopycki@gmail.com.

NOTE: All selected panelists must be members of MESA at the time of paper submissions to MESA. Student membership to MESA is $65. Professional membership rates vary according to income. Please do not submit an abstract to us if you are not prepared to join MESA once your abstract has been accepted. For more information about the MESA meeting, go to: http://mesana.org/annual-meeting/

The Center for Peace and Human Security at the American University of Kurdistan in Duhok, the Women Peace Group and Emma Organization for Human Development will hold the 3^rd Lalish Conference for Peace and Coexistence in April 25^th and 26^th, 2017 entitled “Civic State Guarantees the Sustainable Peace”. The 3^rd Lalish Conference for Peace and Coexistence will be a two days conference. The ultimate objective of the conference is to endorse the principles of democracy, social justice and sustainable peace in the Middle East, through understanding genocide, self-determination of nations and affects of the war on women. These would only be guaranteed within the framework of the civic and democratic state.

Conference Themes

The conference papers will be presented in three panels:

Panel ONE:

Revisiting Genocide Experience: Recognition and Protection

The main objectives of this panel are: exchange the experiences of nations that faced genocide, documented the crimes and advocated to recognize it as a genocide internationally and getting international support for self determination. For this panel we invite papers and academic research on cases of genocide from different nations experienced genocide.

Panel TWO:

Self-determination is Vital for Sustainable Peace

This panel aims to discuss the right of self-determination of nations, as a guarantee to protect them from genocide and other threating to maintaining sustainable peace, through comparing between experiences of nations that are part of democratic communities and those are under pressure of dictatorship.

Panel THREE:

Effects of War on Women

The goal of this panel is focusing on the effects of ISIS war on the women that includes:

• The condition of women and children that have being abused and sexually harassed by ISIS soldiers during war.
• The women that have being forced to marry ISIS fighters.
• The situation and rights of female headed families

Limited fund will be provided for transportation and accommodation

You can Submit your abstract to cphs@auk.edu.krd  or muslih.irwani@auk.edu.krd

Kurdish Politics and Society: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives

Please join us at this intensive summer school at the Kurdish Institute, Paris (17-20 July 2017) focusing on Kurdish politics and society. The School and will bring together scholars, postgraduate students and community advocates.

Dates: 17-19 July 2017 (teaching); 20^th July 2017 (Kurdish ‘Paris’ tour TBC).

Place: Kurdish Institute, Paris

Registration Fees: 125 Euros (until 25 April 2017);

Registration fees cover tuition and venue costs.

Students will arrange and pay for their own accommodation and travel. Special rates on accommodation will be sent to those who have registered following the early registration deadline. This summer school is designed to engage postgraduate students (Master and PhD level), independent scholars, recent graduates in the field of Kurdish Studies as well as community advocates in the politics, society and culture of Kurds.

 Keynote lecturers and panellists include:

1. Professor Joyce Blau
2. Professor Hamit Bozarslan
3. Dr Nazand Begikhani
4. Dr Ipek Demir
5. Dr Wendy Hamelink
6. Dr Welat Zeydanlioglu

The lectures and workshops will be organized in line with the lecturers’ area of expertise. They will be delivered in English, and broadly in these areas:

Area 1: Politics, Resistance, Radicalism and Violence in Kurdistan and the Middle East

Area 2: Kurdish Language and Literature

Area 3: Kurdish Studies and Gender & Gender-based Violence and Resistance

Area 4: Kurdish Diaspora

Area 5: Kurdish Culture, Arts and Music

Area 6: The Politics of Kurdish Language

The format of each day is as follows:

1)   Opening plenary/keynote lecture by at least one of the invited speakers above, outlining the main approaches and methods employed in their specific field (e.g. gender).

2)   15 minute presentations by participants which are then followed by feedback from at least one keynote speaker. Group discussion and feedback.

3)   Closing session with two student rapporteurs summing up key insights from the day and closing statements.

APPLICATION INFO:

Please fill in the attached application form.

You are welcome to apply as one of the following:

(a) as a presenter of a paper

(b) as an attendee.

You will be able to indicate this on the application form.

Those wishing to present a paper and receive feedback, please include a long abstract (max 500 words) in the application form. Please note that both the word limit and the deadline are strict.

Send the application form to Ipek Demir: id34@le.ac.uk

Deadline: 15 March 2017 (spaces might be filled before this date, hence please send your application asap)

Shortlisting will be finalised and communicated by 25 March 2017

REGISTRATION:

Registration (for those who have been accepted) will open on 5 April 2017

Early Registration Deadline: 25 April 2017

Early Registration Fee: 125 Euros

Registration Fees after 25 April 2017: 200 Euros

Please note that this is not a conference but a teaching and learning event involving teaching sessions from senior scholars of Kurdish Studies. It is a unique opportunity and places are strictly limited. In the event of the summer school being oversubscribed, participants may be selected according to the likely coherence of the sessions – this is not necessarily a reflection on the quality of work submitted.

For the application form click below: 

application-form-for-the-kurdish-studies-summer-school

Sirkeci, Ibrahim et al.

Transnational Press London, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-910781-19-7

Following the success of the first international Kurdish migration conference (KMC) held in 2016 at Middlesex University (London) and the strong interest and participation by the international scholarly community, the 2nd KMC will be held at Middlesex University on 15 and 16 June 2017. Displacement and forced migration have a distinct meaning and significance in the history of the Middle East. In recent years, the political and economic instability of the area, together with the repressive and coercive policies of most regional states and their international allies, the marginalisation of minority groups and the rise of fundamentalist movements, continue causing permanent crises, fuelling displacements and forced migrations. Millions of people have lost their homes and livelihood and were forced to seek a safe haven either in the neighbouring countries or taking a long and dangerous journey to Europe. The images of drowned three-year-old Kurdish boy Alan Kurdi in the Aegean Sea, mass killing of Yazidis and Syrian nationals, displacements of religious and ethnic minorities made global headlines without any effect.

Similarly to its neighbouring countries, today the Kurdistan Region in Iraq hosts some 1.8 million refugees from Syria and internally displaced persons. A considerable number of refugees and displaced people are also hosted by the Kurdish Cantons in Rojava (Kurdish region in Syria) and by municipalities in the Kurdish Region of Turkey.

Far away from the homeland, the over 2 million Kurds living in Europe, the USA, Canada, Former Soviet republics and other countries are following with great concern the events in the Middle East. Since the 1980s, the Kurdish diaspora in the Western has played an important role, recreating new Kurdish diasporic spaces in settlement countries while simultaneously reconnecting to their home country and making the question of Kurdistan a transnational political issue through their political engagement, media and cultural production and activism. However, what is the relationship of the Kurdish diaspora with the contemporary challenges and conflicts in and around Kurdistan? What kind of exchanges and interactions are taking place? How do Kurds relate with new refugees and displaced people living in Kurdistan, the Middle East and Europe? Moreover, what are the experiences of the Kurdish diaspora in countries where hostility and discrimination towards immigrants are alarmingly on the rise?

The Kurdish Migration Conference 2017 aims to bring together researchers from a range of disciplines working on Kurdish migration to discuss these and other relevant questions and to exchange their views and findings about all aspects of migration from, through and into Kurdistan, as well as about the experiences of diasporic communities and second generations abroad.

Keynote speakers:

• Professor Joshua Castellino (Middlesex University, London)
• Dr Osten Wahlbeck (University of Helsinki, Finland)

More speakers will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Call for abstracts

Researchers are encouraged to contribute to and help shape the conference through submissions of their abstracts. The conference themes cover issues relating to migration from, through and into Kurdistan.

Topics of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:

• Migration, ethnicity, citizenship, belonging and identity politics
• Migration, labour market, entrepreneurship and economic integration
• Migration, gendered experiences, and sexuality
• Family dynamics and intergenerational relationships
• Migrants, media and translocal cultural politics and representations
• Political participation, (digital) networks and organizations
• Transnational ties and/or remittances
• Migration, law, legal status, rights, and undocumented migration
• Internal and international migration, borders and borderlands
• Discrimination and xenophobia and diasporic narratives of Kurdish resistance
• Refugee and internal displacement issues
• Migration theories and frameworks
• Research methodology and Kurdish migration

We also welcome submissions of proposals for panels.

Special panel: Kurdish Studies at British Universities

Due to a strong demand of scholars working in all subject of Kurds and Kurdistan at British universities, we have decided to organise a special panel(s) on “Kurdish Studies at British Universities”. The papers for this panel are not limited to migration but is open for all subject of Kurds and Kurdistan studies. If you would like to be considered for the special panel please note this in your submission.

How to submit

Click here to submit your abstract (or panel) proposal online 

N.B. All speakers will be required to register and pay the registration fee ahead of the conference. You will be sent information on how to register upon acceptance of your paper.

Registration fee:  £ 50
Discount fee for students (undergraduate, postgraduate or doctoral): £ 25

For more information, please contact the conference organisers:
– Dr Janroj Yilmaz Keles: J.Keles@mdx.ac.uk
– ‎Dr Alessio D’Angelo: A.Dangelo@mdx.a.uk

Important Dates

– Deadline for abstract submissions: March 1st, 2017
– Notification of acceptance: March 15, 2017
– Conference date: June 15-16, 2017

This conference is organised by the Business School
and the Social Policy Research Centre at Middlesex University

Abbas, Tahir

Edinburgh University Press, 2016

ISBN: 9781474417990

Cicek, Cuma

I. B. Tauris, 2016

ISBN: 9781784535452

In fact, Kurds in Turkey have many diverse political and ideological orientations. Focusing on the elites of these informal groups – national, religious and economic – Cuma Cicek analyses the consequences of the divisions and subsequent prospects of consensus building. Using an innovative theoretical framework founded on constructivism, the ‘three ‘I’s’ model and various strands of sociology, Cicek considers the dynamics that affect the Kurds in Turkey across issues as diverse as the central state, geopolitics, nationalism, Europeanisation and globalisation. In so doing, he examines the consensus-building process of 1999-2015 and presents the possible route to a unified Kurdish political state. Cicek’s in-depth and meticulously researched work adds an indispensable layer of nuance to our conception of the Kurdish community. This is an important book for students or researchers with an interest in the history and present of the Kurds and their future in Turkey and across the Middle East.

For details click here.

University of Kurdistan-Hewler, Erbil, Kurdistan Region Iraq, 24-25 May 2017

The University of Kurdistan-Hewler is pleased to announce the call for papers for a conference on the latest developments in Iraq and the Middle East, Iraqi Kurdistan at a Crossroads: Current Issues of Domestic and Middle Eastern Politics, Erbil, May 24-25, 2017. The defeat of ISIS is a matter of time while restoring peace and acquiring stability in the Middle East will take many years to come.  One of the biggest problems that needs to be addressed in order to achieve long-lasting stability in the region is the Kurdish question, including Iraqi Kurdistan’s plans to break away from Iraq.

The Conference topics include:

·        The Kurdistan regional government in the post-ISIS period 

·        Erbil-Baghdad relations; political, economic and social challenges

·        Neighboring countries’ policies towards the KRG

·        Major global power strategies towards Iraq and Kurdistan

Proposal ideas that extend beyond these thematic areas will be also considered. 

 Proposal submission deadline:   January 16, 2017

For more information and to submit a proposal, please visit https://www.ukh.edu.krd/eventdetail.php?evid=39

The School of History, Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester  initiates its ‘International Seminar Series’ on Kurds and the Middle East and is pleased to invite you on November, 1^st 2016 in the event entitled Kurdish Independence and EU aspects: The Impact of a Confederate Model of Governance.

The Seminar will address:

• The Project of Independence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
• The Kurdish Referendum: Challenges, Outcome and Impact
• Confederation as potential model of governance
• EU Views and Policies

With Guest Speaker:

Delaware Ajgeiy, Head of Mission to European Union, Kurdistan Regional Government

Attenborough Basement, University Film Theatre

To Register: Please email politics@le.ac.uk expressing your interest.

November 2-4 2016, Scott Hall, Guild Lounge, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

The Kurds are one of the world’s largest ethnic groups without a state, constituting sizable minorities in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. They have recently become prominent in world politics due to their fight against the Islamic State in the midst of Syria’s civil war. Yet until now, their history has largely been one of marginalization, oppression, and resistance across borders.

It is estimated that about half of world’s more than 30 million Kurds live in Turkey, where they have struggled for self-governance through parliamentarian politics and armed conflict for more than 30 years. The three-year peace talks between the Turkish State and the PKK (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê, the main armed group of the Kurds) were terminated in July 2015 by the Turkish state, leading to yet another cycle of violence.

Hundreds of civilian casualties, thousands of displaced Kurds, and terrified Kurdish and Turkish societies thus joined the long history of violence and deprivation in Turkey. This international conference aims to bring together cutting-edge research examining the last hundred years of Kurdish existence in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic in a historical and comparative perspective.

For details click here.