Kurds and Yezidis in the Middle East: Shifting Identities, Borders, and the Experience of Minority Communities(Kurdish Studies)

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.

Table 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 and Professor of Political Science at the University of Central Florida where he also directs the Kurdish Political Studies Program. He is the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Turkish Politics (2021) and A Century of Kurdish Politics (2019) and published the monograph Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey (2010).

Review :
The innovative, deeply researched, and interdisciplinary chapters in this volume take us beyond the conventional paradigm of Kurds vs. states through their incisive examination of the layers of two open Middle Eastern wounds: the Kurdish issue and the Yezidi tragedy. By weaving together the complicated history and intercommunal relations between the Kurds and the Yezidis, as well as the groups dominating them, the empirically rich essays provide a nuanced account of the factors that have shaped Kurdish and Yezidi identities and their cross-pollinations. Scholars and students of inter-communal relations, ethnic identity, and nationalism will find a mine of information and a multitude of cases to draw on. This book collects interesting papers on Kurdish and Yazidi studies and tries to connect the two fields with each other. Focused on Iraq and Turkey it connects Kurdish and Yazidi experiences and perception as minorities in the Middle East. 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.