This talk marks the launch of a special issue in the Journal of South Atlantic Quarterly. It explores the burgeoning movement toward decolonizing Kurdish studies, outlining its challenges and opportunities within the academic landscape. Central to the discussion is the concept of the coloniality of power, which offers a framework for understanding the enduring oppression faced by Kurds within the context of ongoing colonial domination in the Middle East. The talk delves into themes of historical erasure and academic marginalization, shedding light on the struggle for recognition within not only national and regional variants of area studies such as Turkish, Arab, Iranian, and Middle East studies but also the Euro-American academy more broadly. Furthermore, the talk underlines the potential of decolonial methodologies in reshaping the study of Kurds and Kurdistan, emphasizing the significance of amplifying voices from the ground, including those of Kurdish intellectuals, activists, and politicians. Through critical reflexivity and engagement with diverse perspectives, the talk calls for a reimagining of Kurdish studies that prioritizes epistemic decolonization, centering the experiences and agency of Kurdish communities.
Title: Decolonial Turn and Methodological Challenges in Kurdish Studies
Speaker: Mashuq Kurt (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Moderator: Mostafa Khalili (CSEAS / Hakubi Center, Kyoto University)
Language: English
Program:
14:00-16:00 Lecture followed by Q&A
16:00-17:00 Roundtable Discussion: The Future of Kurdish Studies
About the Speaker:
Dr. Mashuq Kurt is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of Kurdish Hizbullah in Turkey: Islamism, Violence and the State (Pluto, 2017) and co-editor of two special issues in the journals of South Atlantic Quarterly and Contemporary Islam. His numerous articles and book chapters appeared in Current Anthropology, South Atlantic Quarterly, Social Research: An International Quarterly, Contemporary Islam, Cambridge History of the Kurds and Oxford Handbook of Religion in Turkey, among others. He writes about Kurds and Kurdistan, Turkey, Islamism, political violence, and Muslim diasporas in Europe and the USA.
Contact: khalili[at]cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Organize by:
“Deconstructing the Production of Knowledge on the Kurds and Kurdistan” (Mostafa Khalili, FY2024 Collaborative Research Project, Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University)
“Minorities (dis)engagement in the majority-led social movements: a relational approach towards understanding the perception of “nation consciousness” among ethnoreligious minorities in the Middle East” (PI: Mostafa Khalili, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists, 24K20991)