RESEARCH GUIDE: Kurdish Studies

By Hamit Bozarslan

"Kurdish studies" began during the first three decades of the Twentieth Century with the works of Basil Nikitin, Vladimir Minorsky and Thomas Bois. In spite of some major studies (F. Barth, I. C. Vany, D.N. MacKenzie...), the later decades however, saw a decline of Kurdish studies. The apparent pacification of Kurdistan by the central governments of Iraq, Iran and Turkey explains largely this lack of interest for this issue from the 1940s up to 1960s.

THE RENEWAL OF THE 1970s-1990s

From the 1960's to the 1990's, however, this situation changed gradually. The Barzani rebellion in Iraq (1961-1975), the guerrilla warfare in Iran (1979-1980) and in Turkey (1984-1999), the two Gulf Wars  (1980-1988, 1991) and the establishment of a "Safe Haven" in Iraqi Kurdistan (1991) put the Kurdish issue once again on the regional and international agenda. These events increased the interest of the Western mass media on the Kurdish issue. At the some time, some "raw materials" and works of Kurdish and Turkish researchers become accessible. Parallel to this evolution, academic Kurdish studies in Europe and, to a lesser extent, in the United States also increased both in quantity and in quality.

Martin van Bruinessen, a Dutch anthropologist, played a decisive role in the renewal of these studies from the 1970s up to now. Alongside his major work, Agha, Sheikh and State. The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan (Zed Press, 1992), van Bruinessen has published a countless number of articles on various aspects of the Kurdish issue as well as on Kurdish society (history of the Kurdish emirates, tribal structures, urban society, religion, nationalism, Kurdish diaspora abroad). His linguistic skills allowed him to acquire a deep knowledge of the Middle East and to attain a high degree of erudition that goes hand-in-hand with a constant theoretical concern that is in sharp contrast with the Orientalist traditions.

During the last two decades, and partly due to the lead of van Bruinessen, other scholars in Europe and in the United States have also contributed to the development of the Kurdish studies. A non-exhaustive list would include the following names : Salih Akin (France, languages and politics), Ali Babakhan  (France, Kurdish issue in Iraq), Henry Barkey (USA, Kurdish issue in Turkey), Gunter Behrendt (Germany, emergence of Kurdish nationalism), Joyce Blau de Wengen (France, Kurdish language, religious studies), Gerard Chaliand (France, Kurdish issue), Michael L. Chyet (USA, Kurdish language), Nelida Fuccaro (U.K., Yezidism, Iraqi Kurdistan), Graham Fuller (USA, Kurdish issue in Turkey), Gulistan Gurbey (Germany, conflict solution), Hocham Dawod (France, state-tribe relations), Farhad Ibrahim (Germany, civil society), Michael Leezenberg (Netherlands, contemporary Iraqi Kurdistan), David MacDowell  (U.K., modern Kurdish history), Amir Hassanpour, (Canada, culture and politics), Mirella Galetti (Italy, Kurdistan observed by travellers), Philip G.  Kreyenbroek (U.K.-Germany, language, Yezidism), Hans-Lukas Kieser (Switzerland, Kurdish Alevis), Kendal Nezan  (France, Kurdish issue), Robert Olson (USA, modern Kurdish history), Abbas Vali (U.K., Kurdish nationalism and historiography), Jelle Verheij  (Netherlands, Kurdish-Armenian relations), Heidi Wedel (Germany, Kurdish migrants, gender studies), Paul White (Australia, Kurdish nationalism), Andreas Wimmer (Switzerland, state-tribe relations), Lale Yalcin-Heckmann (Turkey-Germany, state-tribe relations), Burhaneddin Yasin (Sweden, Kurdish issue in Iraq).

The SOAS in London (Philip G. Kreyenbrok, Maria O'Shea, Christine Alison), the INALCO in Paris (Joyce Blau de Wengen, Halkawt Hakim), Berliner Institut fur Vergleichende Sozialforshung (Robin Schneider, Jochen Blashke) and the student circle on the Frei University of Berlin, as well as collective initiatives due to the Kurdish Institute in Paris, Navend in Cologne and the Kurdish Library in New York also contributed to the development of the Kurdish studies.  Finally, some remarkable works have been accomplished by reporters such Chris Kutchera, Jonathan Randal and Susan Meiselas.

THREE OBSTACLES

In spite of this evolution, Kurdish studies remain insufficient and one cannot assume a prosperous future. Most of the work done has been the result of individual investments, forbidding scholars of this field to project long-term research programs. Parallel to the scarcity of material resources and adequate academic structures, those scholars face three major obstacles.

The first obstacle should be sought in the very nature of Middle Eastern studies both in Europe and in the United States. They are unequally developed. While studies on the "ancient" and "medieval" Middle East are fortunately well institutionalized, modern and contemporary history--as well as some disciplines as sociology--are rather poorly developed. Similarly, some countries are more studied than the others. Kurdish studies, as well as some other crucial issues, thus become "marginal subjects," being only mentioned rather than properly explored in the scientific literature.

The second obstacle is linked to political situations in the countries concerned by the Kurdish issue. The states in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria largely control academic life, deciding which subjects are "scientific" ones and how they should be studied. Even in Turkey, the most democratic among those countries, some subjects, like the Kurdish issue, are either discouraged or become practically non-existent. This ideological domination is partly reproduced in the Western countries. A scholar working on the Kurdish issue becomes automatically suspect of perhaps being linked to the PKK or even a disguised terrorist. Such a scholar must constantly explain and justify his/her personal positions on the Kurdish issue, resist the pressures and public denunciations of the Turkish mass media, and, at the some time, try to create working conditions equal to colleagues studying "non-dangerous" aspects of Middle Eastern societies. To complete this picture, one should also add that the Kurdish nationalist movements themselves impose an ideological mortgage on the Kurdish studies. Subjects like the intra-Kurdish ethnic groups, "linguistic plurality" of Kurdish society, and sociological aspects of the Kurdish nationalist movements remain largely "forbidden" subjects.

The final obstacle is linked to the difficult conditions of conducting research in the field. In fact, Kurdish scholars can return to their home countries and conduct field work only if they pay a very high cost that can include imprisonment and death. But for non-Kurdish scholars the work conditions are also hard. Many of them are refused a visa and almost none of them can have access to the field. They must worry about compromising the security of the people interviewed for academic purposes. None of them can access archives.

In spite of those obstacles, one should recognize that during the last decades, some remarkable progress has been accomplished in the field of the Kurdish studies. The increase of the number of Ph.D. students studying the Kurdish issue and society in Germany, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States, could be understood as an ongoing interest for this field. One should hope that these students will be able to overcome the above-mentioned obstacles by innovating new research methods and new scientific approaches.

Hamit Bozarslan is an Associate Professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Author of La question kurde. Etats et minorites au Moyen-Orient (Paris, Presses de Sciences-Po, 1997), he is currently working on the issues surrounding violence in Turkey and the Middle East.