The Role of Contemporary Kurdish Literature in Crafting a Trans-borders National Identity

 

Kurds are one of the oldest indigenous nations in the Middle East, but the stateless and the divided status among the four newly established countries of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria after World War I resulted in a fragmented identity which affected consequently the development of the Kurdish language and literature. Accordingly, in their novels, contemporary Kurdish writers have been focusing on questioning their own identity, “who we are?” and “where we come from?”. This paper explores the role of literature in resisting hegemonic policies and assimilation attempts targeting the indigenous existence by emphasising on the cultural and ethnical specificities and delivering the Kurdish question to the dominant nations and the whole world away from preconceived notions.

Through analysing the main themes of four novels written by four prominent Kurdish novelists from each part of Kurdistan, this paper aims to show how these narratives preserve the Kurdish language on one hand and the national and cultural identity on the other hand from forced assimilation within the de facto countries. It also shows how the Kurdish novelistic discourse managed to bridge the de facto borders to craft a collective national identity by subjecting those novels to critical discourse through the prism of Benedict Anderson’s “Imagined Communities”.

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Keywords; Kurdish novel, national identity, trans-borders and trans-cultural identity, native language preservation, colonial legacy, imagined community. 

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About Rezgar Haji:

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Rezgar Haji is a second-year student of the master program E-SC at the University of Bremen. He is part of the MasterVision 2.0 Online-Conference Team. He holds a Bachelor of English Literature and Diploma of Educational Habilitation. He worked as a teacher in high schools in Erbil- Kurdistan Region and currently, he works on his thesis on “Contemporary Kurdish Literature”.  His research interests lie in the field of literature, theater, media, and education.

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References:

Yûsiv, H. (2016). When fish get thirsty. Leeds, UK: Mira Publishing House CIC.

Uzun, M. (2017). Im Schatten der verlorenen Liebe. Zürich, Switzerland: Unionsverlag.

Homa, A. (2020). Daughters of smoke and fire. New York, USA: Harry N. Abrams.

Saleem, H. (2006). My father's rifle: A childhood in Kurdistan. New York, USA: Picador.

Anderson, B. (2016). Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London, UK: Verso.