The Kurdish National Movement
Its origins and development
Before his death in 2001, Dr. Wadie Elias Jwaideh served on the faculty of Indiana Uni- versity for more than twenty-five years, receiving the Herman Lieber Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1972 and retiring in 1987 as chairman of its Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, which he established, and professor of his- tory. Even after his retirement, he continued teaching, serving as adjunct professor of history at the University of California at San Diego until 1990. Professor Jwaideh was educated in Iraq and the United States. His Ph.D. dissertation, the basis for this book, earned him recognition as one of the world's leading experts on the Kurds by the early 1960s. His broad knowledge of Middle Eastern history and culture prompted invita- tions to meet with President Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis and to partici- pate in the inauguration ceremonies of several new universities in the Arab world, including the University of Kuwait and the University of the United Arab Emirates. His publications include articles in scholarly journals and in the Encyclopaedia Britannica and an annotated translation of the six introductory chapters of Yaqut's famous Mujam al-Buldan.
Jwaideh was born in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, into an Arabic-speaking Christian family that later moved to Baghdad. His intimate knowledge of the land and its people gave Jwaideh shrewd insight into Kurdish society and politics. Exploring the rich histori-cal roots of the Kurclish national movement, he challenges the established view of the early Kurdish uprisings as isolated incidents triggered by economic hardship or political dissatisfaction. Instead he offers a new interpretation of the Kurds' nationalist position, convincingly demonstrating the age and depth of their grievances. This complex and lay-ered history of the Kurdish nationalist movement offers a valuable perspective from which to view the current conditions in Iraq. Jwaideh's sensitive and prescient treatment of this region gives his study great contemporary relevance.
