Cinema Regarding Nations: Re-imagining Armenian, Kurdish, and Palestinian national identity in film
This thesis examines how film contributes to the collection of visual images and narratives that enable a community to imagine itself as a nation. It focuses on three such communities, the Armenians, the Kurds, and the Palestinians, who have been, or remain, stateless. It argues that, in the face of external threats, stateless nations and their diasporas require repeated re-imagining to ensure their continued existence. A starting point for the study is that cinema is an important site for this re-imagining in the way that it continually highlights concerns with national identity.
Using a diverse collection of film in each case, the analysis identifies national themes, key symbols, and formal structures employed by film-makers to depict these nations. The films are categorised by means of the concept of “cinema regarding nations”, that is they are specifically about the respective nations. Through this categorisation, the thesis contributes to national cinema studies by facilitating the critical examination of a body of work which otherwise is fragmented.
The study is comparative and uses a combination of textual and contextual analysis that enables the films from each case to be related to their political and social circumstances. The cases represent nations with arguably widely different origins, from the “historic” Armenians to the more “modern” Palestinians. Thus, the thesis also contributes to the debate in studies of national identity and nationalism between those who argue the nation is a modern political invention and those who argue that cultural roots are essential for the formation and persistence of nations. It reveals the relationship of the historical processes of nation formation and the persistence of national identity over time to their representation in film. Table of contents
List of maps / v
Acknowledgements / vii
Notes on transliteration / viii
Chapter 1 Cinema, State, and Nation / 1
The state, nation, and identity / 2
Cinema and the state / 3
Oppositional cinema / 6
Organising principles / 12
Research design / 15
Chapter 2 Perspectives on the Nation / 19
What is the nation? / 20
Case studies / 22
Narratives of the nation / 28
Form and visual style / 30
Images and symbols / 31
Themes of a nation / 34
Chapter 3 Looking Back From Ararat – Soviet Armenia / 41
The road to genocide / 43
Soviet Armenia / 44
Experimental forms / 65
Chapter 4 Return to Ararat – The Armenian Diaspora / 74
A crisis of identity / 75
The diasporan nation / 78
Repression and concealment (1915-65) / 80
A new awakening (1965-1980s) / 83
Introspection and analysis (1980s to the present) / 90
Remembering and forgetting / 99
Conclusions / 107
Chapter 5 The Kurds – A Divided People / 111
Kurdish national consciousness / 112
The Kurdish “problem” / 113
Suppression (1920s-1960s) / 115
Politicisation (1960s-1980s) / 117
Güney and Kurdish identity / 121
Chapter 6 Constructing a “Virtual” Kurdish Nation / 145
Turning point in Kurdish nationalism / 148
The Kurdish frontier / 149
Physical frontiers / 150
Abstract frontiers / 158
Conclusions / 174
Chapter 7 Constructing and Sustaining Palestinian Identity / 181
The absent narrative of Palestine / 183
A turning point / 191
Re-emergence of a Palestinian narrative / 193
Tradition, modernity, and power / 195
Patriarchy and power / 198
Women and the nation / 200
The absent male / 207
Palestine’s children / 210
History, religion, and language / 211
Chapter 8 Preserving the Spaces of Palestine / 217
Physical space – rhetoric of the land / 219
Constructing political spaces / 225
Narratives of resistance / 235
Conclusions / 244
Chapter 9 Conclusion: Re-imagining National Identity in the Cinema / 251
What are the differences? / 252
What are the commonalities? / 253
Can differences be related to the context? / 254
Can representations be related to the formation and maintenance of identity? / 259
Bibliography / 262
Filmography / 284
Key films / 284
Additional films / 286
List of maps
Map 1: Armenia at different historical periods. Hewsen (2001:13) / 40
Map 2: The distribution of Kurdish peoples (Izady, 1992) / 109
Map 3: Cinematic journeys through Anatolia / 110
Map 4: Proposed and de facto partition of Palestine 1947-49 (http://www.passia.org) / 179
Map 5: Fragmentation of the West Bank (http://www.passia.org) / 180 Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following institutions for providing me with access to their film and video collections: the Media Resources Centre, University of California, Berkeley; Middle Eastern Studies Centre, New York University; the British Film Institute, London; and the Widener and Lamont libraries at Harvard University. Particular thanks also to Professor Hamid Dabashi of the Department of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University, New York for allowing me to view his private collection of films. I would also like to acknowledge the help I received from Dr. Eugene Rogan, Director of the Middle East Centre at Oxford University. He kindly allowed me access to the library and willingly engaged in many enlightening conversations about the region.
Various film-makers, including Mohammad Bakri, Rashid Masharawi, Tina Bastajian, and Gariné Torossian generously gave me copies of their films to help with my research.
Artsvi Bakhchinyan was invaluable both in giving his time for interviews and making possible my visit to the Armenian Film Archives in Yerevan. Gareguine Zakoïan, the Deputy Director of the Archive was extremely helpful in providing resources (a projectionist and a movie theatre) for viewing some of the rarer films from the collection, and for his time in numerous interviews. Reem Bader from the Royal Film Commission in Amman, Jordan was also generous with her time in discussing the Palestinian film archives.
Vergine Gulbenkian, Dr. Kerem Oktem, and Refqa Aburemaileh, were very valuable in interpreting respectively from Armenian, Turkish/Kurdish, and Arabic where sub-titles were either absent or sparse. Their insights added greatly to my ability to understand difficult passages in several films.
I am grateful to the inspiring teaching at the University of Reading Film, Theatre, and Television Department during my study for a Masters Degree which spurred my interest in pursuing this research. I owe a particular debt to my supervisor, Dr. Alastair Phillips, who has been exceptionally generous with his time and constructive criticism. His extensive comments on my work have prompted me to question my ideas and have considerably improved my work over the last four years. Finally, I would like to thank Rosemary Foot whose delight in the subject and unflagging support and encouragement have made it a great pleasure to undertake this study. THE UNIVERSITY OF READING
Cinema Regarding Nations
Re-imagining Armenian, Kurdish, and Palestinian national identity in film
Thesis awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 2007
Department of Film, Theatre & Television
Copyright © 2007, 2008 Tim Kennedy
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