Kurdish Culture and Society: An Annotated Bibliography
This is the first comprehensive annotated bibliography exclusively devoted to Kurdish culture and society. It includes entries in many areas including but not limited to anthropology, archaeology, art, communication, demography, description and travel, economy, education, ethnicity, folklore, health conditions, journalism, language, literature, migration, music, religion, social structure and organization, urbanization, and women. It also includes entries on the Kurds in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, former Soviet Union, Europe and other countries of the world. These topics have been selected for two main reasons: first, they need more attention from bibliographers and, second, locating published information on these topics is not an easy task, particularly because such information is highly diverse (e.g., in terms of language and country of publication) and very much scattered (see below). This bibliography will assist researchers and other readers to locate relevant published information very easily and efficiently. It will fill a major gap in the Kurdish, Middle Eastern, and world library.
Literature on the aforementioned topics was covered in a number of previously published comprehensive bibliographies; however, each of these bibliographies has a number of disadvantages in comparison to this project. For example, ISK's Kurdish Bibliography, one of the earliest and most exhaustive bibliographies on the Kurds and Kurdistan with 9,350 entries in more than twenty languages, did include material on Kurdish culture and society. However, none of the bibliography's entries is annotated and its only index—a subject index—is not sufficiently detailed to provide good levels of precision and recall. Also, the work is now very much in need of an update.
Another comprehensive bibliography on the Kurds and Kurdistan was compiled by Joyce Blau. Her work is a collection of short reviews of books and articles on the Kurds and Kurdistan which have appeared in Abstracta Iranica between 1977 and 1987. Many of the annotations were originally written by Blau herself. The book is considered the first comprehensive annotated bibliography to cover works on Kurdish language, history, literature and culture in all parts of Kurdistan. It includes an impressive number of publications in Kurdish. It further includes works in Persian, Turkish, and some East and West European languages. Blau's bibliography, however, is weak in its coverage of Arabic, English, French, and German materials. The bibliography moreover does not cover materials published before 1977. An update to Blau's bibliography was compiled in 1996 by Gilet and Beriel, yet, the problem of poor coverage of Arabic, English, French, and German materials persisted. In addition, there were very few items included in this bibliography covering the period after 1993...
Lokman I. Meho Chapel Hill, NC
Contents
ABBREVIATIONS / ix PREFACE / xi
PART I: ESSAYS / 1 The Kurds and Kurdistan: A General Background / 3 Lokman L Meho
The Kurds in Lebenon: An Overview / 27 Lokman L Meho
PART II: BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. General Works / 51 2. Anthropology / 61 3. Archaeology / 67 4. Decorative, Fine, and Performing Arts / 75 5. Description and Travel / 87 6. Economy and Development / 101 7. Education / 109 8. Health Conditions / 113 9. Jewish Kurds / 121 10. Journalism, Mass Communication, and Freedom of the Press / 141 11. Kurdish Diaspora / 145 12. Kurds in Syria, Lebanon, and Former Soviet Union / 157 13. Language Studies/Works / 163 14. Literature, Folklore, and Oral Traditions / 197 15. Music, Dance, and Songs / 215 16. National, Cultural, and Ethnic Identity / 221 17. National Identity and the Language Question / 239 18. Population and Urban Studies / 247 19. Religion in Kurdistan / 253 20. Sociology / 279 21. Women / 285 22. Miscellaneous / 293
APPENDIX: KURDISH WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES / 315 NAME INDEX / 319 TITLE INDEX / 327 SUBJECT INDEX / 349
Preface
This is the first comprehensive annotated bibliography exclusively devoted to Kurdish culture and society. It includes entries in many areas including but not limited to anthropology, archaeology, art, communication, demography, description and travel, economy, education, ethnicity, folklore, health conditions, journalism, language, literature, migration, music, religion, social structure and organization, urbanization, and women. It also includes entries on the Kurds in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, former Soviet Union, Europe and other countries of the world. These topics have been selected for two main reasons: first, they need more attention from bibliographers and, second, locating published information on these topics is not an easy task, particularly because such information is highly diverse (e.g., in terms of language and country of publication) and very much scattered (see below). This bibliography will assist researchers and other readers to locate relevant published information very easily and efficiently. It will fill a major gap in the Kurdish, Middle Eastern, and world library.
Literature on the aforementioned topics was covered in a number of previously published comprehensive bibliographies; however, each of these bibliographies has a number of disadvantages in comparison to this project. For example, ISK's Kurdish Bibliography, one of the earliest and most exhaustive bibliographies on the Kurds and Kurdistan with 9,350 entries in more than twenty languages, did include material on Kurdish culture and society. However, none of the bibliography's entries is annotated and its only index—a subject index—is not sufficiently detailed to provide good levels of precision and recall. Also, the work is now very much in need of an update.
Another comprehensive bibliography on the Kurds and Kurdistan was compiled by Joyce Blau. Her work is a collection of short reviews of books and articles on the Kurds and Kurdistan which have appeared in Abstracta Iranica between 1977 and 1987. Many of the annotations were originally written by Blau herself. The book is considered the first comprehensive annotated bibliography to cover works on Kurdish language, history, literature and culture in all parts of Kurdistan. It includes an impressive number of publications in Kurdish. It further includes works in Persian, Turkish, and some East and West European languages. Blau's bibliography, however, is weak in its coverage of Arabic, English, French, and German materials. The bibliography moreover does not cover materials published before 1977. An update to Blau's bibliography was compiled in 1996 by Gilet and Beriel, yet, the problem of poor coverage of Arabic, English, French, and German materials persisted. In addition, there were very few items included in this bibliography covering the period after 1993.
More recently, I compiled a bibliography on the Kurds. It was the first annotated bibliography to be published in English and cover all parts of Kurdistan. The bibliography includes 814 entries covering some of the most important works that were published between the early 1940s and mid-1990s. The bibliography is general in character; however, it focuses more on history, politics, and human rights literature than on other research areas. Almost 70% of the records in the bibliography are listed under history and politics. The remaining 30% are primarily divided between language, religion, and Kurdish Jews. Moreover, the materials included are overwhelmingly in English.
As far as non-English and non-French general comprehensive bibliographies on the Kurds are concerned, only two were found: (1) Dzhalile Dzhalil—a 534-page long bibliography covering items in Armenian, Kurdish, and Russian; and (2) Zh. S. Musaelian—a 918-page long bibliography covering items in Armenian, Kurdish, Russian, and other East European languages. Bibliographies in Arabic and German were located. However, they were either dated or had no or poor coverage of Kurdish culture and society literature. Most of them also lacked annotations. It is primarily the above discussed problems of earlier bibliographies that motivated us to compile this comprehensive, up-to-date, and annotated bibliography on Kurdish culture and society. Certainly, the need for such a bibliography with particular emphasis on Arabic, English, French, and German materials was another reason. Although many general items that cover all aspects of Kurdish life and history are included in this bibliography, researchers looking for extensive materials on the history and politics of the Kurds and Kurdistan and/or for literature in Kurdish, Persian Turkish, Russian, and East European languages, are encouraged to consult the above mentioned bibliographies. Researchers are also encouraged to consult, among other sources, the indexing and abstracting services used to compile this bibliography (see below)...
Lokman I. Meho Chapel Hill, NC
Kurdish Culture and Society An Annotated Bibliography
Compiled by Lokman I. Meho and Kelly L. Maglaughlin
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meho, Lokman I., 1968- Kurdish culture and society : an annotated bibliography / compiled by Lokman I. Meho and Kelly L. Maglaughlin. p. cm.—(Bibliographies and indexes in ethnic studies, ISSN 1046-7882 ; no. 9) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-313-31543-4 (alk. paper) 1. Kurds—Bibliography. I. Maglaughlin, Kelly L. II. Title. III. Series. Z3014.K85M43 2001 [DS59.K86] 016.305891'597—dc21 00-063654
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-063654 ISBN: 0-313-31543-4 ISSN: 1046-7882
First published in 2001
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The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
