In the aftermath of the Second Gulf Wax, the Kurdish people are on the verge of establishing themselves as a recognised political force within a federation. The case of the Kurds, therefore, provides a strong foundation for drawing fresh, insightful conclusions about a very contemporary question: how do ethnicity and issues of self-determination interact?
In the early twentieth century the principle of self-determination was expounded by two very different leaders — the revolutionary Russian Vladimir Lenin and the liberal American Woodrow Wilson. In our times, however, ethnic relations are assuming the central role nationalism occupied over a century ago. Today more than 8,000 languages are spoken on the planet by people of dozens of religions and races. These markers of ethnicity are trapped in fewer than 200 states, the very political units that can satisfy nationalist yearnings.
The Kurdish situation is approached here from a wider theoretical perspective which rethinks the accepted conventions about what ethnicity is and is not. Here such experts as Fred Halliday, Martin van Bruinessen, Joyce Blau, Maria O'Shea, Sami Zubaida and others develop a more complex and fluid understanding of ethnicity. The roles of language, material culture and religion are considered together with the role of social organisation, including tribe, sect, brotherhoods and the city. Such a diversified critique of modernist, essentialist and historical schools helps redefine the 'ethnic self; with cases drawn from the modem or recent history of Iraq, Turkey and Iran.
Each of the contributors has written extensively on the Kurds or the Middle East and, by bringing together the disciplines of history, anthropology, sociology, politics, geography and linguistics, enriches and refines the debate.
Contents
Foreword: Ethnicity, nationalism and die Unitary State in die Middle East: The case of the Kurds Faleh A. Jabar and Hosham Dawod / 7
Part one: Defining Kurdish nationalism / 11
Can we write a modernist history of Kurdish nationalism? Fred Halliday / 11
Kurdish paths to nation Martin van Bruinessen / 21
The Kurds and their 'others': Fragmented identity and fragmented politics Abbas Vali / 49
Ethnicity and power: Some reflections on ethnic definitions and boundaries Hosham Dawod / 79
Part two: society, language, culture and history / 93 Religion and ethnicity as politicized boundaries Sami Zubaida / 93
Refinement and oppression of Kurdish language Joyce Blau / 103
Tying down the territory: Conceptions and misconceptions of early Kurdish history Maria O'Shea / 113
Tribal asabiyya and Kurdish politics: A socio-historical perspective Hamit Bozarslan / 130
Part three: Kurds in Iraq / 151 Urbanization, privatization, and patronage: The political economy of Iraqi Kurdistan Michael Leezenberg / 151
Fayli Kurds of Baghdad and the Ba'ath regime Saad B. Eskander / 180
Political Islam among the Kurds Michiel Leezenberg / 203
Part four: Post-conflict Iraq / 231 Federalism and the Kurds of Iraq: The solution or the problem? Michael M. Gunter / 231
Finding a dangerous equilibrium: Internal politics in Iraqi Kurdistan — parties, tribes, religion and ethnicity reconsidered Gareth Stanfield / 258
Arab nationalism versus Kurdish nationalism: reflections on structural parallels and discontinuities Faleh A. Jabar / 277
Ethnicity, nationalism and the unitary state in the Middle East: The case of the Kurds
Faleh A. Jabar and Hosham Dawod
With the advent of the 21 st century, ethnic relations are assuming the central role that nationalism occupied at the beginning of the 20th century, when the principle of self-determination was heralded by two contrasting leaders: the revolutionary Russian Vladimir Lenin and the liberal American Woodrow Wilson. Since more than 8000 languages dot the planet, and dozens of religions and races mix with them, these markers of ethnicities are trapped in fewer than 200 states, the very political units that may satisfy nationalist yearnings. Ethnicity may prove to be thornier and more problematic. The case of the Kurds is now to the fore. And Iraq, the focus of international politics, is its arena.
This volume approaches the ethnic question in a specific region, the Middle East, and on the basis of a specific case, the Kurds, focusing most attention on Iraq, where the first Kurdish federal polity is taking shape.
The book examines ethnicity from a wider theoretical perspective, scrutinizing the long-accepted underpinnings of what ethnicity is and is not. Most importantly, it develops, through a diversified critique of modernist, essentialist and historical schools, a more complex and fluid understanding of ethnicity. The role of language, material culture and religion is examined, together with the role of social organization — tribe, sect, Sufi lodges and city — in defining the ethnic self. Cases are drawn not only from Iraq but also from the modem or recent history of Iraq, Turkey and Iran.
The authors of this volume include, among others, Fred Halliday, Martin Van Bruinessen, Joyce Blau, Maria O'Shea, Sami Zubaida, Gareth Stansfield and Michael Gunter, each authors of works on the Kurds or the Middle East.
They hail from various disciplines that combine history, anthropology and sociology with politics, geography and linguistics, lending the debate a rich and intricate character.
Faleh A. Jabar is Director of the newly established Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies. His books include The Shi'ite movement in Iraq (Saqi).
Hosham Dawod is an anthropologist at the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique and co-editor with Faleh A. Jabar of Tribes and Power: Nationalism and Ethnicity in the Middle East (Saqi).
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