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Description
ALCITfem is an interdisciplinary research programme that is rooted in Literary Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Gender Studies and Sociology. It investigates how the Kurds, who lack state structures and state institutions, have operated outside of such structures by building cultural and social institutions of their own in the different states of which they are citizens. As women’s voices and activities have often remained underexposed, ALCITfem will specifically focus on women’s roles herein, and on moral ideas and narratives about the societal positions of women and men. ALCITfem combines feminist theorizing about ‘lived citizenship’ with theories of ‘everyday resistance,’ and ‘micropolitics.’ The project focuses on how female activists found spaces and imaginations to forge change in their communities, while simultaneously attempting to influence the community’s position in the nation-state. ALCITfem will study Kurdish alternative citizenship by focusing on two deeply interrelated spaces: activism as initiated by women, and its moral and cultural foundations. This will be investigated in four work packages: 1). The representation of women in Kurdish literature and cinema. 2). Covert activism of Kurdish women. 3). “Doing family”. 4). Eco-feminism. The project thus investigates both highly visible as well as more discrete or hidden practices, and, at the same time, investigates how activism is rooted in cultural and moral traditions. Based in four high-quality research institutes in Poland and Norway, the project uniquely combines the interdisciplinary character of its team-members who will share interview and other research material for each other’s work packages, and will work on joint publications. In its entirety, ALCITfem''s fieldwork covers important centres of activism in Kurdistan and in the diaspora, and will be conducted in the local languages which are known by the team-members.
Summary of project results
Over the last five years, the Kurdistan region, situated in the heart of the Middle East and divided over four nation-states (Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey) has lived through deep transformations. Some of these developments were hopeful and inspiring for many Kurds, whereas other developments were strongly infringing on personal and collective rights. Although large-scale transformations in many cases displaced communities and destroyed institutions, at the same time new actors and institutions emerged, in the homelands as well as in the diaspora. Internationally and locally, the Kurds are more known through guerilla struggle and violent confrontations with the state than through peaceful activism. The focus on violence of both academic studies and media attention has led to a relative invisibility of Kurdish cultural and social activism, whereas such activism has deeply transformed Kurdish society from within. In spite of the limitations caused by state oppression, local cultural centres, women’s organizations, but also individual actors such as artists, writers and intellectuals, have all contributed to new moral narratives and moral imaginations. As women’s voices and activities have often remained underexposed, ALCITfem specifically focused on women’s roles herein, and on moral ideas and narratives about the societal positions of women and men.
- Adapting and developing an innovative comparative research approach. We focused on enacting citizenship by
Kurdish women in Kurdistan and diaspora. - Book: Enacting Citizenship: Kurdish Women''s Resilience, Activism, and Creativity which will be published in Palgrave
Macmillan is the first book in which various examples of activism among Kurds and Kurdish women are labelled
“enacting citizenship” and in which the experiences of women from many places all over Kurdistan and the diaspora
are collated and analysed together. - Broad multi-sited fieldwork: The project provided thorough analysis of Kurdish women initiatives which applied the
results of 230 qualitative interviews and a focus group discussion with 9 participants and presented in detail how Kurdish
women and families operate outside of state structures to initiate transformations in their communities through creative
acts of citizenship both in covert and public settings. - Kurdish heritage as a source of modern activism: We brought into light and thoroughly analysed a wide array of
cultural and moral inspirations and how they impact women’s actions (Kurdish language and its revitalization, cultural
heritage such as the historical figure of Mestûrê Erdalan or stories, symbols such as the lion-like women, art projects
set up by Kurdish women). - Transforming families: we provided an in-depth analysis of the changing gender roles in families and demonstrated
multidimensional links between women’s activism outside of the home spaces and its transforming roles within families
including intergenerational relations and impacts of economic and environmental spheres on family life. - Ecological citizenship: we have found out and demonstrated how acts of citizenship in the field of ecology intertwine
with other dimensions, such as social structure, gender norms, or identity politics. Pro-nature activism of marginalised
groups can be thus contextualised in relation to the national culture and the internal dynamics as well as to the
transnational spaces which support the forming of a post-national form of citizenship. - Public and Private: in various contexts of our research we challenged the binary division of private and public and
showed how the two are intertwined in women’s practices and in women’s moral imaginations and reconstructed to
serve women’s empowerment (for example how the statue of Mestûrê Erdalan became part of the urban space of
Sine and empowered women negotiations of family hierarchies in the private spaces of their homes) - Transnational connections of Kurdish women: For 40 months a team of 10 researchers collected data in four parts of
Kurdistan (in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria) and in the diaspora including cities like London, Stockholm, Oslo, Vienna,
Brussels, Berlin, Toronto, Vigo, Barcelona and even Tokyo. This way we brought to light multiple transnational links
including transnational intergenerational relations, which affect women activities and transform the Kurdish community.
We believe that the new theorisation of the subject of Kurdish women activism we offered in this project and especially in the book Enacting Citizenship will impact not only scholars but also activists, NGOs, journalists, students, cultural managers and maybe even policy makers. For many decades Kurdish studies has been heavily politically-oriented and the indebted research on Kurdish society and culture has emerged only in recent decades. This resulted in a very reductionist and dehumanising approach to Kurdish people perceived only through the prism of war, conflicts and other crises. Our project definitely contributes positively to the new emerging trend in Kurdish Studies and can change ways in which Kurdish women and Kurdish activism and reality are perceived. Hence it can have a deeply moral impact. This was already visible in our discussion launched in the Manggha Museum in Kraków or in the Kurdish Library in Stockholm. We are convinced that this project can further impact not only Kurdish society in Kurdistan and diaspora but first of all those who work with migrants and refugees, people who write about conflicts and the Middle East, for example the journalists and finally even policy makers. Our dissemination of the research results with the help of 5 exhibitions presented in three different countries (Poland, Norway and Portugal): 1. created a more realistic image of Kurdish womens’ realities among a larger population that countered orientalist Eurocentric imaginations, 2. created a platform for Kurdish female photographers, 3. drew attention to an understudied and minoritized community, not only in Kurdistan but also in Europe. Since our project was directly focused on gender and women empowerment, awareness
raising about this was a natural part of the entire project publications and dissemination. The existence of such a large research project entirely focusing on Kurdish women’s activities was an important form of awareness raising in itself. Through the publications and presentations that will continue to be produced by the team members on the collected research material, the new knowledge will continue to be disseminated.
Summary of bilateral results
The project has been based on collaboration between the Polish and Norwegian partners and the level of it should be seen as satisfactory. The research outcomes include 8 joint publication submitted for review in high-quality journals which attests to the collaborative nature of the project. The project implementation, as regards the collaboration between partners located in two countries, should be seen as in complience with the funding scheme''s objectives. Cooperation is also visible in project management and communication and how tasks were shared and co-performed by project team members.