http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/projects/kwnet/Non_State_Nation.htm
International Kurdish Women's Studies Network
Tora Navneteweyî ya Lêkolînên Jinên Kurd
Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds
Edited by Shahrzad Mojab
Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers. Forthcoming, Spring
2000
This book is the first scholarly work on feminism and
nationalism in the context of one of the most persistent nationalist
movements of the twentieth century Kurdish nationalism. While a
considerable volume of the literature on the Kurds deals with their
nationalism, the place of women in this nationalist movement has rarely
been
studied.
The relationship between nationalism and feminism is
quite complex and
conflictive. While some progress has recently been
made in theorizing the
relationships, there is a dearth of empirical studies
of the topic. The contributors to this book examine aspects of Kurdish
women's lives in light of current theoretical debates. For the first
time, the contributors apply gender critique to the
understanding of the nationalism of the world's largest non-state
nation, the Kurds.
The book introduces a gender dimension into the growing literature on
Kurdish
nationalism. The diversity of Kurdish women's lives and experiences,
from their
membership in the parliament to military activism to
mothering is documented. At the same time, it provides extensive
evidence and analysis, which questions the
widely accepted claim that Kurdish women enjoy more
freedom compared with their Arab, Turkish and Persian sisters.
Many of the topics in the book have never been addressed in Kurdish
studies, for
instance, gender and self-determination, women and Sufism, feminism
and
nationalism, and women and health choices. The editor's introductory
chapter is the
first survey of Kurdish women's studies, and provides
a critical overview of the state of research, and examines theoretical
and methodological issues as well as
the politics and political economy of research on the women of a
non-state nation.
CONTENTS
Introduction:
Shahrzad Mojab, The Solitude of the Stateless: Kurdish
Women at the Margins of Feminist Knowledge.
Part I: Historical Perspectives:
Janet Klein, The Natural Resources of the Nation:
Women in Kurdish Nationalist Discourse of the Late Ottoman Period.
Rohat Alakom, Kurdish Women's Movement in
Constantinople.
Shahrzad Mojab, Women and Nationalism in the Kurdish
Republic of 1946.
Part II: Political and Legal Perspectives:
Martin van Bruinessen, From Adela Khanum to Leyla
Zana: Women as Political Leaders.
Heidi Wedel, Kurdish Migrant Women in Istanbul:
Community and the Resources for Political Participation of Marginalized
Social Group.
Susan McDonald, Kurdish Women and Self-determination:
A Feminist Approach to International Law.
Part III: Social, Cultural, and Linguistic
Perspectives:
Maria O'Shea, Medic, Mystic or Magic? Women's Health
Choices in a Kurdish Town.
Christine Allison, Folklore and Fantasy: The Portrayal
of Women in Kurdish Oral Tradition.
Mirella Galletti, Western Images of the Woman's Role
in Kurdish Society.
Annabelle Bottcher, Portraits of Kurdish Women in
Contemporary Sufism.
Amir Hassanpour, The (Re)production of Patriarchy in
the Kurdish Language.
Specifications:
Spring 2000: xii+295pp., notes, bibliography
ISBN:1-56859-092-X (cloth ): $35.00
ISBN:1-56859-093-8 (paper): $17.95
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Mine Aysen Doyran
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222