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Kurdish Studies in Europe
Abstract
This paper discusses the growing creativity within the field of European Kurdish Studies. While the focus of Kurdish Studies in Europe continues to privilege traditional fields including history, linguistics, cultural studies, and the social sciences, Kurdish scholars also increasingly pursue interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies. Researchers in Kurdish Studies frequently rely on multiple and at times fused methodologies, and occasionally link their research agendas to political activism. As boundary spanners researchers in Kurdish Studies embrace innovative ideas by reaching across disciplinary borders to rethink relationships between migration and ethnic identity, transnationalism and political violence, media studies and enviromentalism, and literary practices and diasporas. This paper highlights emerging trends in Kurdish Studies at select European universities by identifying scholarly opportunities and challenges based on data shared by scholars in the field. Projects at both the MA and Ph.D. levels are integrated in the analysis. Preliminary results indicate that growing numbers of Kurdish scholars in Europe are involved in a process that aims to strengthen the field by expanding the boundaries of Kurdish Studies.
Discipline
International Relations/Affairs
Geographic Area
Kurdistan
Sub Area
Kurdish Studies