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Building Heritage Bridges: Different Dialects, Memories and Cultures in the Kurdish Transnational Context in the Middle East
Abstract
In his article "Heritage corridors: transnational flows and the built environment of migration" Denis Byrne proposed a notion of heritage corridors to challenge the nation and state-focused approaches to heritage and conceptualise “transnational connectivity between migrant heritage sites” (2016). In my study I propose to further reconsider this concept in the context of the heritage policies launched by the Kurds in the four Middle Eastern countries they live: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. I suggest that in the recent decades, following the increased role of Internet and transnational mobility, the Kurds started to build various heritage bridges between the Kurdish societies and cultures in different parts of their homeland - Kurdistan. Although the Kurdish national discourse usually presents Kurdish language and culture as a unified whole divided by the oppressive states, in reality the Kurdish heritage varies between countries and regions. It differs linguistically (different Kurdish dialects and alphabets) and in terms of diverse historical and political experiences and shared – mostly tragic - memories. In my study I investigate various Kurdish practices to build cross-border links which I propose to call heritage bridges because such process entails bridging the knowledge about the different Kurdish regions and their heritages through the modern channels of contact, information and cooperation. The process takes place on the margins of the state policies and challenges their assimilation of Kurdish people. It engages literary and artistic imaginations which play off the existing state borders and regimes’ brutality. It includes the practices of translation and transliteration of modern Kurdish literature between Kurdish regions, dialects and alphabets. It involves media which offer programs about other parts of Kurdistan and their cultures. Başûr (South/Iraqi Kurdistan) is the centre of these activities thanks to the recognised political status, many broadcasting opportunities but also because of its central location and thus the possibility to bring together the Kurds from Rojhelat (East or Iranian Kurdistan), Bakur (North Kurdistan/Turkey) and Rojava (West Kurdistan/Syria). In recent years, Rojava also became an important meeting spot for Kurdish people promoting Kurdish heritage through the prism of its ideology: radical democracy and democratic confederalism. However, the cross-border links are often mediated also by the Kurdish diaspora which in the the twentieth century became an important melting spot for Kurds from different countries. Reference: Byrne, Denis. 2016. Heritage corridors: transnational flows and the built environment of migration, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 42(14), 2360-2378.
Discipline
Interdisciplinary
Geographic Area
Kurdistan
Sub Area
None