Methodological Approaches in Kurdish Studies

Theoretical and Practical Insights from the Field

Edited by Bahar Baser; Mari Toivanen; Begum Zorlu and Yasin Duman - Contributions by Yasemin Gulsum Acar; Polat Alpman; Demet Arpacik; Lana Askari; Bahar Baser; Marlies Casier; Semih Celik; Yasin Duman; Vera Eccarius-Kelly; Joost Jongerden; Jowan Mahmod; Jowan Mahmod; Yesim Mutlu; Francis O’Connor; Thomas Schmidinger; Marlene Schäfers; Mari Toivanen; Ozden Melis Ulug; Marc Sinan Winrow and Begum Zorlu

This edited volume presents thirteen contributions that reflect upon the practical, ethical, theoretical and methodological challenges that researchers face when conducting fieldwork in settings that are characterized with deteriorating security situations, increasing state control and conflicting inter-ethnic relations. More precisely, they shed light to the intricacies of conducting fieldwork on highly politicized and sensitive topics in the region of Kurdistan in Iraq, Syria and Turkey as well as among Kurdish diaspora members in Europe.

This volume is multidisciplinary in its focus and approach. It includes contributions from scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds, ranging from sociology and political science to social psychology and anthropology. The complexity of security situations, and the atmospheres of distrust and suspicion have led the contributors to be creative and to adapt their research methods in ways that at times transcend disciplinary boundaries and conventions. Relatedly, the contributions also open the often-considered Pandora’s box of discussing the failures in what is often a “messy” research field, and how to adopt one’s methods to rapidly changing political circumstances. This necessitates greater reflexivity in existing power relations of the surrounding context and how those affect not only the interaction situations between the researcher and the participants, but also raise questions for the overall research process, concerning namely social justice, representation and knowledge production. The contributions unravel this by unpacking positionalities beyond ethnicities, discussing how gendered and other positionalities are constructed in fieldwork interactions and by illustrating how the surrounding structures of power and dominance are present in every-day fieldwork.

What differentiates this book from the existing literature is that it is the first academic endeavor that solely focuses on methodological reflections aimed to the field of Kurdish Studies. It offers a comprehensive and multidisciplinary account of scholars’ fieldwork experiences in the Kurdish regions and as such, it is also of value to scholars conducting or about to conduct fieldwork in conflict regions elsewhere.

Lexington Books

Pages: 282 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-7521-8 • Hardback • November 2018 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-7523-2 • Paperback • August 2023 • $39.99 • (£30.00)

978-1-4985-7522-5 • eBook • November 2018 • $38.00 • (£30.00)

Series: Kurdish Societies, Politics, and International Relations

Subjects: Political Science / International Relations / General, Social Science / Anthropology / General, Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural

Methodological Approaches in Kurdish Studies

Theoretical and Practical Insights from the Field

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

This edited volume presents thirteen contributions that reflect upon the practical, ethical, theoretical and methodological challenges that researchers face when conducting fieldwork in settings that are characterized with deteriorating security situations, increasing state control and conflicting inter-ethnic relations. More precisely, they shed light to the intricacies of conducting fieldwork on highly politicized and sensitive topics in the region of Kurdistan in Iraq, Syria and Turkey as well as among Kurdish diaspora members in Europe.

This volume is multidisciplinary in its focus and approach. It includes contributions from scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds, ranging from sociology and political science to social psychology and anthropology. The complexity of security situations, and the atmospheres of distrust and suspicion have led the contributors to be creative and to adapt their research methods in ways that at times transcend disciplinary boundaries and conventions. Relatedly, the contributions also open the often-considered Pandora’s box of discussing the failures in what is often a “messy” research field, and how to adopt one’s methods to rapidly changing political circumstances. This necessitates greater reflexivity in existing power relations of the surrounding context and how those affect not only the interaction situations between the researcher and the participants, but also raise questions for the overall research process, concerning namely social justice, representation and knowledge production. The contributions unravel this by unpacking positionalities beyond ethnicities, discussing how gendered and other positionalities are constructed in fieldwork interactions and by illustrating how the surrounding structures of power and dominance are present in every-day fieldwork.

What differentiates this book from the existing literature is that it is the first academic endeavor that solely focuses on methodological reflections aimed to the field of Kurdish Studies. It offers a comprehensive and multidisciplinary account of scholars’ fieldwork experiences in the Kurdish regions and as such, it is also of value to scholars conducting or about to conduct fieldwork in conflict regions elsewhere.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 282 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-7521-8 • Hardback • November 2018 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-7523-2 • Paperback • August 2023 • $39.99 • (£30.00)

978-1-4985-7522-5 • eBook • November 2018 • $38.00 • (£30.00)

Series: Kurdish Societies, Politics, and International Relations

Subjects: Political Science / International Relations / General, Social Science / Anthropology / General, Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural

Author

Bahar Baser is senior research fellow at the Centre for Trust, Peace, and Social Relations.

Mari Toivanen is postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turku, Finland.

Begum Zorlu is PhD candidate at University of London, City.

Yasin Duman is PhD candidate at Coventry University.

Table of Contents

Ch. 1: Critical Ethnography: Emancipatory Knowledge And Alternative Dialogues

Vera Eccarius-Kelly

Ch. 2: Living Structures: Methodological Considerations On People And Place

Joost Jongerden

Ch. 3: Online-Offline Research On Diasporic Identities: Methodological Benefits, Challenges and Critical Insights

Jowan Mahmod

Ch. 4: Tracing Global History Through The Kurds In The Imperial And National Archives And Beyond

Marc Sinan Winrow

Ch. 5: Troubled Terrain: Lines of Allegiance and Political Belonging in Northern Kurdistan

Marlene Schäfers

Ch. 6: Working Upon the Communities under the Political Domination: Subaltern Kurds in Turkey

Polat Alpman

Ch. 7: Feeling Solidarity in An Estranged City: Ethnography In The Post-War Diyarbakır Under Surveillance

Demet Arpacik

Ch. 8: Outsiders Twice Over in Kurdistan

Francis O’Connor And Semih Celik

Ch. 9: The Omnipresent Absentee? Challenges In Researching The Kurdistan Workers’ Party In Europe And Turkey

Marlies Casier

Ch. 10: “She's Turkish but Good”: Researching On Kurdish Internal Displacement As A ‘Turkish’ Female Researcher

Yesim Mutlu

Ch. 11: Straddling The Insider-Outsider Divide: Challenges Of Turkish Identity As An Outsider Researcher In The Kurdish Context

Yasemin Gulsum Acar And Ozden Melis Ulug

Ch. 12: Beyond The Insider-Outsider Dichotomy: Conducting Ethnographic Fieldwork As A Kurdish Returnee In Iraqi Kurdistan

Lana Askari

Ch. 13: Embedded Research and Political Violence: Kurdish Studies In Conflict Areas

Thomas Schmidinger

Conclusion: Reflections on Research: Challenges And Opportunities

Begum Zorlu and Yasin Duman

Reviews

This book is a timely and much-needed contribution to the growing literature on methodological and ethical challenges involved in conducting research in conflict settings. With a wide range of outstanding contributions from leading scholars, the volume fills an important gap on how ethnographic knowledge is primarily shaped by power relations. It serves as a stark reminder of the need to go beyond a standardized, one-size-fits-all approach to studying complex conflict environments. It is a vital resource for students and scholars of Kurdish studies, Middle Eastern studies, and those interested in conducting research in conflict zones.
— Mehmet Gurses, Florida Atlantic University

Methodological Approaches in Kurdish Studies: Theoretical and Practical Insights from the Field is not only a must read for those interested in Kurdish Studies, but is a reference book for doing research in politically sensitive and unstable contexts. Contributors from various social science disciplines present objective and creative methodologies spanning from ethnographic to archival data. It is the first book in Kurdish Studies on the practical, ethical, theoretical, epistemological, and methodological challengesresearchers face and the innovative solutions they come up with while working in and about the “stateless” Kurds in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and diaspora.
— Ayşe Betül Çelik, Sabancı University

This massive volume not only opens new methodological, theoretical and epistemological avenues in the Kurdish studies, but also questions the very meaning of producing social sciences on the “risky” topics of the 21^st Century.
— Hamit Bozarslan, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

For understandable reasons, the field of Kurdish Studies has long been dominated by an overt focus on the politics of the Kurdish Question and Kurdish identity. This has, however, resulted in the neglect of other important areas that merit scholarly attention. For some time, Kurdish studies has lacked self-reflective, critical research on the practice and politics of knowledge production within this field. This well-written edited volume, the first of its kind, makes a timely contribution to our understanding of the practical, methodological and epistemological challenges faced by scholars of Kurdish Studies.
— Welat Zeydanlioglu, Kurdish Studies Network