Kurdistan: Crafting of National Selves - Softcover

Houston, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0253220505 ISBN 13: 9780253220509

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Kurdistan provides an introduction to and a succinct history of the idea of Kurdistan, the imagined homeland of the Kurds. Christopher Houston examines the historiography, ethnography, and changing political status of the Kurdish regions vis-à-vis the Ottoman and British empires, and considers the responses of Kurds to the nation-building missions of modern Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. These projects, driven by ambitious elites in the modernizing capitals of new nation-states, were accompanied by varying degrees of intolerance toward minority ethnic languages, political institutions, and regional autonomy.

About this title

Book Description

Covering its people, history and culture, this book provides a concise history of Kurdistan. Re-mapping, wars and the growth of modern nation states have turned Kurdistan into an imagined homeland. The Kurdish question is one that continually reappears on the political stage because of the strategic location of Kurdistan. In tracing the ways in which Kurdistan has been represented and politicized, the author considers the plight of the oppressed Kurdish minority in the modern nations of Iraq, Iran and Turkey.

About the Author

Christopher Houston is Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Macquarie University, Sydney, and author of Islam, Kurds and the Turkish Nation-State.

Edition details

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0253220505
• ISBN 13: 9780253220509
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 248