Fritillaria Kurdica 19-20

W 19-20 numerze naszego czasopisma przedstawiamy artykuły w języku angielskim, kurdyjskim i polskim. Tekst Mustafy Dehqana i Vurala Gença przedstawia archiwalny dokument dotyczący identyfikacji książąt regionu Hakkari z dynastią Abbasydów. Dwa artykuły Artura Rodziewicza prezentują rzeczywistość Jezydów w Gruzji oraz wywiad z przedstawicielem jezydzkiej inteligencji Kerimem Amojewem. Artykuł Azada Hajji Aqaye dotyczy postrzegania i rozumienia kurdyjskiej idei narodowej. Zuzanna Roszka prezentuje książkę amerykańskiego żyda Ariela Sabara My father’s Paradise. A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq. Miklós Sárközy przedstawia zagadnienia poruszane podczas konferencji Women’s Solidarity During War, która odbyła się 27 maja 2017 roku na Uniwersytecie Wiedeńskim. Numer 19-20 jest ostatnim wydaniem biuletynu redagowanego w ramach projektu Jak uczynić głos słyszalnym? Ciągłość i przemiany kurdyjskiej kultury i rzeczywistości społecznej w perspektywie postkolonialnej, który zakończył się 19 lutego 2018.

Spis treści

Mustafa Dehqan and Vural Genç

A Document on the Kurdish Ḥakkārī Claim to ‘Abbāsid Descent

Abstract

‘Kurdish history’ was written down in the sixteenth century. Its famous version, in the form of the Sharaf-nāma, may have been motivated by the need to remember the glorious past in the face of a rather gloomy present. Despite attempts at unifying the material it contains, there are passages in which individual legendary claims can be detected. It was, for example, intended to proclaim the ‘Abbāsid moral and politico-social ideals or subjects, virtues on which the Ḥakkārī emirs based their emirate and by means of which it was said to survive. References to the dynastic claim of the Ḥakkārīs to ‘Abbāsid descent suffer from a dearth of primary material; however, this paper presents a recently found document which records the ‘Abbāsid descent of Ḥakkārī emirs.

Artur Rodziewicz

Jezydzka diaspora w Gruzji i jej intelektualiści (The Yezidi diaspora in Georgia and its intellectuals)

Abstract

The paper explores the general characteristics of the Yezidi diaspora in Georgia. It briefly introduces the history of the Yezidi diaspora in Transcaucasia, its migration to the territories of ‘Sarhad’, Armenia, and then to Georgia. It highlights, inter alia, the problems and challenges related to the social structure of the Yezidi community, the transmission of religious knowledge, and contact difficulties between the diaspora and other Yezidis living in the Northern Mesopotamian homeland. Furthermore, it describes the intellectual life of the Georgian Yezidis and characterises the profiles of representatives belonging to the generation born in the first half of the twentieth century, who held university positions and are the authors of numerous oriental studies publications. They belong to the first generation of Georgian Yezidis who have achieved academic titles and conducted research in the field of Yezidi and Kurdish studies.

Artur Rodziewicz

W słońcu widzę odzwierciedlenie tego co najwyższe. Rozmowa z Karimem Amojewem (In Sun I see the image of what is the highest. Interview with Kerim Amoev)

Abstract

The text is an interview I conducted in Tbilisi in 2016 with a Yezidi scholar in the field of Yezidi and Kurdish studies, Professor Kerim Amoev. He belongs to the first generation of Georgian Yezidis who have achieved academic position. The interview concerns such topics as his family’s history, the differences between the Georgian and Armenian Yezidis, the Yezidi script, and specifics of scientific work in the former USSR. We also talked about the changes that have occurred in the Georgian Yezidi community since the collapse of the USSR and the challenges and problems associated with it. The interview touches on the issue of Amoev’s own evolving perception of Yezidism, his work as the editor-in-chief of the Yezidi magazine New Vision and his books, among others: Yezidi Holy Books containing a translation of two Yezidi apocrypha and their critical commentary; Kurds: History, Economy, as well as Kurds and Yezidis in the Censuses of the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Countries of the Post-Soviet Area written with Nodar Mosaki. Amoev talks about his work at the Central Statistical Office during the Soviet times, and the political pressures to publish predetermined results about the ethnic censuses in Transcaucasia. During the interview, he states, inter alia: In the Central we had given the number of 70,000 Kurds, but there were generally no Kurds in Georgia. There were the Yezidis. And then suddenly, from day to day, it turned out that their number is 33,000. Apparently that was the command of the Soviet Authority. For example, in the city of Rustavi there were 99,000 people and we were told to write 100,000, because that changed the status and gave the city, which has 100,000 inhabitants, some privileges. This happened in all republics, that no actual numbers were shown. The number of Georgians was overestimated, and of the 70,000 Yezidis, 33,000 were made. When I worked at the CSO, it was not spoken of loudly, but in my soul it still gave me no peace. This is the second interview with a representative of the Yezidi intellectual elite from Georgia published in this journal (Rodziewicz 2017).

Azad Haji Aghaye

Nirxandinek le ser netewxaziya kurdan (A few reflections on Kurdish nationalism)

Abstract

Looking at the different approaches to nationalism, from ‘essentialist’ to ‘imagined communities’, it is obvious that this ideology has always fluctuated. For this reason, adopting an approach to reviewing the phenomenon of nationalism in different countries and contexts has always been a problematic issue. Moreover, since nationalism, as a modern ideology, has never been a formal theory, reviewing it in its various political contexts implies the problem of determining the origin and time of its genesis. Due to the fact that the Kurds are divided in four different states, and thus different political and social contexts, theoretical problems are doubled by their complex realities. Taking these problems into consideration and focusing on the political context of the emergence of nationalism in Kurdistan, this piece argues that in many studies on Kurdish nationalism, identity, political identity and nationalism are considered to be the same. By making a distinction between these concepts, Kurdish nationalism has been defined here as constructed in confrontation with others. When confronting others, this ideology has been articulated with regard to religious, leftist, secular, and historical memories, and has shown different political functions. For this reason, theorising on Kurdish nationalism requires more attention to the political and social context as well as the specific historical and cultural background in each part of Kurdistan and should not be limited to theoretical generalising.

Zuzanna Roszka

„Ana Kurdi” to brzmi dumnie. Recenzja powieści Ariela Sabara My Father's Paradise. A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq (Review on the book My Father's Paradise. A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq)

Miklós Sárközy

Women's Solidarity During War (May 27 2017, University of Vienna). Conference report.