Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Mapping Kurdistan
  • Cited by 10
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2020
Print publication year:
2020
Online ISBN:
9781108629805
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108629805
Subjects:
Middle East Studies, Area Studies, History, Middle East History, Politics and International Relations, Middle East Government,Politics and Policy
Information

Book description

Since the early twentieth-century, Kurds have challenged the borders and national identities of the states they inhabit. Nowhere is this more evident than in their promotion of the 'Map of Greater Kurdistan', an ideal of a unified Kurdish homeland in an ethnically and geographically complex region. This powerful image is embedded in the consciousness of the Kurdish people, both within the region and, perhaps even more strongly, in the diaspora. Addressing the lack of rigorous research and analysis of Kurdish politics from an international perspective, Zeynep Kaya focuses on self-determination, territorial identity and international norms to suggest how these imaginations of homelands have been socially, politically and historically constructed (much like the state territories the Kurds inhabit), as opposed to their perception of being natural, perennial or intrinsic. Adopting a non-political approach to notions of nationhood and territoriality, Mapping Kurdistan is a systematic examination of the international processes that have enabled a wide range of actors to imagine and create the cartographic image of greater Kurdistan that is in use today.

Reviews

'This excellent study invites us to revisit the history of Kurdish nationalism through maps and map-making. Tracing the role of cartography as an aspect of power relations, and of territory as part of the modern construction of a nation, this pioneering book offers fresh insights into our understanding of ‘Kurdishness’ and of nationalism more broadly.'

Katerina Delacoura - London School of Economics

'An important contribution to studies of relationships between nationalist constructs and aspirations, territory and sovereignty, and collective identity in imperial lands and postcolonial states. A significant study of cartographic 'Kurdistan,' it picks up where Maria O'Shea's (2004) left off.'

Diane E. King - University of Kentucky

'Zeynep Kaya offers readers a critical examination of the construction and imagination of Kurdistan via its cartographic representations, along with some of the resultant political, cultural and social effects of this construction. This fine work represents academia at its best, avoiding partisan polemics and instead methodically re-examining much of what we take for granted on the issue.'

David Romano - Thomas G. Strong Chair in Middle East Politics, Missouri State University

‘… Mapping Kurdistan shows the map of greater Kurdistan as a lasting and powerful symbol that can be adapted to whatever political or ideological framework is needed.’

Luke Frostick Source: duvaR.english

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents
References

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.