New communication technologies and Kurdish language and culture
Posted on 04. Jun, 2009 by KSSO in Seminar
You are kindly invited to attend the forthcoming KSSO seminar at SOAS:
New communication technologies and Kurdish language and culture
Click here for photos from this event
Speakers
- Dr. Amir Hassanpour, Associate Professor of University of Toronto
- Mr. Hassan Ghazi, Independent researcher
- Dr. Jaffer Sheyholislami, Assistant Professor of Carleton University
Chairperson
- Janroj Keles, Research Fellow of London Metropolitan University
Date: Saturday 4th of April 09
Time: 13:00
Location: G2 – SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies)
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG
Abstract
The three Kurdish intellectuals and scholars will focus on the use of new communication technologies by stateless Kurds in different parts of disputed Kurdistan and in Diaspora communities. They will debate the role of satellite televisions and new media (internet) on constructing and transforming collective identities, language and culture of Kurds.
About Speakers
Dr. Amir Hassanpour
Amir Hassanpour is Associate Professor at the Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, where he teaches courses on nationalism, minority rights, mass media and social movements in the Middle East.
He is author of Nationalism and Language in Kurdistan , 1918-1985 (1992), and has contributed to academic journals, Encyclopedia of Television, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Encyclopedia of Modern Asia, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and Encyclopedia of Modern Middle East. His most recent writing is about genocide in the Middle East , including an article on the Kurds in the Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.
Mr. Hassan Ghazi
Hassan Ghazi, is a Kurdish researcher, originating from Mahabad. He has been involved in compiling several dictionaries and have translated a great number of essays on language and society. Currently he is producing a series of feature documents about foreign missionaries in Kurdistan.
Dr. Jaffer Sheyholislami
Jaffer Sheyholislami is Assistant Professor at the School of Linguistics and Language Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa , Canada . He teaches courses in the areas of applied linguistics and discourse analysis on a variety of topics such as language and power/ideology, sociology of language, research and practice in academic writing, and language and media.
He earned his PhD in Communication at Carleton in 2008. His dissertation (Identity, Discourse and the Media: The Case of the Kurds) investigated the ways Kurds have used the Internet and satellite television to construct and reproduce a collective national identity. His main research interests lie with a critical understanding of language and other semiosis in social life. Currently, with Co-editors Dr. Amir Hassanpour and Dr. Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, he is preparing an edited volume on Kurdish language with a focus on the social, political and legal aspects of the language and how these are intertwined with education and identity in Kurdistan. His other areas of research have included: critical discourse analysis of the representation of Kurds in the US and Canada (book chapter published), Iranian ethnic media and citizenship in Canada, the semiotic construction of Canadian national identity, the dialogic nature of blogging in educational settings, and the place of blogging in the construction of Kurdish imagined communities.
