Call out for assistance for research on Kurds in the UK

Research on Kurds in the UK

Ms Shadi Hessami, a PhD student at SOAS, supervised by Professor Annabelle Sreberny, is looking for Kurdish research participants in London to interview for her research project on the socio-political and socio-cultural impacts of Kurdish media on Kurdish diaspora. .

Her interviews would be as informal as possible and all information would be used solely for the purpose of my research. All information would be kept entirely anonymous and strictly confidential.

We, KSSO support and promote research on, about or by Kurdish peoples and would really appreciate if you could participate in this important research or help to find some participants for the above mentioned research project.

If you have any queries about the research, please contact:

Shadi Hessami, PhD student, SOAS
Telephone: 07747 755 477
Email: shadihessami@yahoo.co.uk

Brief introduction of the research

Impact of Kurdish media on Kurd in the UK

The aim of research is to examine Kurdish media consumption among those Kurds whose countries of origin are Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and possibly Syria. This reseach studies the role and the possible impact of Kurdish media on Kurdish identity and the way it has been express among different generations of Kurds in London. It is a cross-examination of varities elements, the obvious one is that it considers Kurds from different countries, in which Kurds originally reside.

The method I have chosen, mainly is focus-group interviewing. That is here that I would like to ask you to help me to gather some Kurdish people to form a group(s) to have a maximum two-hour discussion.

Aiming at having 6 different groups for my research, I would be great if you could help me with ideally 2 separate groups, each with following characteristics:

Having ideally 6 to 10 individuals in each group (less than 6 is also fine)

Age group from 16 to 55

Preferably to have a mix of those from Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria

Preferably to have mix of women and men

Preferably one group with same age group and generation, and one group with mix of different generations

Ideally it would be mix of professionals and people from all walks of life

They all have to be able to communicate, i.e. all able to speak Kurdish or all able to speak English

I can’t emphasise enough that how much your help is appreciated, and how much this research rely on your contribution

Images of working lives: Experiences of Kurdish migrants in London

Photo Exhibition

Organized by Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University

Date: Friday 16th- 23rd July 2010 ( Exhibition opening reception 5pm on Friday 16th July 2010)

Venue: RenkArt Centre, 86 Stoke Newington High Street, Stoke Newington N16 7PA

Images of working lives is an exhibition held as part of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded research project conducted by Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University to highlight the working conditions of an ‘invisible’ community, Kurdish Diaspora, in London.

The study focused on minority ethnic workers who experienced difficulties at work and how they developed strategies to solve work related problems including racism, discrimination, bullying, exclusion and isolation. We chose three different minority ethnic communities- locally based ethnic groups, Kurds in Hackney, South Asian in Ealing and Black Caribbeans in Lambeth- in London to enable us to compare and contrast a whole range of different issues. We interviewed total of 185 workers – 100 individually and 88 in 16 focus groups and 64 interviews with ‘key respondents’ who were officials from trade unions, advice agencies and community groups.

Our research team will give brief information on our research findings on the working condition of the Kurdish workers and their strategies to solve work related problems and difficulties.

The exhibition illustrates different experiences of the Kurdish Diaspora in the context of ethnicity, identity, belonging, community and working lives. The audience is invited to take a closer look at the migrants’ life experiences reflected to the lens of photo journalist Jim Hodson, Ümit Avcu and Kurdish photographers’ group RenkArt including Döndü Demir, Erdogan Guccuk, Bektaþ Arif, Alper Taþçý as well as locally based Kurdish photographer Ümit Avcu.

Research team: Dr Jane Holgate (Principal investigator), Janroj Keles, Dr Leena Kumarappan and Professor Anna Pollert.

For further information please contact Dr Jane Holgate or Janroj Keles

j.holgate@londonmet.ac.uk or j.keles@londonmet.ac.uk

This research project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and is being undertakeby the Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University.
For further information about our research please visit our website
http://www.workinglives.org/research-themes/wlri-project-websites/$-emraw/emraw_home.cfm

Seminar: Ge

Speaker: Dr Choman Hardi

Chair:  Dr Umut Erel

Date and time : 21rst January 2010,@7:00 pm

Venue: B111, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

(SOAS) Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Organised by Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS) and Kurdish Studies and Students Organisation (KSSO)

Seminar Abstract

Al-Anfal (The Spoils) was a series of military attacks launched by the Iraqi state against the Kurdish rural inhabitants in 1988. The offensive took place in 8 stages and it stretched over seven months (Feb- Sep 1988). During the campaign 281 locations were attacked with poison gas, more than 2600 villages were razed to the ground, and 100,000 civilians were disappeared.

This research was conceptualised in the early 2000s when I watched numerous documentaries about Anfal on the Kurdish satellite channels. I found that despite the fact many women were interviewed during these documentaries a large part of their experiences during and after Anfal remained unspoken about. Here I draw on interviews conducted during my research (2005-2008) and some of my work for the Kurdish Museum project (2008- 2009), collecting testimonies as part of a team involving cameraman, director and photographer. My aim was to get a general overview of the women’s experiences who suffered during the different stages of Anfal and in the aftermath.

The sample included 59 women and 22 men for my research and I have also drawn on 16 interviews (13 women and 3 men) conducted for the Museum Project. This means a total of 70 women and 24 men have informed this research. Various others have contributed to this research through conversations and meetings that took place during fieldwork.

In my research I found that there were differences in how women and men remembered the genocide campaign and also they differed in what they remembered. Here I will discuss three factors that influenced Kurdish women’s remembrances of the Anfal campaign, namely the gender expectations of how men and women should feel and behave in Kurdish society; the dominant Anfal narrative; and the social stigma around certain experiences. I will also speak about the consequences of the way women are represented in the official Anfal narrative for the women themselves and the community at large.

We as a research team (Dr. Jane Holgate, Dr. Leena Kumarappan and  Janroj Keles from WLRI, London Metropolitan University and Professor Anna Pollert at University of West of England) are doing a research project on ‘Influences of identity, community and social networks on ethnic minority representation at work’ at London Metropolitan University and focusing on Kurdish people in Hackney, Indian people in Ealing and Caribbean people in Lambeth.

We are looking for 20  Kurdish individuals (with different age, gender, education and occupation background) to participate in a focus group and to interpret the social and cultural meanings of 10 photographs of Kurdish everyday life in London including identity, community and work.

We are interesting in how Kurdish people conceptualize their identities and relationships with issues of community, work and social network in London. This ESRC funded research project would like to hear your voice, your opinion and give you an opportunity to understand  the way you feel, interpret, and make sense of your experiences in London through using images of Kurdish people taken by a professional photographer Jim Hodson and  RenkArt.

We only need approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes of your time and we will pay you £20 for your participation.

Date: Friday 13 November 2009

Time: 6:15pm

Venue: SOAS, Room FG08

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Organised by : Kurdish Studies and Students Organisation  at SOAS (KSSO)

Please note: Space is limited to 20 participants, and pre-registration is required! Deadline for registration:  Friday at 11:00 am (13.11.2009).  The discussion will take place in English and Kurdish.

If you would like to consider participating in this project, please mail Janroj Keles  j.keles@londonmet.ac.uk or mc@ksso.org.uk,  Telephone: 07875149068

Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University

31 Jewry Street, London EC3N 2EY

www.workinglives.org

This research project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and is being undertaken by the Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University.

Over the coming months the UK Kurdish Studies and Student Organisation will be announcing its programme of events for the 2009/2010 academic year.

In October KSSO will host three events starting off with a seminar on statelessness titled “Citzenship and Statelessness in Syria” given by Robert Lowe, manager and research fellow for the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, and Alan Shamoson. Mr Lowe is an expert on Kurdish issues with a special focus on Syria. The date of the event is October 8th at SOAS University, starting at 6pm in the Khalili lecture conference room.

On October 22nd Dr. Maja Cederberg of Oxford Brooks University will be holding a seminar on “Presences and absences in stories about racism and disadvantage.“ This seminar will take a broad look at issues of racism and disadvantage including the case of Kurdish communities.

KSSO will announce the times and exact room locations for these events closer to the event dates, but please do make a note in your diaries.

We welcome all new and old Kurdish and non-Kurdish students, as well as non-students, and hope to make 2009/2010 another successful year for KSSO.

For future events please see our new events calendar at the bottom of the page.

Mr. Andrew Wilcox, a student at the University of Exeter, studying for an MA in Kurdish Studies under Professor Christine Alison and Dr Hashem Ahmadzadeh is looking for the Yezidis living in Britain to interview for his research project. His dissertation thesis is a study of Yezidis living in Britain, their experience and their sense of religious identity.

My interviews would be as informal as possible and all information would be used solely for the purpose of my dissertation and would be kept entirely anonymous.

We, KSSO support and promote research on, about or by Kurdish peoples and would really appreciate if you could participate in this research or help to find some participants for the above mentioned research

If you have any queries about the research, please contact:

Andrew Wilcox
Telephone: 07790 144 956
Email: andywilcox64@hotmail.com

Brief introduction of the research

Research into notions of identity among Yezidis in the U.K.

Yezidism is a unique religion perpetuated through a rich oral cultural tradition, its antiquity and adaptability to changing circumstances can scarcely be denied. However, having been until very recently a religion maintained by orality, its presentation to the academic world has been largely that of description by ‘outsiders’. These ‘outside voices’ have historically endeavoured to make Yezidism fit within the prejudices of their own ‘world view’. This research project hopes to give Yezidis themselves the opportunity to discuss what they consider to be the nature and detail of their religion, what is important and what is not, and ultimately to contribute to the ongoing work of redressing some of the prejudices held against this minority religious community.

Equally, and more specifically, the research seeks to discuss the experiences of Yezidis living in the United Kingdom. Not only do Yezidis constitute a minority group but, as Andreas Ackerman has said of the German Yezidi diaspora, they are in fact a ‘double minority’. A minority within a minority, and due to the even smaller numbers of Yezidis living in the UK this is more significant.

The focus of this research is upon the difficulties which may be encountered by Yezidis in conducting aspects of their religious practice and in assuring the continuance of their religion in the conditions of isolation implied by such a minority status.

The research thus proposes to talk with those Yezidis living in the United Kingdom who would be willing to discuss their experiences and their understandings of Yezidism. It is envisaged that this would consist of an informal one hour interview.