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.

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.