Shamiram, Aragatsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2005

Now that Christine Allison is in town continuing her research on the oral history traditions of the Kurds in Armenia, I’m off to the Yezidi villages outside of Aparan tomorrow for yet another festival. Really interested in Christine’s research which I first heard about when I met her last year in Armenia. There’s more information on that work here.

It is not a work of traditional oral history, but rather a study of how information about the past, until recently almost exclusively oral, is constructed and transmitted by the Kurds. The Kurds’ status as the world’s largest stateless nation - Kurdish nationalist discourse has evolved to a level where the concept of the Kurdish ‘nation’ is valid for many Kurds - has a considerable impact on their telling of history.

The forging of a distinctive and canonical national history, which is necessary to bind the Kurds together as a nation, is hampered by their statelessness. The national histories of nation-states, whether invented or not, are promulgated by official media and education systems, which the Kurds lack. Nevertheless, Kurdish nation-builders have been vigorously using the newly-evolved media at their disposal to develop knowledge of national history.

[…]

The project has evolved into a study of Kurdish popular memory, which may be distinguished to some extent from the new national history, but is often closely intertwined with it, sometimes borrowing both items of information and ways of constructing a view of the past from nationalist writers and historians. Fieldwork, in the form of interviews with individuals about personal memories, has been a central part of it, along with consideration of the Kurdish media.

Accompanying me will be Amarik Sardar, Editor of Riya Taza, the oldest surviving Kurdish newspaper in the world. Based in Yerevan, Sardar is also one of the nicest blokes I’ve met in the nearly eight years I’ve been in Armenia, and I personally believe that it’s a crime that Armenians, Yezidi and Kurds do next to nothing to support his paper which I think has only been able to publish one copy in the past year.

Two interviews I conducted with Sardar in 1998 and 2004 are available here and here.

Meanwhile, I have to say that it was funny to be sitting at the Marriot Armenia hotel on Republic Square with Christine two days ago. Originally from England, but now living in France, and red-haired because of her Irish ancestry, it was amusing to see Armenians stare at her when she spoke in fluent Kurmanji (Kurdish) on her mobile. Anyway, I’ll post an account of the trip and some photos when I return late tomorrow afternoon.

Looking forward to it.