The Role of Kurdish Identity in Shaping Political Identity: A Case Study of Kurdish University Students in Rojhelat, Kurdistan-Iran
Abstract views: 906
/ 
PDF downloads: 380
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/1465Keywords:
Kurdish identity, ethno-national identity, political identity, agency, Rojhelat, Kurdistan, IranAbstract
This paper examines the relationship between the political and ethno-national identity of Kurdish university students in Iranian Kurdistan, also known as Eastern Kurdistan or Rojhelat. It aims to investigate the ways in which the Kurdish identity contributes to and influences the formation of political identity among these students within the legal and political context of Rojhelat. The findings reveal a significant correlation between the Kurdish identity and the political identity of the students. However, despite the strong presence of Kurdish identity in the social sphere of Rojhelat, it remains largely invisible in the official or legal-political sphere of Iran. The paper argues that the existence of a non-democratic political regime in Iran, which has prioritized Farsi and Shiite identities, has imposed limitations and restrictions on the visibility and representation of other identities, including the Kurdish ethno-national identity, in the legal and political domains.
Downloads
References
Akbarzadeh, S., Laoutides C., Gourlay, W., & Ahmed, Z. S. (2019). The Iranian Kurds’ transnational links: Impacts on mobilization and political ambitions. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43(12), 2275–2294. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1689280 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1689280
Ashmore, R. D., Deaux, K., & McLaughlin-Volpe T. (2004). An organizing framework for collective identity: Articulation and significance of multidimensionality. Psychological Bulletin, 130(1), 80–114. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.1.80 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.1.80
Bryder, T. (2005). European political identity: An attempt at conceptual clarification. Psicología Política, 31, 37–50.
Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., Miller, W. E., & Stokes, D. E. (1960). The American voter. John Wiley & Sons.
Castells, M. (2010). The power of identity (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
Ciment, J. (1996). The Kurds: State and minority in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Barnes and Noble.
Election results in 120 cities. (1980, March 16). Kayhan newspaper, 2.
Elling, R. C. (2013). Minorities in Iran: Nationalism and ethnicity in Iran after Khomeini. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137047809
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and Crisis. W. W. Norton & Company.
Ghassemlou, A. (1965). Kurdistan and the Kurds. Pub. House of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
Ghassemlou, A. (1988). Chil sal xebat le penawyi azady: Kortayak le mejoyi Hizbi Dimocrati Kurdistani Iran [Forty years of struggle for freedom: A short history of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran]. PDKI Publication House. Available at: کوردیپێدیا - چل ساڵ خەبات لە پێناوی ئازادی (kurdipedia.org)
Gilroy, P. (2006). British cultural studies the pitfalls of identity (Revised Edition). In M. G. Durham & D. M. Kellner (Eds.), Media and cultural studies keyworks (pp. 381–396). Blackwell Publishing.
Guibernau, M. (2007). The identity of nations. Polity.
Hassanpour, A. (1992). Nationalism and language in Kurdistan 1918-1985. Edwin Mellon Press.
Huddy, L. (2013). From group identity to political cohesion and commitment. In L. Huddy, D. O. Sears and Jack S. Levy (eds.), Oxford handbook of political psychology. Oxford University Press, 737–773. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199760107.013.0023
Jenkins, R. (2008). Social identities (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Jenkins, S. (1980). The ethnic agency defined. Social Service Review, 54(2), 249–261. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/643827
Khayati, K. (2008). From victim diaspora to transborder citizenship? Diaspora formation and transnational relations among Kurds in France and Sweden. PhD Thesis, Linköping, Sweden: Linköping University.
Koohi-Kamali, F. (1992). The development of nationalism in Iranian Kurdistan. In Philip G. Kreyenbroek, & Stefan Sperl, (eds). The Kurds: A contemporary overview. Routledge.
Kurda, Z. A. (2022). The European Union and the Kurdish issue: The EU as a rational and normative actor. Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05186-9
Malešević, S. (2006). Identity as ideology: Understanding ethnicity and nationalism. Palgrave Macmillan.
McDowall, D. (2004). Modern history of the Kurds (4th ed.). I.B. Tauris.
Minorsky, V. (1986). Kurds, Kurdistan. In C. E. Bosworth, E. Van Donzel, B. Lewis, & C. Pellat (Eds.), The encyclopedia of Islam (Vol. V, pp. 438–486). Brill.
Mofidi, S. (2015). Religion and politics in Eastern Kurdistan (with a focus on Maktab Qur’an during Iranian Revolution, 1979). Journal of Politics and Law, 8(3), 36–50. https://doi.org/10.5539/jpl. v8n3p36 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/jpl.v8n3p36
Mofidi, S. (2022a). The political function of religion in Kurdish and Perso-Iranian nationalist confrontations after the 1979 revolution. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 29(5), 953–983. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718115-bja10080 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718115-bja10080
Mofidi, S. (2022b). The political function of religion in nationalistic confrontations in greater Kurdistan. Transnational Press.
Mofidi, S., & Rahmani, S. (2019). The effect of religion on the political identity of Kurdish youth (with a focus on university students). Economics, Law and Policy, 2(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.22158/elp.v2n1p1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22158/elp.v2n1p1
Mofidi, S., & Rahmani, S. (2022). Female gender and the political identity of Kurdish youth in Eastern Kurdistan-Iran, with a focus on university students. Asian Women, 38(3), 29–54. https://doi.org/10.14431/aw.2022.9.38.3.29 DOI: https://doi.org/10.14431/aw.2022.9.38.3.29
Mohammadpour, A., & Soleimani, K. (2020). ‘Minoritisation’ of the other: The Iranian theo-ethnocratic state’s assimilatory strategies. Postcolonial Studies, 24(1), 40–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2020.1746157 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2020.1746157
Monroe, K. R., Hankin, J., & Van Vechten, R. B. (2000). The psychological foundations of identity politics. Annual Reviews, Political Science, 3, 419–447. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.419 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.419
Nerwy, H. K. (2012). The Republic of Kurdistan, 1946. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Leiden University.
Nisbet, E. C., & Myers, T. A. (2010). Challenging the state: Transnational TV and political identity in the Middle East. Political Communication, 27(4), 347–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2010.516801 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2010.516801
Parry, J. T. (2010). Understanding torture: Law, violence, and political identity. University of Michigan Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.155927
Ramon, J. C. (2017). Political identity. http://classroom.synonym.com/concept-political-identity-8043.html
Saleh, A. (2013). Ethnic Identity and the State in Iran. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137310873
Sheyholislami, J. (2011). Kurdish identity, discourse, and new media. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230119307
Sheyholislami, J. (2012). Kurdish in Iran: A case of restricted and controlled tolerance. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012(217), 19–47. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2012-0048 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2012-0048
Soleimani, K., & Mohammadpour A. (2019). The securitization of life: Eastern Kurdistan under the rule of a Perso-Shi'i state. Third World Quarterly, 41(4), 663 – 682. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2019.1695199 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2019.1695199
Statistical Centre of Iran. (2020). The Database on the Population of Iran. https://www.amar.org.ir/english/Iran-Statistical-Yearbook
Tahiri, H. (2007). The structure of Kurdish society and the struggle for a Kurdish state. Mazda Publishers, Inc.
The names of the winners of the majority of votes in the cities were announced. (August 6, 1979). Ayandegan newspaper, 2.
Vali, A. (2003). Essays on the origin of Kurdish nationalism. Mazda Publication Inc.
Vali, A. (2011). Kurds and the state in Iran: The making of Kurdish identity. I.B. Tauris. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9780755608645
Valluvan, S. (2019). The clamour of nationalism: Race and nation in twenty-first-century Britain. Manchester University Press.
Zaki, M. A. (1931). Kurd and Kurdistan. Dar al-Salam Publication.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
By submitting a manuscript to JECS, authors agree to transfer without charge the following rights to JECS upon acceptance of the manuscript: first worldwide publication rights and the right for JECS to grant permissions as JECS editors judge appropriate for the redistribution of the article, its abstract, and its metadata in professional indexing and reference services. Any revenues from such redistribution are used solely to support the continued publication and distribution of articles.
Accepted 2023-06-03
Published 2023-06-24
The journal is licensed under a 