Jaba, Bazidî, and the Ethnography of Kurds in the 18-19th Century

Abstract

Kurds are one of the inhabitant people of Middle East and in modern times, in the sense of observerobserved, they have been in relation with the westerners for over two centuries. At the end of the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th century westerners met the language, culture, cultural and social life of Kurds and introduced them to the Europeans. This acquaintance became important with the political change in the area and many powers of that time started to make researches in order to know more about them. The meeting of Alexander Jaba, the Russian Consul in Erzurum, with Kurdish people and culture occurred in such conditions. What differentiates his meeting from that of other orientalists was what he had done, and his relation with the Kurdish people and culture, especially his relation with Mele Mehmudê Bazidî, his Kurdish teacher and main source of information. What they both have done such as collecting manuscripts, collecting and writing down the songs and folktales, is still very precious for Kurdish Studies and also for Kurdish scholars. Especially, Bazidî's work about Kurdish customs and traditions, Habits and Customs of Kurds, was/is valuable work that can be evaluated as ethnography. In this article, the works of Jaba and Mele Mahmudê Bazidî will be discussed in the frame of the ethnography discipline, including emic/etic approaches which are basic for ethnographic fieldwork.