The role of Kurdish women’s activism in cultivating a sense of belonging in the diaspora

The aim of this article is to study the conspicuous impact of the changing historical and political situation in Iraq on the Kurdish intellectual and literary production with particular attention to Kurdish women’s position and perspective on these changes. Focusing on the hectic periods of the Kurdish history and national movement in Iraq, the article answers such intriguing questions as how do the social and political discourses in Iraq shape Kurdish women’s roles and contributions and how has the interplay between Kurdish nationalism and women’s participation developed within the different literary, intellectual and political circles. Chronicling the various socio‐political dimensions of Kurdish national movement and investigating the ways in which Kurdish women’s participation has been relegated both by the Iraqi regimes and within the Kurdish national movements, the article presents a content analysis of different intentions, oversights, and insights of Kurdish and non‐Kurdish political, literary and intellectual actors regarding Kurdish women’s changing roles and desires in Iraq and of the images by which Kurdish women have been presented, thereby positioning itself within a socio‐political studies.

Women and Gender in Iraq: Between Nation-Building and Fragmentation

This study explores the transformative role of Kurdish women as both political actors and armed combatants in the struggle for gender equality, national identity, and liberation. Following the establishment of a no-fly zone over Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991, some Kurdish women's organizations began to assert political demands for gender equality alongside national autonomy, which opened space for political activism and rights advocacy. The ideological shift introduced by Abdullah Öcalan, founder of the PKK, through concepts such as jineolojî and democratic confederalism, redefined women’s roles from private to public, militarized, and politically empowered spheres. Organizations like the YPJ (Women’s Protection Units) embody this shift, blending military resistance with social revolution. The war against the Islamic State further amplified their global visibility, though Western narratives often overlook the deeply political and anti-patriarchal motivations underpinning their participation. Women’s emancipation is central – not incidental – to the Kurdish revolutionary project, challenging both liberal feminist and anti-militarist paradigms. Despite persistent cultural conservatism and systemic violence, Kurdish women continue to reshape norms by linking feminist struggle with national liberation. Their engagement questions dominant models of statehood, identity, and gender, offering a radical alternative rooted in both armed resistance and ideological transformation.

To analyse whether there is an association between sex and poor self-reported health (SRH) and psychological distress in Kurdish immigrants. This cross-sectional study is based on a sample consisting of immigrants, aged 27- 60 years, with self-reported Kurdish ethnicity (n=111, men; n=86, women) in Sweden originating from Iran and Turkey. It is based on data collected in 1996 from the first Swedish National Survey on the living conditions of immigrant groups conducted by Statistics Sweden. The prevalences of reporting poor health, sleeping difficulties, general fatigue and anxiety were estimated by sex. The association between sex and SRH and psychological distress was analysed by an unconditional logistic regression model estimating odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. The final model was adjusted for age, marital status, education, housing and employment. Immigrant-specific migration-related variables were used to explore possible reasons for the sex differences. Kurdish men and women had a high prevalence of poor SRH and psychological distress. Age-adjusted odds ratios for anxiety were higher in Kurdish women. Sex differences in anxiety remained even when marital status, education, housing and employment were taken into account. Kurdish men and women report a high prevalence of poor SRH and indicators of psychological distress. Women had a higher risk for anxiety than men. Negative experiences of pre-migration as well as post-migration experiences, such as economic difficulties, preoccupation with the political situation in the home country, perceived discrimination, and feelings of poor control over one's life, were associated with the outcomes.

This article calls for a critical scholarly engagement with women's participation in the Kurdish movement. Since the 1980s, women have appropriated the political sphere in different gender roles, and their activism is mostly seen as a way of empowerment and emancipation. Albeit legitimate, such a claim often fails to account for the social and political control mechanisms inherent in the new political gender roles. This article presents the life stories of four Kurdish women. Although politically active, these women do not necessarily define themselves through their political activity. Thus they do not present their life story according to the party line, but dwell on the different social and political expectations, state violence and the contradicting role models with whom they have to deal on a daily basis. Therefore, the status associated with their roles, especially those of the “new” and emancipated woman, does not necessarily represent their own experiences and subjectivities. Women who openly criticize the social and political constraints by transgressing the boundaries of accepted conduct face social as well as political sanctions.

This article explores the experiences of various female characters in the period immediately before and during the Persian Gulf War (1990–91), the Kurdish popular Uprising in Iraq, their subsequent mass-exodus to the Turkish and Iranian borders, and the creation of a quasi-independent Kurdish state in the north of Iraq. Studying Qasham Balata’s Runaway to Nowhere in 2010 and Sindis Niheli’s Hizar d Werçerxana da, Bergé Éké (Hizar and the Vicissitudes of Life, Part One) in 2013, the article deals with the lives and experiences of two female characters, focusing on their transformation from voiceless victims to well-informed social and political activists. By incorporating feminist themes of social inequality, domestic abuse, violence against women and women’s social and political activism into broader questions of nationalism and national struggle for liberation, the novels selected here affirm the significant and problematic interplay between feminism and nationalism in the Kurdish context.

Both mainstream news about and research on women in the Kurdish movement have overwhelmingly focused on women in the PKK and their experiences in military units. Conversely, the political and social activism of Kurdish women in civilian organizations—whether political parties or civil society organizations—has largely been ignored until recently. This chapter therefore discusses the neglected issue of Kurdish women’s empowerment through political and social activism, including the profiles of women politicians.

This study examines the characteristics of those who participate in cross‐border political activities and explains why they do so. Data from a survey of 1,202 Latino immigrants reveal that trans‐state political activities originate in an instrumentally motivated adaptation strategy immigrants employ to protect and promote their material and symbolic goals. Specifically, those who have strong incentives to safeguard their economic interests in the home country are active in home country politics, as are those involved in trans‐state cultural enterprises, since participation in cross‐border cultural activities encourages immigrants to take political action in order to maintain and promote their long‐standing values, beliefs, and cultural practices they acquired from the home country. Participation in cross‐border political activities is thus primarily a manifestation of immigrants' desires to achieve their symbolic as well as material goals, rather than a reflection of their lack of assimilation to the host country.Related Articles Bayes, Jane H., and Laura Gonzalez. 2011. “.” Politics & Policy 39 (): 11‐44. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2010.00281.x/abstract Garcia‐Acevedo, Maria R. 2008. “.” Politics & Policy 36 (): 1066‐1092. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2008.00150.x/abstract Pearson‐Merkowitz, Shanna. 2012. “.” Politics & Policy 40 (): 258‐295. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00349.x/abstract Related Media . 2010. “.” . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw8IARAEhi0 Carpenter, Charlie. 2012. “.” . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSZqP6RGJX8 Berger, Joseph. 2009. “.” . http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/nyregion/westchester/15colwe.html?_r=0

This research examines the dynamic relationship of Sinhalese and Tamils living in Germany in regards to their home and host country, and seeks to better understand the complexities of their political involvement. The research is based on qualitative research methodologies. The author conducted 30 interviews in Berlin during the period 2006–2008 to inform this research. The research not only provides an overview of the historical contexts of Sri Lanka and Germany, it also links these histories with the processes of outmigration from Sri Lanka and in-migration to Germany. It then continues to analyse the construction of belonging in the context of the Sri Lankan diaspora communities in Berlin. The research examines how far concepts of home, citizenship, nationalism and identity construction shape the sense of belonging of first and second generation Sinhalese and Tamils in Berlin. Finally, it analyses the ways the members of the Sri Lankan diaspora communities engage in economic, political, social, cultural and virtual activities in the home and host country, and how far these activities shape belonging and are politically motivated. The research also considers and studies the gendered nature of belonging and transnational political practices. The research uniquely combines the study of the Tamil diaspora with the study of the Sinhalese diaspora in Berlin. It allows new insights into the complex and multiple constructions of belonging and identity and into the interplay of gender, ethnicity and generations, and it highlights the importance of political activism in the conceptualization of belonging.

This article describes findings from three successive empirical studies that examine the determinants of participation in transnational organizations by Latin immigrants in the United States, the character of the membership and activities of these organizations, and their bearing on the political incorporation of their respective communities. Results from these studies reveal that older, better-educated, and higher-status migrants are most likely to participate in transnational organizations linking them to their home countries. So are those with longer periods of US residence. Since migrants with these characteristics are precisely those with greater chances for US citizenship acquisition and participation in American politics, findings suggest that transnational activism and immigrant political integration are not at odds. Quantitative analyses of the determinants of political contact and political activism of immigrant organizations in the US indicate, unsurprisingly, that wealthier groups and those with a membership formed by better-educated and longer residents are most likely to be politically active. The societies left behind make a difference in the propensity toward political activism by different nationalities. Despite such differences, the overall trend is for immigrant transnational activism, individual and collective, not to retard political incorporation in the United States. Both processes occur simultaneously and appear, under certain circumstances, to reinforce each other. This conclusion contradicts both conventional assimilation theory and nativistic rhetoric. Contrary to assimilation expectations, older and better-educated immigrants rather than recent arrivals are those most likely to initiate and maintain ties with their home countries. Contrary to nativistic rhetoric, there is no zero-sum relationship between such activities and successful political incorporation to the United States.

Can citizens continue to participate in the politics of their home country after migrating to another country? Many examples exist of migrants engaging in their country of origin’s political affairs, such as expatriate voting, forming political communities and hometown associations, donating money to political move­ments and politicians, advocating for migrants’ rights, and other forms of political participation. However, it remains unclear why migrants are willing to continue exercising their ‘voice’ after ‘exit’, and what the main challenges and obstacles are for them to do so while abroad. In this chapter, we analyse the patterns of civic and political engagement among Russian migrants who fled their home country following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Drawing on scholarship in migration studies, we view exit and voice not as mutually exclusive but as mutually reinforcing alternatives. We argue that the way migrants connect with their homeland, and particularly the connections they have with their employers, plays a crucial role in mobilizing and demobilizing them. The incentives provided by employers may force migrants to damp their propensity to engage in political activities. To sup­port our argument, we rely on an original survey conducted in March–April and September 2022, as well as semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Türkiye.

The article is an initial attempt to analyse the possibility to compensate the brain drain loss of qualified civil servants who left the country for work in the European Union institutions. Emigration of these people has been perceived as an important loss for the Lithuanian public sector. This approach was supported by the traditional human capital paradigm in migration studies which implied that knowledge and experience were inseparable from physical body, and once a person left his home country, the country lost his human capital. However, the new brain drain theories question this premise and state that expatriates can be engaged with the home country and contribute to its development without being there physically via the transfer of information and knowledge. They introduce another option to reverse brain drain besides repatriation – the so-called diaspora option. This approach has so far been applied to study mostly scientists and businessmen, but expatriates working at the European institutions also meet all the criteria to become the object of intellectual diaspora studies. Moreover, the expatriate civil servants gain valuable knowledge that can improve the operation of Lithuanian institutions. Hence, the article aims to elucidate the preconditions of Lithuanian officials’ participation in expatriate knowledge networks and engagement with the development of their home country. The scope of this study was limited to civil servants of the European Commission: this institution is often characterised as an identity-changing organisation with strong supranational values which may imply declining national affiliations of its members. In the study, discoveries of different authors were combined to create a theoretical tool which was invoked to evaluate the engagement with the home country. It took into account the structure of expatriate social networks; their involvement in the home country; motivation to involve stemming from identity and values; and expatriates’ reaction to policies of the home country. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were combined to answer the research question. A survey of Lithuanian officials of the European Commission revealed the general trends, while in-depth interviews helped to contextualise the information related to the Lithuanian networking in Brussels and to better understand the intricate aspects of identity and engagement with the home country. The results have demonstrated that even though the majority of respondents can be characterised by pride in their nationality, national networking and national affiliations, there is a lack of other preconditions for successful transactions with tangible outcomes for the home country. The national networks of Lithuanian civil servants of the European Commission cannot be characterised by the necessary diversity and lack connections with other diaspora organisations; the current character of their engagement with the home country is rather sporadic and small-scale; finally, there is a lack of incentives for a greater involvement from the home country through targeted policy measures.

This study recognizes migrants’ perception of remittances as shaped by their class position both in the home and destination countries. Following Max Weber’s idea that individuals’ rationality is produced in their sociocultural context, this ethnographic inquiry among a group of Bangladeshi temporary migrants in Japan demonstrates how their interests interact with the structural opportunities and constraints in developing a distinct perception of remittances as a means towards higher social status. Opportunities to earn higher income motivated middle-class families in Bangladesh to send their sons abroad, who persevered in low-class jobs in Japan. While supporting the families through remitting, these migrants became aware that their future social status would depend primarily on their own career in Bangladesh rather than family background. Hence, they began to perceive remittance as a productive capital to develop their future careers. This article argues that their middle-class social position led these migrants to espouse an individualistic orientation and encouraged them to negotiate with their families regarding remittance utilization to ensure both income and prestige. Thus, it highlights the importance of including the migrants’ social position in studying migrants’ perception of remittances and the impact of remittances on development in the migrants’ home countries.

To bribe or to convince? Political stakeholders and political activities in German multinational corporations

The Sung Home: Narrative, Morality, and the Kurdish Nation