The Cambridge History of the Kurds

The Cambridge History of the Kurds is an authoritative and comprehensive volume exploring the social, political and economic features, forces and evolution amongst the Kurds, and in the region known as Kurdistan, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century. Written in a clear and accessible style by leading scholars in the field, the chapters survey key issues and themes vital to any understanding of the Kurds and Kurdistan including Kurdish language; Kurdish art, culture and literature; Kurdistan in the age of empires; political, social and religious movements in Kurdistan; and domestic political developments in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Other chapters on gender, diaspora, political economy, tribes, cinema and folklore offer fresh perspectives on the Kurds and Kurdistan as well as neatly meeting an exigent need in Middle Eastern studies. Situating contemporary developments taking place in Kurdish-majority regions within broader histories of the region, it forms a definitive survey of the history of the Kurds and Kurdistan.

Introduction: The Kurds and the Kurdish Question in the Middle East Hamit Bozarslan, Cengiz Gunes and Veli Yadirgi; Part I. Historical Legacies: 1. The Rise and Fall of the Kurdish Emirates (15th–19th Centuries) Boris James; 2. Negotiating Political Power in Early Modern Middle East: Kurdish Emirates between the Ottoman Empire and Iranian Dynasties (16th–19th Centuries) Metin Atmaca; 3. The End of Kurdish Autonomy: The Destruction of the Kurdish Emirates in the Ottoman Empire Sabri Ates; 4. The Kurdish Movement and the End of the Ottoman Empire, 1880–1923 Djene Rhys Bajalan; 5. Religious Narrations of the Kurdish Nation during the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries Kamal Soleimani; 6. The Political Economy of Kurdistan: from Development to De-Development Veli Yadirgi; Part II. Regional Political Developments and the Kurds in the 20th and 21st Centuries: 7. Kurds and Kurdish Nationalism in the Interwar Period Metin Yüksel; 8. From Tribal Chiefs to Marxist Activists: Kurdistan from 1946 to 1975 Béatrice Garapon and Adnan Çelik; 9. Kurdish Politics Across the Middle East During the 1970s Cengiz Gunes; 10. 1979–2003: Dark Times: Kurdistan in the Turmoil of the Middle East Hamit Bozarslan; 11. Kurds in a New Century: Prospects and Challenges Mehmet Gurses and David Romano; Part III. Domestic Political Developments and the Kurds in the 20th and 21st Centuries: 12. Kurdish Nationalism in Turkey: 1898–2018 Mesut Yeğen; 13. Why Autonomy Hasn't Been Possible for Kurds in Turkey Derya Bayır; 14. The Kurdistan Region in Iraq: 1991–2018 Gareth Stansfield; 15. Street Protest and Opposition in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Nicole F. Watts; 16. Minority, State and Nation: Kurdish Society in Iran in the Aftermath of the Revolution Massoud Sharifi Dryaz; 17. Kurdish Question in Syria: 1946–2019 Jordi Tejel; 18. The Yezidis in the Soviet Union Estelle Amy de la Bretèque; Part IV. Religion and Society: 19. Religion in Kurdistan Michiel Leezenberg; 20. Religion and Politics in Turkey's Kurdistan from the Beginning of the Republic Mehmet Kurt; 21. 'Kurdish' Religious Minorities in the Modern World Philip G. Kreyenbroek and Khanna Omarkhali; 22. The Kurdish Alevis: The Followers of the Path of Truth (Raa Haq/Riya Heqi) Erdal Gezik; 23. Tribes and their Changing Role in Kurdish Politics and Society Hamit Bozarslan and Cengiz Gunes; Part V. Kurdish Language: 24. The History of Kurdish and the Development of Literary Kurmanji Ergin Öpengin; 25. The History and Development of Literary Central Kurdish Jaffer Sheyholislami; 26. The Kırmanjki (Zazaki) Dialect of Kurdish Language and the Issues it Faces M. Malmîsanij; Part VI. Art, Culture and Literature: 27. From the Wandering Poets to the Stateless Novelists: A Short Introduction to the Kurdish Literary History Hashem Ahmadzadeh; 28. A History of Kurdish Poetry Farangis Ghaderi; 29. A History of Kurdish Theatre Mari R. Rostami; 30. A Cinematography of Kurdishness: Identity, Industry, and Resistance Bahar Şimşek; 31. Kurdish Art and Cultural Production: Rhetoric of the New Kurdish Subject Engin Sustam; Part VII. Transversal Dynamics: 32. A People Beyond the State: Kurdish Movements and Self-Determination in the 20th and 21st Centuries Joost Jongerden and Ahmet Hamdi Akkaya; 33. Kurdish Transnational Indigeneity Ipek Demir; 34. Kurdish Diaspora: A Transnational Imagined Community Barzoo Eliassi; 35. The Women's Movement in Kurdistan-Iraq Choman Hardi; 36. A Struggle within a Struggle: A History of the Kurdistan Women's Liberation Movement 1978–2019 Isabel Käser.

Hamit Bozarslan is Director of studies École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. He is the author of a series books on the Kurdish issue and Middle Eastern politics including Histoire de la Turquie: De l'Empire à nos jours (2013), Le luxe et la violence: Domination et contestation chez Ibn Khaldûn (2014) and Révolutions et état de violence: Moyen-Orient, 2011–2015 (2015). He is currently working on the anti-democracy in the twenty-first century.
Cengiz Gunes is Associate Lecturer and Honorary Associate in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the The Open University. He is the author of The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance (2015) and has published widely on different aspects of Kurdish politics across the Middle East.
Veli Yadirgi is a member of staff in the Department of Development Studies at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and member of the London Middle East Institute, Neoliberalism, Globalisation and States, as well as the Centre for Ottoman Studies. He is the author of the double award-winning book The Political Economy of Kurdish Question: From the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic (2017).