From Dengbêj to Modern Writer

Heritagization of the Kurdish Oral Tradition and Revitalization of the Kurdish Language in the Works of Mehmed Uzun and Mehmet Dicle

Bibliographic Data

ID9978029
AuthorsJoanna Bocheńska (0000-0003-2982-249X, Jagiellonian University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume55
Issue4
Pages899-927
Publication date2022-04-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIranian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-0862 • E-ISSN: 1475-4819
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/irn.2022.1
OpenAlexW4225117027
LanguageDA
Citations received2
References cited20

Based on a textual analysis of the selected works of two writers from Turkey, Mehmed Uzun (1953–2007) and Mehmet Dicle (b.1977), as well as interviews with Kurdish writers and folklore collectors, this study focuses on the links between Kurdish folklore and modern Kurdish literature. Following Gregory Ashcroft's take on heritage, I argue that Kurdish writers’ approach to folkloric motives has evolved through the impact of growing literary experience, inspiration from world literature and deepening knowledge of the Kurdish oral tradition. What is more, Kurdish literature can be treated as an example of cultural and language revitalization, which – according to Justyna Olko – is based on acting in and through the heritage language. Following Doreen Massey's concept of a progressive sense of place, I identify Uzun and Dicle's strategy as linking the local to the universal, suggesting that Kurdish literature should be analyzed within the context of a political geography beyond nationalism

Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · Cultural heritage · Folklore · Literature · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Turkey's Politics and Society

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