Education and Identity: Rebuilding of the Kurdish Identity within and in Spite of Turkish Education System / Perwerde û Nasname: Avakirina Nasnameya Kurdî li Hember û bi Pergala Perwerdeya Tirkî

Year 2016, Volume: 1 Issue: 5, 11 - 35, 01.12.2016

Nurettin Beltekin

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between education and identity in the light of Kurdish political actors’ educational experience. It is a qualitative study based on literature review and interviews. The participants of the study include 30 Kurdish political actors who experienced schooling before 1970, during 1970s and after 1980, respectively. Identity is a concept/phenomenon under constant construction rather than a concrete asset. Thus, this study investigates students’ attitudes towards the “official identity” built by schools and how they rebuild their identities. The students noticed the identity being built by the school by means of language, some instruments and othering, and attempted to build their own identity. Kurdish students turned the school’s process of building a contemporary Westernized Turkish identity into a process in which they rebuild their identity

Keywords

Building of the Kurdish Identity, Education, Identity, Turkish Education System