The Position of Kurdish Women in the View of the British in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

When British travelers visited Kurdish regions in the first half of the twentieth century they recorded their memories and opinions on Kurdish society, especially the position of women. This article analyses the text the British travelers produced to understand whether they were written from an orientalist perspective. The freedom of Kurdish women impressed the British travellers and officers, and in particular they differentiated between Kurdish women and other Muslim societies. They admired the high status of Kurdish women in society regardless of class, in both rural and urban communities. That freedom was reflected in their clothing, lack of face coverings and confident treatment of foreigners. Women participated in politics, became leaders of their communities, and educated themselves, leading British travelers to make comparisons between Kurdish and European women. This article challenges the idea that British travelers considered Kurdish women solely from an orientalist perspective. While orientalism determined many of their views on Kurdish society, British views of Kurdish women were informed by comparison with Europeans.  

Keywords

• Kurdish Women
• Liberty
• Martial
• Oriental

The Position of Kurdish Women in the View of the British in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Öz

When British travelers visited Kurdish regions in the first half of the twentieth century they recorded their memories and opinions on Kurdish society, especially the position of women. This article analyses the text the British travelers produced to understand whether they were written from an orientalist perspective. The freedom of Kurdish women impressed the British travellers and officers, and in particular they differentiated between Kurdish women and other Muslim societies. They admired the high status of Kurdish women in society regardless of class, in both rural and urban communities. That freedom was reflected in their clothing, lack of face coverings and confident treatment of foreigners. Women participated in politics, became leaders of their communities, and educated themselves, leading British travelers to make comparisons between Kurdish and European women. This article challenges the idea that British travelers considered Kurdish women solely from an orientalist perspective. While orientalism determined many of their views on Kurdish society, British views of Kurdish women were informed by comparison with Europeans.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kurdish Women
• Liberty
• Martial
• Oriental

Kaynakça

1. The National Archives, F. O. 215, Residency of Baghdad, 26 September, 1930.
2. Babayiğit, M. V., & Dilbaz, İ. (2015). Kürt Dilbilimine Kısa Bir Bakış. International Journal of Kurdish Studies, (1), 125-139.
3. Babayiğit, M. V. (2020). Expressions of Determination, Success, Diligence, Stability and Laziness in Kurdish, Turkish and English Proverbs. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 6 (2), 244 – 257, DOI: https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks. 760441.
4. Babayiğit, M. V. (2021a). Semantic and Modal Analysis of Some Verbs in Kurdish, Turkish and English. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 7 (1), 123-139, https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks. 850817.
5. Babayiğit, M. V. (2021b). Semantic Comparison of Some kinds of Adjectives: Samples from Kurdish, English and Turkish. In Balcı, T., Öztürk, O. & Aksöz, M. (Eds). Schriften Zur Sprache und Literatur V, (5th ed., pp. 67-75). Istanbul, Turkey: Çizgi Press.
6. Dickson, B., (1910) ‘Journeys in Kurdistan’, the Geographical Journal, vol.35, no.4, 357-378
7. Edmonds, C. J. (1957) Kurds, Turks and Arabs, political, travel and research in North-Eastern Iraq 1919-1925, London, UK, Oxford University Press.
8. Edmonds, C. J. (1967) ‘’A pilgrimage to Lalish’’. (Royal Asiatic Society Prize Publication Fund, Vol. XXI.) xii, 88 pp., front., 6 Plates, map. London: Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, (Agents: Luzac. 35s.).

9. Noel, E. W. C. ( 1920) Diary of Major Noel on Special Duty in Kurdistan, from June 14th, to September 21st, 1919 ,Basrah, Government Press.
10. Hay, W. R., (1921) Two years in Kurdistan Experience of a political officer 1918-1920 ,London, Sidgwick and Jackson LTD.
11. Hubbard, G. E., (1917), From the Gulf to Ararat, New York, E. P. Dutton and Company.
12. Karacan, H., & Babayiğit, M. V. (2017). Türk ve Kürt Dillerinin Sentaks (Sözdizimsel) Karşılaştırması. Tiydem Yayıncılık, Editör: Hasan KARACAN, Basım sayısı, 3, 7-31.
13. Lynch, H. F. B. (1901) Armenia Travels and Studies, New York, Longman and Green co.
14. Minorsky, V., (1945) ‘The Tribes of Western Iran’, the Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vo. 75, No. 1, 2, 73-80.
15. Noel, E., (1920) ‘The Character of the Kurds as Illustrated by Their Proverbs and Popular Sayings’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol. 1, No. 4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00101673.
16. Ross, E. N. M. (1921) ,A Lady Doctor in Bakhtiari Land , London, Leonard Parsons Portugal Street.
17. Soane, E. B. (1914) To Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in disguise with the historical notice on Kurdish tribes and the Chaldeans of Kurdistan , London, John Murray.
18. Sykes, M. (1908) ‘Kurdish Tribes of the Ottoman Empire’, Journal of Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 38, Jul-Dec, 453-486.
19. Sykes, M. , (1915) The Caliphs’ last heritage: a short history of the Turkish Empire, London, Macmillan and Co. Limited.
20. Wigram, W. A. (1922) The Cradle of Mankind: Life in the Eastern Kurdistan, London, A.C. Black LTD.
21. Ahmed, B. O. and Nori, A. W. J. (2020). ‘The Life and Political Role of the Kurdish Women in the Ottoman Empire’, IIUM Journal of Religion and Civilizational Studies (IJRCS) 3:2
22. Asatrian, G. (2009) ‘’Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds‟, Iran and the Caucasus, 13, no. 1
23. Bengio, O. (2016) ‘Game Changer: in Peace and War’ Middle East Journal, Winter, vol.70, no.1.
24. Bruinessen, M. V. (1992) Agha, Shaikh, and State, the social and political structure of Kurdistan, London, Zed Book Ltd.
25. Bruinessen, M. V. (2001) ‘’From Adela Khanum to Layla Zana: Women as Political Leaders in Kurdish History’’ in Shahrzad Mojab, Women of Non-State Nation, Cosa Mesa, Mazda Publisher.
26. Guest, J.. S. (1987) The Yazidis, London, Routledge.
27. Hansen, H. H. (1960) Daughters of Allah among Muslim Women in Kurdistan, London, George Allen, and Unwin LTD.
28. Lewis, R. (2019) ed ‘The Harem: Gendering Orientalism’, in Geoffrey P. Nash, Orientalism and Literature, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
29. Kabbani, R. (1986) Europe Myth of Orient Devise and Rule, London, Macmillan.
30. Kabbani, R. (1996) Imperial Fictions: Europe’s Myths of Orient , Glasgow, Pandora.
31. Said, E. (2003) Orientalism, New York, Penguin.
32. Wintle, M. (1999) ‘Renaissance Maps and the Construction of the Idea of Europe’, Journal of Historical Geography, vol. 25, no.2.
33. Mabilat, C. (2006) ‘British orientalism and representations of music in the long nineteenth century ideas of music, otherness, sexuality and gender in the popular arts(unpublished doctoral thesis) at University of Durham, UK.
34. Muhammad, Q. (2017) ‘Kurds and Kurdistan in the View of British travelers in the Nineteenth century (unpublished doctoral thesis) University of Leicester, UK.
35. Odams, H. J. R. (1996) ‘British perceptions of the Ottoman Empire, 1876-1908’, (Unpublished doctoral thesis) at University of Oxford, UK.