Hauptinhalt

Yeke Yeke Yeke! Women’s Mobilisations and New Notions of Nationalism in Kurdistan

Ringvorlesung 2026: Anti/Feminism & Nationalism

Veranstaltungsdaten

Abstract

Kurdish nationalism has moved through multiple ideological iterations; from early twentieth-century revolts and elite-led nationalist projects, to armed struggle shaped by leftist and anti-colonial movements. In its earlier phases, women were often symbolic bearers of the nation, figures of honour, tradition, and sacrifice, mobilised discursively yet marginalised politically. This talk examines how these gendered representations were challenged and reconfigured as women emerged as organisers, combatants, intellectuals, particularly within the structures of the Kurdish Women’s Freedom Movement (PKK). Here they struggled first for an independent Kurdish state, and later for Democratic Confederalism – not under the banner of feminism, but of women’s liberation. This became most visible in Eastern Turkey (Bakur) from the mid-2000s onwards, and in Northern Syria (Rojava, later Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, DAANES), with the Rojava Revolution that began in 2012. These structures have always been under great threat, from Turkey, but also from (Turkey-backed) jihadi groups in Syria. However, since January 2026, we have been witnessing an attempt to completely dismantle the Rojava Project and push women back to the margins. The exact implications of the new agreement between Damascus and the DAANES remain vague, and the status of the women’s army (YPJ) unclear, however the loss of territory will certainly lead to the shrinking of political space, with potentially detrimental results for women. Isabel Käser reflects on what this current moment might mean for the future of women’s independent organising and traces the shifting notions of Kurdish nationalism that resulted from this newest cycle of violence; from the increased solidarity across nation states (yeke yeke yeke, gelê Kurd yeke!- One one one, the Kurdish people are one!), to the renewed call for a Kurdish nation state. She contextualises the gendered dimension of these protests – such as the braiding of women’s hair – and shows how the political structures built over the past four decades might be sustained through this newest round of “masculinist restoration”, and continue to shape Kurdish politics.

Bio

Isabel Käser is a Senior Researcher and SNSF Ambizione Fellow at the Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern, where she is leading a project on former rebels. Her research focuses on gendered and embodied processes of militancy, (de)militarisation, feminist mobilisations, migration, art, and activism - with a focus on the Middle East, particularly different parts of Kurdistan and its diasporas. Prior to moving to Switzerland, she was a Researcher and Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre where she led the project The Kurdistan Region of Iraq Post-ISIS: Youth, Art and Gender. Isabel gained her PhD at the Centre for Gender Studies at SOAS, University of London, and is the author of the award-winning book The Kurdish Women’s Freedom Movement: Gender, Body Politics and Militant Femininities (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Suggested Readings 

Käser, Isabel. 2021. “A Struggle within a Struggle:  A History of the Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Movement 1978-2019.” In The Cambridge History of the Kurds, edited by Hamit Bozarslan, Cengiz Gunes, and Veli Yadirgi, 893–919. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Käser, Isabel, and Houzan Mahmoud. 2023. “Art and Activism in Iraqi Kurdistan: Feminist Fault Lines, Body Politics, and the Struggle for Space.” MEC Paper Series. https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/120188/.

Wartmann, Julia. 2023. “Negotiating What It Means to Be ‘Free’: Gender Equality and Governance in North and East Syria.” International Feminist Journal of Politics, October, 1–22. doi:10.1080/14616742.2023.2269154 Titel anhand dieser DOI in Citavi-Projekt übernehmen.