Inaudible screams: intersectional experiences of oppression and violence in the Kurdish Novel

ABSTRACT

This article examines intersecting forms of oppression, discrimination and violence against women in Iraqi Kurdish society. Two novels written by Kurdish female authors in the Bahdinan dialect have been selected as samples for the study: Mirin di Zenga 12ê da (Death at the Strike of 12) by Kawther Shawkat, and Revîn ji Xolekên Zer, (Runaway from the Yellowed Moment) by Awaz Mustafa Barwary. I argue that the patriarchal family is one of the main reasons behind the discrimination against women in Kurdish society. Intersectionality has been chosen as a theoretical framework for this study, to explore the relationship between multiple identities and a patriarchal society. Intersectionality suggests a broader dimension to the issues of gender inequality and reciprocal constituent relations within social identities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The term intersectionality was created by the black law professor and feminist in an article published in 1989, in which she attempted to highlight the lives of black women in America and their experience of oppression due to gender and race. According to Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, it ‘emerged from a critical race theory (CRT) movement that is grounded in litigational strategies and legal praxis’. (A. M. Hancock (2019). ‘Empirical Intersectionality: A Tale of Two Approaches’. In: O. Hankivsky & J. S. Jordan-Zachery (eds.) (2019). The Palgrave Handbook of Intersectionality in Public Policy. 95–132. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan). Intersectionality as a concept refers to the methods and theories which investigate phenomena of structure, politics and representation, (Carastathis (2014). 304–314). However, as a method intersectionality relates more to qualitative research than quantitative. In terms of the implementation of intersectionality as a theory and its historic relations with qualitative methodology, Stephanie A. Shields argues that both the theory and the method are very important to one another, (S. A. Shields (2008). ‘Gender: An Intersectionality Perspective’. p. 306.). As a branch of social science, although intersectionality is a complicated concept, it has a role in enriching research in the field of social science and ‘textual analysis within the humanities’ (H. Hillsburg (2013). ‘Towards a Methodology of Intersectionality: An Axiom-Based Approach’. Atlantis, 36 (1). 3–11. Available at: www.msvu.ca/atlantis. (Accessed 24/01/2020)).

² L. McCall (2005). ‘The Complexity of Intersectionality’. Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 30 (3). 1771–1800.

³ A. M. Hancock (2019). ‘Empirical Intersectionality: A Tale of Two Approaches’. In: O. Hankivsky & J. S. Jordan-Zachery (eds.) (2019). The Palgrave Handbook of Intersectionality in Public Policy. 95–132. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ H. Hillsburg (2013). ‘Towards a Methodology of Intersectionality: An Axiom-Based Approach’. Atlantis, 36 (1). 3–11. Available at: www.msvu.ca/atlantis. (Accessed 24/01/2020).

⁶ S. A. Shields (2008). ‘Gender: An Intersectionality Perspective’. Journal of Sex Roles, 59 (5). 301–311.

⁷ S. Hira (2016). ‘A Decolonial Critique of Intersectionality’. Website Decolonial International Network. Available at: https://din.today/a-decolonial-critique-of-intersectionality/7/. (Accessed 05/03/2020).

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ N. Jami (2013). ‘Derwazeyekî Tiyorî bo Peywendîy nêwan Kultur û Komalga’. Govara Nwê. Jimare (1). 101–124.

¹⁰ V. M. May (2015). Pursuing Intersectionality, Unsettling Dominant Imaginaries. New York: Routledge. 3.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² For a set of criticisms facing intersectionality, particularly Crenshaw’s and Collins’ models see: Carastathis, 2014; Aydemir, 2011 and Ludvig, 2006.

¹³ A. Carastathis (2014). ‘The Concept of Intersectionality in Feminist Theory’. 309.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ K. Davis (2008). ‘Intersectionality as a Buzzword: A Sociology of Science Perspective on What Makes a Feminist Theory Successful’. 68.

¹⁶ In some patriarchal and tribal societies, when a girl or woman has illegal sexual intercourse, her male family members or some men among her relatives kill her under the pretext of revenge for the family honor, so-called şûştina namûsê ‘honor killings’. For more information about honor killings, see (N. Begikhani et al. (2010). Honour-based Violence (HBV) and Honour-based Killings in Iraqi Kurdistan and in the Kurdish Diaspora in the UK. Erbil: Kurdistan Regional Government (and University of Bristol and University of Roehampton, UK. Pp 13–14).

¹⁷ S. Mojab (2004). No ‘Safe Haven’: Violence against Women in Iraqi Kurdistan. in: W. Giles & J. Hyndman (eds.). Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones. 108–133. London: University of California Press.

¹⁸ Ibid.112.

¹⁹ N. Begikhani et al. (2010). Honour-based Violence (HBV) and Honour-based Killings in Iraqi Kurdistan and in the Kurdish Diaspora in the UK. 13–14.

²⁰ According to Ameen Abdulqader Omar ‘There is a broad consensus among Kurdish scholars that Șivanȇ Kurmanca (The Kurdish Shepherd) in 1935, by Erebȇ Șemo, is the first Kurdish novel in the history of Kurdish literature.’. A. A. Omar (2016). The Iraqi Kurdish Novel 1970–2011: A Genetic Structuralist Approach. A PhD Thesis. University of Exeter.

²¹ For more information about the emergence and development of the Kurdish novel in Bahdini see: A. A. Omar (2016). 88–89; and for a list of published novels in the Bahdini subdialect from its emergence until 2016 see: appendix 1 in L. Alhamid (2017). 281–285.

²² H. Ahmadzadeh (2008). ‘The World of Kurdish Women’s Novels’. Iranian Studies, 41(5). 719–738.

²³ According to Ahmadzadeh ‘[t]he reasons for the late emergence of novels written by Kurdish women can be found in the various political, social, cultural and economic conditions of Kurdish society’ (ibid. 720).

²⁴ Ibid.

²⁵ Bahdinan is a name of Duhok province in Iraqi Kurdistan and all its surrounding towns and cities; while term Bahdini refers to a Kurmanji dialect of the Kurdish language spoken by the native people of the region.

²⁶ The following is a list of the novels produced by women in the Bahdini subdialect between 2013 and 2019; 1. Hizar Di Warcharkhana Da, Barge Eke (Hizar and the Vicissitudes of Life, Part One) by Sindis Niheli (2013), 2. Jivanak bo domahika Shave (An Appointment for the Late Night) by Awaz Mustafa Barwary (2013), 3. Hizar Di Warcharkhana Da, Barge Duwe (Hizar and the Vicissitudes of Life, Part Two) by Sindis Niheli (2014), 4. Mirin di Zanga 12e da (Death at the strike of 12) by Kawthar Shawkat (2015), 5. Ravin ji Xolaken Zar (Runaway from the Yellowed Moment) by Awaz Mustafa Barwary (2018), 6. Oktobarak ji Mije (An October from the Fog) by Kawthar Shawkat (2018), 7. Xawnen Barzaboy (Missing Dreams) by Shireen Izzuddin (2019) and 8. Di Hambeza Jiyaneda (Embrace Life) by Iman Nasrat Barbuhari (2019).

²⁷ H. Ahmadzadeh (2008). The World of Kurdish Women’s Novels. Iranian Studies. P. 721.

²⁸ L. Alhamid (2017). You Can’t Bury Them All: The Representation of Women in the Contemporary Iraqi Kurdish Novel in Bahdinan. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Kent in Canterbury. 162.

²⁹ A. A. Omar (2008). Shi’riat di Romanen Sidqi Hirorida (A Poetic Investigation of Sidqi Hirori’s Novels). Duhok: Spirez. 133.

³⁰ Ibid. 201.

³¹ L. Alhamid (2018). ‘The Representation of Post-Conflict Gender Violence in Iraqi Kurdish Novelistic Discourse in Bahdinan’. Kurdish Studies Journal. 6(1). 31–57. Available at: https://kurdishstudies.net/journal/index.php/ks/article/view/433. (Accessed 04/05/2020).

³² L. Alhamid (2017). You Can’t Bury Them All: The Representation of Women in the Contemporary Iraqi Kurdish Novel in Bahdinan. 164.

³³ S. S. Friedman (1998). Mappings: Feminism and the Cultural Geographies of Encounter. Princeton: Princeton UP. 134.

³⁴ K. Shawkat (2015). Mirin di Zenga 12ê da (Death at the strike of 12). Duhok: Chapxana Hawar. 181.

³⁵ Sabah Ghalib argues that women have a better situation in Kurdish society compared with other societies. One can partly agree with Ghalib’s argument, as even in modern Kurdish society women are respected in many ways. However, sometimes this kind of respect confounds Kurdish feminists. For instance, it is hard to see a woman standing on a bus while men are seated. Whenever a man finds a woman is standing he will immediately ask her to have his seat. Men feel it is shameful and impolite to let a woman stand on her feet while they are seated. Feminist women turn this respect back to the idea that women are men’s honour. That is why they see this kind of respect as gender inequality. (S. Ghalib (1979). Afrat la Cheeroky Kurdi da (Reflecting Women in the Kurdish Stories). Hawler: Dazgay Blawkirdnaway Kurdi. 17).

³⁶ K. Shawkat (2015). Mirin di Zenga 12ê da (Death at the strike of 12). 158.

³⁷ Barwary, A. M. (2018). Revîn ji Xolekên Zer (Runaway from the Yellowed Moment). Duhok: Dazgahe Nalbend. 21.

³⁸ According to Mala Mehmud Bayazidi traditionally there were three conditions ‘that would lead to unquestionable killing—premarital sex (loss of virginity), extramarital sex (adultery) and eloping’ (quoted in Majob (2004). ‘No “Safe Haven”: Violence against Women in Iraqi Kurdistan’. in: W. Giles & J. Hyndman (eds.). Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones. Pp. 108–133. London: University of California Press. P. 113). Majob comments that ‘the common thread that connects these forms of violence is the almost total control of the sexuality and body of the woman by the feudal patriarchal system’ (ibid).

³⁹ Ibid. 120.

⁴⁰ Ibid.

⁴¹ Ibid.

⁴² S. Mojab (2007). ‘Women’s NGOs Under Conditions of Occupation and War’. Solidarity. Available at: www.solidarity-us.org/node/576. (Accessed 27/04/2020).

⁴³ Ibid.

⁴⁴ K. Shawkat (2015). Mirin di Zenga 12ê da (Death at the strike of 12). P.47.

⁴⁵ See: A. M. Barwary (2018). Revîn ji Xolekên Zer (Runaway from the Yellowed Moment). 77.

⁴⁶ K. Shawkat (2015). Mirin di Zenga 12ê da (Death at the strike of 12). P.147.

⁴⁷ A. M. Barwary (2018). Revîn ji Xolekên Zer (Runaway from the Yellowed Moment). 23.