Women Fighters in the Kurdish National Movement: Transforming Gender Politics and the PKK

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Description

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement. Designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US, it seeks self-determination from Turkey. But this book examines the other changes it generates in society, focusing on how it has become a platform for shifts in gender politics through its women fighters. Based on fieldwork undertaken in Iraq, Syria and Europe - including in-depth interviews and participant observation within womens camps - the book examines Kurdish women fighters motivations to join the PKK, as well as their personal life stories and views on gender, patriarchy, and ethnic minority experiences. This is the largest ethnographic study on the PKK to date and the book argues that in addition to seeking their nation's struggle for survival and a democratic society, Kurdish women fighters are driven by the prospect of improving conditions for themselves and for women across the entire region.

Author Bio

Mustafa Kemal Topal is Assistant Professor at Roskilde University, Denmark, teaching gender, sexuality and culture. He is also a fellow at the University of Central Florida, US, having been awarded the Carlsberg Foundation Internationalisation Fellowship grant. He received his PhD from Roskilde University (RUC), Denmark.