Art, Gender and Migration in the Kurdish Diaspora

This book focuses on the cultural and intellectual activities of Kurdish migrant women through artistic and aesthetic forms of production in Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden and the UK. Using in-depth interviews with over 40 Kurdish women artists, Ozlem Galip examines how artistic, literary and cultural productions, incorporating the fields of film, theatre and music, are articulated within the structures of nation states, leading to the interrogation of the impact of western and local knowledge, patriarchy, the nation-state and globalisation. Galip also analyses how European policies affect the development of cultural engagement of Kurdish migrant women, and how such engagements help these women to integrate into European society. Examining the gendered experiences of diaspora from all four regions of Kurdistan; Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey, this book challenges ideas about gender, migration and art through the lens of women artistic production with a focus on women-led activism and the changing integration and migration policies of Europe.

Özlem Belçim Galip

Introduction: Art, Gender and Migration PART I: Theory, Concepts and Methods 1. Migration from Gender-critical and Postcolonial Feminist Approach 2. Redefining the Kurdish Diaspora in Europe: Kinship, Identity and Culture PART II: The Politics of Agency and Exclusion 3. "Talent has no race, has no face - but it has a skin colour": Opportunities and Challenges for Kurdish women artists in Sweden 4. Citizenship, Identity and Boundaries in The United Kingdom: Integration or Cultural assimilation? 5. Art and Activism by Kurdish women intelligentsia in Germany: Counter-cultural voice within hegemonic politics PART III: From Colour Blindness to Blindness to the Colours 6. Shifting Spaces and Gender Dynamics in France: The Aesthetic of Becoming in(visible) 7. Female but Foreign: Race, Gender and Exclusion in Belgium Conclusion: A Comparative Analysis