Sung Home. Narrative, Morality, and the Kurdish Nation
Publisher: BRILL; Brill Academic Pub; Brill
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 462
ISBN-13: 9789004314818
Subjects: Kurds; Romances; Singers; Folk songs, turkish; Folk songs, history and criticism; Folklore, turkey
Description: This book tells the story of Kurdish singer-poets (dengbejs) in Turkish Kurdistan, who are specialised in the recital singing of historical songs. After a long period of silence, they returned to public life in the 2000s and are presented as guardians of history and culture. Their lyrics, life stories, and live performances offer fascinating insights into cultural practices, local politics and the contingencies of state borders. Decades of oppression have deeply politicised and moralized cultural and musical production and through in-depth ethnographic analysis Hamelink highlights the variety of personal and social narratives within a society in turmoil. Set within the larger global stories of modernity, nationalism, and Orientalism, this study reflects on different ideas about what it means to create a Kurdish homeland.