Republic of Dreams: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Struggles, and the Future of Iraqi Kurdistan

Key Question Being Explored in This Insight:

Nicole Watts discusses the political history of Kurdish Iraq told through the extraordinary rags-to-riches story of a childhood refugee

View the page of: Nicole Watts

Explore more insights in:

Middle Eastern Politics Political Science Social Sciences

Media Literacy Toolkit

Faculti's Media Literacy Toolkit helps viewers critically engage with academic insights by analyzing the research context, identifying perspectives, and encouraging thoughtful evaluation.

Critical Questions to Consider ▼

What assumptions does the research make?
Are there alternative perspectives not explored?
What are the limitations of the research method?

Bias and Perspective Awareness ▼

This research comes from . Reflect on how the institution's academic focus and research partnerships may shape the questions being explored.

Further Reading ▼

Read the Study

Nicole Watts discusses the political history of Kurdish Iraq told through the extraordinary rags-to-riches story of a childhood refugee

Image courtesy of interviewee. September 18, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

The speaker reflects on their extensive work in Kurdish activism, particularly in Iraqi Kurdistan, which began after years of academic focus on British activism in Turkey. Their journey into Kurdish activism started with a research trip in 2009 to investigate a protest in Halabja, a town known for a notorious chemical attack in 1988. During this visit, the speaker connected with a local undergrad named Pesa, who later became a key figure in their narrative nonfiction book.

The speaker intended to tell the stories of the Kurdish people, emphasizing the personal experiences of individuals rather than academic arguments. Through meticulous research, including interviews and firsthand observations during pro-democracy protests and the Kurdish independence referendum, they aimed to reveal the everyday lives and struggles of ordinary Kurdish families, like Pesa's.

The narrative explores the complexities of Kurdish identity and activism across different regions (Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Syria). It highlights the contradicting nature of Kurdish politics, where they both sought autonomy while contending with the desires of surrounding states for control over their populations. Pesa's family, depicted as a working-class Muslim family fleeing persecution, symbolizes resilience and a desire for a meaningful life despite considerable hardships.

Throughout the writing process, the speaker emphasizes the importance of humanizing the Kurdish experience and showcasing their diverse socio-political landscape, aiming to challenge victim-centric narratives. The book not only illustrates the struggles faced by Kurds but also conveys themes of hope, community, and the significance of home as a source of identity and strength. Ultimately, it seeks to invite readers to appreciate the complexity and humanity of Kurdish lives in the face of adversity.

Language:

Export as PDF

Export as PDF
Here are five key points from the video:

1. **Transition from Academic to Narrative Nonfiction**: The author, initially focused on scholarly work related to Kurdish activism, transitioned to writing narrative nonfiction to bring the stories of ordinary Kurds to life. This shift aimed to humanize the complexities of Kurdish experiences and provide a more accessible understanding of the region.

2. **Personal Connection with Protagonists**: The relationship with Pesa, a young Kurd whom the author met during research, evolved from collaboration into a pivotal role in the narrative. Pesa's story and his family's experiences are central to the book, showcasing the resilience of people affected by historical and political turbulence.

3. **Complexities of Kurdish Identity**: The video highlights the diverse and multifaceted nature of Kurdish identity, emphasizing that the Kurdish population is not a monolithic group but is instead characterized by various political movements and cultural convideos shaped by their specific national histories.

4. **Impact of Political Turmoil**: The author explores how significant events, such as the U.S. invasion of Iraq and subsequent protests, influenced the lives of ordinary Kurds. The narrative recounts how these broader political dynamics led to both opportunities and challenges for individuals and the Kurdish community.

5. **Themes of Hope and Community**: The narrative underscores themes of hope and the importance of community and homeland. Despite enduring hardships, the characters find strength and meaning through their connections to each other and their homeland. The author aims to portray the richness of their lives beyond victimhood narratives often associated with conflict-affected regions.

Export as PDF
Here are some key quotes extracted from the video you , highlighting its themes and essential points:

1. **On Activism and Academic Work**:
- "I was working for many years on British activism in Turkey as an academic."

2. **On the Impact of Historical Events**:
- "In 2006, I visited Iraqi Kurdistan for the first time... I was interested in looking into a protest that had happened in the town of Halabja, which you may know is... the worst chemical attack on civilians in human history."

3. **On Personal Relationships and Research**:
- "That was the beginning of my relationship with Pesa, who became much later on the protagonist of this book."

4. **On the Value of Stories**:
- "I thought, I wanna write a book where I can share something of these people's lives and what they've come through."

5. **On the Challenges of Writing Nonfiction**:
- "The challenge really was to recreate these chapters of UA and his family's lives with... sensory detail and inner point of view."

6. **On the Human Experience**:
- "I want a humanization of a part of the world that is often very negatively stereotyped."

7. **On Diversity and Distinctiveness Among Kurds**:
- "I want us to get under there and appreciate both the political diversity [...] and also some of the cultural and sociological diversity."

8. **On Home and Community**:
- "Even if you have a political system that's completely messed up or corrupt or undemocratic... there still may be so much that people are getting from their communities."

9. **On Hope and Resilience**:
- "I also find it very much a story of hope... they find meaning in life, and they find joy and they find success."

10. **On the Kurdish National Movement**:
- "Instead of having one Pan Kurdish movement, which I think we sometimes think of the Kurds as one people, you really ended up with four distinctive movements."

These quotes reflect the speaker's journey through academic research, personal relationships, and a desire to humanize and complicate the narratives around the Kurdish experience and activism in the region. They emphasize the importance of storytelling, the complexity of Kurdish identities, and the power of community and home.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.245 --> 00:03.725
I was working for many years on British activism in

00:03.725 --> 00:05.045
Turkey as an academic.

00:05.245 --> 00:09.125
I finished that book, the Iraq invasion happened.

00:09.625 --> 00:10.725
Uh, in 2006.

00:10.845 --> 00:13.005
I visited Iraqi Kurdistan for the first time,

00:14.065 --> 00:17.165
and a couple of years later, I was looking for new projects,

00:17.185 --> 00:19.405
new work to do, and decided

00:19.405 --> 00:22.285
to go over the border into the Kurdistan region of Iraq

00:22.305 --> 00:23.605
and see what I could do there.

00:24.465 --> 00:28.765
And in that December in 2009, I, I made this first kind

00:28.765 --> 00:30.525
of exploratory research trip

00:31.065 --> 00:33.245
to Soleimani in Iraqi Kurdistan.

00:33.545 --> 00:35.485
And I was interested in looking into a protest

00:35.515 --> 00:37.645
that had happened in the town of Halabja,

00:37.645 --> 00:41.685
which you may know is, a town that was terribly,

00:42.005 --> 00:43.445
attacked by the Iraqi Air Force

00:43.625 --> 00:47.045
and suffered, what sometimes is called the worst,

00:47.445 --> 00:49.845
chemical attack on civilians in human history.

00:49.845 --> 00:52.085
And around 5,000 people died in 1988.

00:52.345 --> 00:54.085
But in 2006, I was a protest there,

00:54.865 --> 00:57.365
and I was interested in learning more about this protest.

00:57.665 --> 01:00.645
And I ended up at the American University of Iraq Soleimani,

01:00.645 --> 01:01.685
which had just opened.

01:02.625 --> 01:05.365
And in the hallway there, I was introduced

01:05.385 --> 01:08.205
to a young undergraduate whose name's ua.

01:08.745 --> 01:11.485
And the provost at the time said to me, you know, Nicole,

01:11.485 --> 01:13.085
this is ua ua, this is Nicole.

01:13.145 --> 01:15.925
And Nicole's interested in, in this protest

01:15.955 --> 01:18.525
that happened in Halal and Pesa was from Halal.

01:18.585 --> 01:20.485
And Pesa looked at me and said, well, nice to meet you.

01:20.805 --> 01:22.085
I was actually there at that protest.

01:22.865 --> 01:24.325
And he said, would you like to talk about it?

01:24.325 --> 01:27.365
Would you like to visit Halal? And I said, absolutely.

01:27.805 --> 01:31.205
And so that was the beginning of my relationship with Pesa,

01:31.905 --> 01:35.245
who became much later on the protagonist of this book.

01:35.385 --> 01:38.925
But initially, we worked together, as friends.

01:39.065 --> 01:41.005
He became a research assistant for me.

01:41.565 --> 01:43.085
I was doing academic research

01:43.105 --> 01:44.805
and writing scholarly articles,

01:44.805 --> 01:46.805
book chapters on street protest

01:47.105 --> 01:49.805
and campaigns for Democratic change in the

01:49.805 --> 01:51.045
Kurdistan region of Iraq.

01:52.305 --> 01:54.005
And I published those pieces.

01:54.385 --> 01:56.205
But along the way, I was meeting

01:56.505 --> 02:00.965
so many extraordinary people who had these, lives

02:01.115 --> 02:02.885
that they had suffered so much.

02:02.915 --> 02:06.405
They had come through so much with such courage and humor

02:06.585 --> 02:10.165
and humanity, UA and his family included among them.

02:11.105 --> 02:13.885
And I ended up thinking, I don't wanna write a book

02:13.885 --> 02:17.205
that will bury their stories in some academic argument.

02:17.845 --> 02:19.765
I thought, I wanna write a book where I can,

02:20.045 --> 02:22.765
I can share something of these, these people's lives

02:22.945 --> 02:24.005
and what they've come through.

02:24.905 --> 02:27.205
And I also, in the back of my mind

02:27.225 --> 02:29.685
for some time had been the idea that I wanted

02:29.705 --> 02:32.685
to write a book, that shared some of this world

02:32.755 --> 02:34.965
that talked about the Kurds, that,

02:35.675 --> 02:39.405
that helped people learn more about, Iraqi Kurdistan

02:40.065 --> 02:42.965
to a, a non-specialist audience to a more general public.

02:43.385 --> 02:46.845
And I knew if I were to do that, it needed to be something

02:46.845 --> 02:48.885
that was gripping, where people would pick up the book

02:48.885 --> 02:51.205
and get engaged with a character in a family and,

02:51.625 --> 02:53.045
and wanna keep turning the pages

02:53.845 --> 02:55.765
research process originally was very much

02:55.985 --> 02:58.645
as if I were doing a scholarly academic article.

02:58.825 --> 03:01.005
So qualitative ethnographic research,

03:01.625 --> 03:06.525
and the whole book is informed by my decades long,

03:06.525 --> 03:09.725
efforts in studying Kurdish activism and Kurdish politics.

03:10.505 --> 03:13.085
But once I decided I wanted to write a work

03:13.085 --> 03:15.605
of narrative nonfiction to write something

03:15.605 --> 03:17.885
that in many ways read like a novel,

03:18.115 --> 03:22.045
even though it was completely nonfiction, then the process

03:22.665 --> 03:24.725
really became, the challenge really was

03:24.725 --> 03:28.645
to recreate these chapters of UA and his family's lives

03:28.865 --> 03:32.525
and these events with the kind of, detail

03:32.825 --> 03:34.725
and sensory detail

03:35.025 --> 03:36.525
and inner point of view

03:36.525 --> 03:38.285
that you might get if you were reading a novel.

03:38.825 --> 03:41.365
And so for that, I spent hundreds

03:41.365 --> 03:43.725
and hundreds of hours in conversation with Pesa

03:43.725 --> 03:46.365
and his family, and in some cases, some of his friends

03:46.865 --> 03:51.085
who feature in the book, I, we did a lot of,

03:51.325 --> 03:53.285
I I dug up sources, newspapers.

03:53.405 --> 03:55.605
I interviewed more than a hundred of other people

03:55.705 --> 03:57.685
who were involved in these events.

03:58.105 --> 03:59.405
In some cases I was there.

03:59.785 --> 04:02.965
So in 2011, I was in Soleimani during some

04:02.965 --> 04:04.485
of the pro-democracy protests.

04:04.565 --> 04:06.125
I was in, air

04:06.385 --> 04:09.765
and Soli in 2017 for the Kurdish Independence referendum.

04:09.765 --> 04:11.045
So I was there observing.

04:11.725 --> 04:15.165
I was in the, the room when UA actually cast a ballot

04:15.705 --> 04:18.005
in the, in that independence referendum.

04:18.825 --> 04:21.685
And of course, all kinds of other documentary sources,

04:21.775 --> 04:23.685
video sources, photographs, you know,

04:23.685 --> 04:26.645
if you wanna recreate a moment in a day 10 years ago,

04:26.645 --> 04:27.685
you need to know what the weather was like.

04:29.135 --> 04:32.115
Uh, and then as part of that writing process, also

04:33.235 --> 04:35.435
I realized along the way that I probably needed more

04:35.635 --> 04:38.595
training in how to write effectively

04:38.735 --> 04:40.115
for a more general audience.

04:40.215 --> 04:41.435
And I actually began

04:41.535 --> 04:43.475
and then completed a master's in fine arts

04:44.055 --> 04:46.195
in creative writing at the university here.

04:47.015 --> 04:48.435
And, which was also amazing.

04:49.375 --> 04:51.515
And in terms of the writing process,

04:51.865 --> 04:54.795
what I ended up doing is I would draft a chapter

04:55.695 --> 04:57.555
and real as I drafted it.

04:57.555 --> 05:00.755
So it was very different than writing an academic article in

05:00.755 --> 05:03.315
this way, in that it was a very, it was very much a journey

05:03.625 --> 05:05.235
that the classic sort of writing journey.

05:05.655 --> 05:07.195
And I would write these chapters

05:07.195 --> 05:11.195
and realize as I wrote them, where the, the most, you know,

05:11.195 --> 05:13.755
the tension points were where, where were the areas

05:13.895 --> 05:15.675
of like pivotal decision making

05:15.935 --> 05:17.995
or areas that needed more work.

05:18.095 --> 05:20.875
And then I would go back to Pesa and his family

05:21.215 --> 05:23.075
and other people involved in those scenes

05:23.815 --> 05:24.955
and ask them

05:24.955 --> 05:27.715
to flush out this particular moment or to go deeper.

05:27.735 --> 05:29.995
And I would say, well, how were you feeling at that moment?

05:30.175 --> 05:31.955
And what, what did you see?

05:32.535 --> 05:34.875
So it was, a very interactive process,

05:35.575 --> 05:36.955
and I was incredibly fortunate.

05:37.155 --> 05:39.915
'cause most people writing this sort of nonfiction

05:40.525 --> 05:42.155
don't have that kind of access

05:42.575 --> 05:44.395
to the characters that they're writing about.

05:44.395 --> 05:46.995
They're often, you know, they're often dead relationship

05:46.995 --> 05:50.395
between UA and myself that made this book PO Possible,

05:50.555 --> 05:52.355
I think is really something extraordinary.

05:52.495 --> 05:56.155
And I will say neither of us really understood at the outset

05:56.155 --> 05:57.260
what we were getting into.

05:57.795 --> 06:00.445
When, when I, at one point said to him, Hey, Pastora,

06:00.445 --> 06:01.925
would you mind being a character in my book?

06:02.385 --> 06:03.445
And he said, sure.

06:04.785 --> 06:06.845
But then partially what happened is in the beginning,

06:06.905 --> 06:09.365
he was one person among a number

06:09.385 --> 06:13.125
of people I thought might be featured prominently.

06:13.585 --> 06:14.645
But the more I wrote,

06:14.705 --> 06:17.525
the more everybody wanted more of Pesa.

06:17.985 --> 06:20.685
And so I came back to him and said, how would you feel?

06:20.785 --> 06:24.445
And, and it, for him, I think it was, initially,

06:25.655 --> 06:29.235
he's not somebody who's, who's much into self-promotion.

06:29.655 --> 06:33.075
So, but, but I think he also recognized that his story

06:33.685 --> 06:37.035
could be very inspiring to, to other people,

06:37.035 --> 06:38.915
especially young Kurds who were struggling.

06:39.655 --> 06:42.075
And it was a, it was a relationship

06:42.135 --> 06:44.275
and a collaboration I think, that relied

06:44.415 --> 06:48.075
so much on the trust between us and the trust he gave me.

06:48.075 --> 06:49.355
It was a huge responsibility

06:49.355 --> 06:51.155
because he said to me at the outset, he said,

06:51.695 --> 06:54.355
I'm not gonna tell you how to depict me on the page.

06:54.815 --> 06:56.515
I'm just gonna tell you if I think you got something

06:56.515 --> 06:59.955
factually wrong, but other than that, I trust you to write

07:00.695 --> 07:02.715
me and to write me onto that page.

07:03.575 --> 07:04.915
So what I also did,

07:04.915 --> 07:07.195
and very much trying to honor that trust was

07:07.415 --> 07:09.155
as I wrote drafts, I shared them with him

07:10.135 --> 07:12.355
and said, Hey, you know, you're okay with this.

07:12.505 --> 07:14.595
Obviously there are moments where I,

07:14.815 --> 07:16.475
or choices I had to make about what

07:16.475 --> 07:17.795
to include or not to include.

07:18.245 --> 07:20.315
There were things that might have been risky for him

07:20.315 --> 07:22.675
that I just decided didn't need to be in there,

07:22.675 --> 07:24.315
that we weren't getting anything out of it.

07:24.315 --> 07:26.035
But there are those, those challenging moments

07:26.035 --> 07:27.955
where you think this is gonna go out there

07:28.055 --> 07:29.235
for public consumption.

07:29.855 --> 07:32.635
Uh, you know, how, how will this land for people?

07:32.735 --> 07:34.835
And you have to make those choices about what's gained

07:34.835 --> 07:39.075
and what's lost and in, in communication with him.

07:39.175 --> 07:42.515
So he's been reading, he's not somebody who likes to write,

07:42.695 --> 07:44.675
so he was not somebody who was interested in being a

07:44.705 --> 07:48.795
co-author, but he's being a very, you know, a key part

07:48.795 --> 07:49.835
of this the whole way through.

07:49.935 --> 07:53.555
And I'm just feel very blessed to have him

07:53.615 --> 07:55.435
and have his family in my life that way.

07:55.575 --> 07:56.755
The Iraqi Kurds

07:56.755 --> 08:00.555
and the Kurdish national Movement have both being used by

08:01.295 --> 08:02.395
the states in the region.

08:02.535 --> 08:06.275
So Iraq, Turkey, Iran is particular Syria

08:07.255 --> 08:10.435
and have used those states to survive.

08:10.695 --> 08:13.035
So it's, it's been a, you know, a a back

08:13.035 --> 08:14.435
and forth relationship that way.

08:14.775 --> 08:16.395
But the way I look at it, there's a couple

08:16.415 --> 08:20.635
of major tendencies, almost contradictions in this history

08:20.635 --> 08:25.605
that have really shaped, politics in Iraqi Stan today.

08:26.345 --> 08:28.285
And one of these contradictions is if,

08:28.285 --> 08:30.165
or one of these tendencies is the fact that all

08:30.165 --> 08:33.405
of these major states in the region in the 20th century,

08:33.405 --> 08:34.965
they're engaged in state building

08:34.985 --> 08:36.325
and nation building projects,

08:36.325 --> 08:37.525
and they all found themselves

08:37.555 --> 08:40.405
with a sizable Kurdish population within their borders

08:40.515 --> 08:43.005
that they really didn't want or didn't know what to do with.

08:44.025 --> 08:48.605
And they were also, very leery of any sort of,

08:49.005 --> 08:50.365
cultural or political autonomy

08:51.115 --> 08:54.045
that their neighboring Kurdish populations might get

08:54.045 --> 08:56.010
because they were afraid of, of the knock-on effect.

08:56.010 --> 08:58.285
They were afraid that that might inspire their own Kurds.

08:58.865 --> 09:00.525
At the same time, there were all

09:00.525 --> 09:04.005
of these interstate regional tensions between Iraq

09:04.005 --> 09:05.645
and Turkey, between Iran and Iraq.

09:05.705 --> 09:08.565
Of course, that meant that it was often useful

09:08.585 --> 09:11.765
for these same states to strike up alliances with,

09:11.945 --> 09:15.085
for instance, the Iraqi Kurds in a, as a, as a way

09:15.085 --> 09:18.085
of weakening their, their, their neighboring states.

09:18.665 --> 09:21.165
So, the kind of enemy of the enemy is my friend idea.

09:21.745 --> 09:23.965
And so what this meant over time is

09:23.965 --> 09:27.965
that the Iraqi Kurds were both able to find sanctuary

09:28.025 --> 09:31.005
and support from especially Iran in the case

09:31.005 --> 09:34.845
of the Iraqi Kurds, because Iran was trying to weaken Iraq.

09:35.665 --> 09:38.445
And that played a really big role in

09:39.005 --> 09:40.645
allowing the Kurdish movement from Iraq

09:40.665 --> 09:41.765
to survive over time.

09:41.945 --> 09:44.765
But at the same time, these are very unreliable allies.

09:44.825 --> 09:47.445
And these states would drop these Kurdish parties that,

09:47.445 --> 09:48.685
you know, in a, in a moment, in a

09:48.685 --> 09:49.805
heartbeat if it suited their needs.

09:50.865 --> 09:53.285
The other major contradiction I see is that

09:53.385 --> 09:56.045
for the Kurds themselves, of course, they're, you know,

09:56.045 --> 09:57.605
straddled across the youth boundaries.

09:57.815 --> 09:59.965
These were national boundaries that were imposed.

10:00.075 --> 10:03.005
They often fought them, pushed back on them, crossed them,

10:03.065 --> 10:05.765
didn't necessarily recognize them, tried to re carve them,

10:06.585 --> 10:07.645
on the one hand.

10:07.785 --> 10:10.805
And on the other hand, they were all Kurdish populations

10:10.805 --> 10:12.765
that now found themselves within particular

10:12.785 --> 10:16.285
and very distinctive states and their own histories.

10:16.385 --> 10:18.365
And the development of their national movements

10:19.145 --> 10:21.685
was very much contingent on their own particular

10:21.685 --> 10:23.245
experiences within those states.

10:23.905 --> 10:26.605
And what we see from that is a very distinctive Iraqi

10:26.605 --> 10:29.645
Kurdish national movement versus a Kurdish movement from

10:29.645 --> 10:31.885
Turkey versus an Iranian Kurdish movement.

10:32.265 --> 10:35.085
So instead of having one Pan Kurdish movement,

10:35.085 --> 10:37.765
which I think we sometimes think of the Kurds as one people,

10:37.865 --> 10:39.805
one movement, you really ended up

10:39.805 --> 10:41.485
with four distinctive movements.

10:42.305 --> 10:44.285
And so there's this kind of fracturing.

10:44.865 --> 10:46.885
And when we fast forward to today

10:47.225 --> 10:50.725
and look at the Kurdistan region of Iraq, then you can see

10:50.795 --> 10:52.845
that these two contradictions

10:52.945 --> 10:56.165
and the help from states, the, the, the, the wariness

10:56.165 --> 10:58.285
that states had of the Kurds,

10:58.575 --> 11:02.925
these distinctive internal histories, they've both allowed

11:03.105 --> 11:05.725
for Iraqi Kurdistan to gain the kind

11:05.725 --> 11:07.165
of autonomy that it now has.

11:07.985 --> 11:10.285
And it's also a source of great vulnerability

11:10.785 --> 11:15.125
and internal struggle by telling these stories largely

11:15.125 --> 11:18.405
through PETA's point of view and his families

11:18.405 --> 11:20.365
and friends' points of view, it really gives us a kind

11:20.365 --> 11:23.965
of front row seat, I think, on some of these events.

11:24.185 --> 11:26.005
And also because PE

11:26.145 --> 11:28.925
and his family were generally not agents,

11:28.955 --> 11:31.365
they weren't major players in these,

11:31.365 --> 11:32.485
they didn't have stakes.

11:33.305 --> 11:36.325
It, it shows how ordinary people coped

11:36.325 --> 11:38.765
with these huge events that were transforming their lives

11:39.705 --> 11:42.685
and, and, and the ways they tried to muddle through.

11:43.075 --> 11:44.085
I'll just backtrack a little

11:44.145 --> 11:46.525
and say a little bit about Pesa and his family.

11:46.625 --> 11:49.565
And one of the things for me that made, him and

11:49.565 --> 11:52.045
and his family such just extraordinary people

11:52.045 --> 11:54.765
to write about is this is a working class

11:55.015 --> 11:56.165
pious Muslim family.

11:56.785 --> 12:00.165
His parents fled the chemical gassing of Halal in 1988.

12:00.225 --> 12:02.245
PE was in his mother's womb at the time,

12:02.425 --> 12:05.725
and he was born in a refugee camp under a tree in Iran.

12:06.385 --> 12:08.805
And, his parents are illiterate.

12:08.955 --> 12:10.605
They eventually returned to Haja,

12:10.625 --> 12:13.885
but you know, they were just barely eking out a living.

12:14.025 --> 12:16.965
So this is a very much a poor family,

12:17.035 --> 12:18.885
that really didn't have anything.

12:19.145 --> 12:22.205
And yet, through dint of determination

12:22.205 --> 12:24.325
and hard work, the family survives.

12:24.465 --> 12:27.085
And UA eventually decides that he wants

12:27.085 --> 12:28.845
to do something really big with his life

12:28.865 --> 12:32.205
and meaningful with his life, even though he is not sure how

12:32.205 --> 12:34.445
to do it or the, the ways to go forward.

12:35.345 --> 12:39.685
Um, so we're, this is the, the situation we find as,

12:40.105 --> 12:42.645
for instance, the US invasion happens in 2003,

12:43.105 --> 12:45.445
and we can see the ways that in, on the one hand,

12:45.445 --> 12:49.765
the US invasion was very remote for a family like Peche was

12:49.765 --> 12:51.525
because they were up in Iraqi Stan

12:51.525 --> 12:54.125
and they weren't, you know, deeply involved with it.

12:54.465 --> 12:57.405
But it also had these transformative effects,

12:57.465 --> 12:58.765
in sometimes in positive

12:58.765 --> 13:00.685
and unintended ways, like the creation

13:00.685 --> 13:02.645
of new educational institutions down the road

13:03.035 --> 13:04.805
that PE was able to take advantage of.

13:05.145 --> 13:08.805
And then other events such as the 2006 protest,

13:08.935 --> 13:12.965
which Pesa kind of accidentally just joined the protestors

13:12.985 --> 13:16.565
and was there, and this was, again, halal

13:17.025 --> 13:20.445
by showing this event through PSA's eyes, we're able to see

13:20.445 --> 13:23.285
that even though Halal is often held up as a kind of

13:23.965 --> 13:25.725
sacrificial, lamb

13:25.905 --> 13:29.245
and a symbol of Kurdish national suffering for local,

13:29.545 --> 13:32.285
the local community in Halal, they often resented

13:32.915 --> 13:35.525
this designation and resented their Kurdish leadership

13:35.525 --> 13:38.405
because they saw them as almost exploiting them

13:38.825 --> 13:41.005
for this use while neglecting the city

13:41.025 --> 13:42.885
and not providing it with basic services.

13:43.665 --> 13:46.285
And so being able to tell this through the eyes

13:46.285 --> 13:49.565
of a local family and their involvement in this protest, it,

13:49.585 --> 13:52.165
it really helps us dig below that surface.

13:52.625 --> 13:54.685
And we can see that in a number of other events as well.

13:54.925 --> 13:58.405
I have a couple of chapters on the 2011 pro-democracy

13:58.605 --> 14:01.445
protests that took place mostly in Soleimani,

14:01.445 --> 14:03.565
but in other parts of Iraqi Kurdistan in the

14:03.565 --> 14:04.645
context of the Arab Spring.

14:05.385 --> 14:09.125
And this is another example where we see the internal

14:09.795 --> 14:12.245
turmoil and internal challenge that was going on

14:12.245 --> 14:14.005
to the established Kurdish leadership,

14:14.025 --> 14:15.965
the established Kurdish political parties

14:15.995 --> 14:18.085
that had dominated the nationalist movement

14:18.085 --> 14:20.325
and then dominated the Kurdistan regional government

14:20.335 --> 14:21.725
after 2003.

14:22.305 --> 14:24.445
And we see that there's a whole young generation

14:24.745 --> 14:26.805
as we see in other countries, like in Egypt

14:26.985 --> 14:30.485
and, Tunisia elsewhere, that is,

14:30.625 --> 14:33.765
really pushing back on this traditional kind national

14:33.925 --> 14:34.965
ethnonationalist leadership

14:34.965 --> 14:36.925
and says, Hey, we we want more democracy.

14:37.025 --> 14:40.885
We want more transparency. We want you to be sharing power.

14:41.105 --> 14:43.525
We, we want a more democratic place to live.

14:44.185 --> 14:46.445
And this is even separate from the Kurdish struggle

14:46.585 --> 14:48.245
and in the back and forth with Baghdad.

14:48.245 --> 14:49.405
So this is happening internally.

14:50.145 --> 14:54.765
And UA again, he's, he is not a, a sort of classic activist,

14:54.765 --> 14:56.405
but he had plenty of friends who were,

14:56.905 --> 14:59.165
and so through, partially through his eyes

14:59.185 --> 15:01.325
and partially through the eyes of another friend of his

15:01.325 --> 15:02.685
who was very active in the protest

15:02.745 --> 15:05.485
and then got detained, were able to show

15:06.105 --> 15:08.165
how those protests developed

15:08.425 --> 15:12.045
and some of the internal dynamics, why they became so big,

15:12.625 --> 15:14.285
how local people responded to them,

15:14.505 --> 15:17.365
and then something about how and why they were shut down

15:17.385 --> 15:19.165
and crushed in at the end of April.

15:19.705 --> 15:22.205
And another example of this would be in 2017,

15:22.205 --> 15:24.005
the Curtis on Independence referendum,

15:24.585 --> 15:27.445
and you may remember that in there was a, an effort

15:27.785 --> 15:30.725
by the Kurdistan Regional government to, they, they put a,

15:30.805 --> 15:33.245
a independence ballot, out there for everybody.

15:33.305 --> 15:36.205
It passed with 95%, yes, we want us secede from Iraq.

15:37.065 --> 15:41.085
And, I am able to show through Paua and his friends

15:41.145 --> 15:44.005
and family how, even though he, and,

15:44.465 --> 15:46.965
and most people in Rocky Kurdistan who did go

15:47.045 --> 15:48.845
to the ballot box actually voted yes,

15:49.375 --> 15:51.845
there were deep mis like misgivings

15:51.845 --> 15:55.165
and concern internally over the process that had been used

15:55.165 --> 15:56.725
to get that, that ballot out there

15:56.725 --> 16:00.125
and that referendum out there, and the potential aftermath

16:00.745 --> 16:02.845
and how a number of people were so concerned

16:02.845 --> 16:04.485
that they decided they couldn't vote no,

16:04.905 --> 16:06.525
but they weren't going to vote at all.

16:06.655 --> 16:08.165
First of all, it's just very simple.

16:08.365 --> 16:12.925
I, it I want them to appreciate the humanity of,

16:13.665 --> 16:15.645
of these communities, of these people.

16:16.145 --> 16:19.285
So just, I, I want a humanization of a part of the world

16:19.285 --> 16:21.885
that is often very negatively stereotyped.

16:22.825 --> 16:26.085
Um, so whether it's pious Muslims, Iraqis,

16:26.085 --> 16:30.205
middle Easterners, Kurds, so just that kind of appreciation

16:30.385 --> 16:32.925
for the, the courage and humor and warmth

16:33.065 --> 16:34.565
and generosity of these people.

16:34.745 --> 16:39.725
That's one thing I also really want, to interrogate some

16:39.725 --> 16:42.565
of the victimhood narratives that are out there

16:42.785 --> 16:45.725
and the depictions of people simply as victims.

16:45.945 --> 16:49.285
And to recognize that even when people have been victimized,

16:49.375 --> 16:50.805
there is much more to them

16:50.825 --> 16:53.605
and their lives than that victimization.

16:53.825 --> 16:57.245
And that even when handed a script, people will try

16:57.245 --> 17:00.725
and change it and push back and rewrite it and rebel

17:00.865 --> 17:04.765
and mutiny and that they will in, in small and large ways.

17:05.345 --> 17:08.125
So that's another, another thing I really want

17:08.125 --> 17:09.205
people to take from the book.

17:09.765 --> 17:12.845
I also find it very much a story of hope that, again,

17:12.905 --> 17:15.885
you have a, a person, a family, a community of people

17:15.945 --> 17:17.845
who have been dealt just the worst

17:18.865 --> 17:20.285
ha you know, cards of fate.

17:20.385 --> 17:22.765
And yet they find way forward

17:23.225 --> 17:25.685
and they find meaning in life,

17:25.745 --> 17:27.845
and they find joy and they find success.

17:28.145 --> 17:29.365
And I think in this day and age,

17:29.365 --> 17:30.725
we need those stories of hope.

17:31.465 --> 17:35.205
Um, another thing that for me is extremely important has

17:35.305 --> 17:38.525
to do with the internal diversity within,

17:38.895 --> 17:40.085
among the Kurds themselves.

17:40.145 --> 17:42.125
And I think this is really important

17:42.125 --> 17:44.285
because again, we see a lot of centralization.

17:44.305 --> 17:47.085
We see a lot of generalizations about quote the Kurds.

17:47.825 --> 17:49.805
And I want us to get under there

17:49.945 --> 17:52.885
and appreciate both the political diversity that we have.

17:52.905 --> 17:56.085
So many different political activities, visions,

17:56.765 --> 17:58.885
struggles going on within the Kurds

17:58.885 --> 18:00.365
and the Iraqi Kurds themselves,

18:00.465 --> 18:03.885
and also some of the cultural and sociological diversity.

18:03.985 --> 18:06.525
So in the book, you see huge differences in class.

18:07.105 --> 18:09.765
You see differences in different experiences based on

18:09.765 --> 18:12.445
gender, whether people are from rural areas and urban areas.

18:13.145 --> 18:14.645
So that kind of diversity.

18:15.465 --> 18:17.725
And then I think one of the last big points

18:18.225 --> 18:21.845
for me is the power of home and homeland.

18:22.555 --> 18:27.015
And again, we hear a lot about now, especially immigrants,

18:27.015 --> 18:29.975
illegal immigrants, refugees, you hear about Kurds

18:30.075 --> 18:32.895
and Kurdish children dying in the A GNC

18:32.915 --> 18:36.855
and boating ex, you know, in, in tragic sorts of,

18:37.955 --> 18:39.615
drownings and things like that.

18:39.875 --> 18:41.775
But what you see in this book also is

18:42.395 --> 18:45.655
how hard people will work to get home and stay home

18:45.715 --> 18:47.775
and build home and rebuild home.

18:48.275 --> 18:50.735
And we see people who are forced out,

18:50.795 --> 18:52.375
who come back time and time again.

18:53.035 --> 18:55.655
And then somebody like Pesa, who ultimately,

18:55.755 --> 18:58.095
who I think in the beginning thought he wanted to be one

18:58.095 --> 19:00.135
of those people who was successful enough to be able

19:00.135 --> 19:02.295
to get out in the end.

19:02.475 --> 19:04.135
And I, this a spoiler here.

19:04.995 --> 19:06.655
He, he gets out

19:06.655 --> 19:10.535
and realizes that there is a, a grounding

19:10.535 --> 19:11.895
that he finds in home

19:12.155 --> 19:15.215
and a, a meaning that he finds as work

19:15.275 --> 19:16.975
as being within his own community

19:17.555 --> 19:19.935
and a support network that exists there

19:20.645 --> 19:22.895
that he wants actually to go back.

19:23.315 --> 19:27.735
And it's that I think it really speaks to this power of home

19:27.735 --> 19:31.575
and homeland and how even if you have a political system

19:31.575 --> 19:34.815
that's completely messed up or corrupt or undemocratic,

19:34.875 --> 19:36.535
and even if you have poverty

19:36.835 --> 19:41.655
or major, social in inequalities, there still may be

19:41.755 --> 19:44.615
so much that people are getting from their communities at

19:44.615 --> 19:46.655
home and in their home environment,

19:46.655 --> 19:49.095
that it's very much worth them staying and,

19:49.195 --> 19:50.695
and they often want to stay.

"From Academic Research to Narrative Nonfiction: Unveiling Kurdish Activism Through Personal Stories"

00:00:00 - I was working for many years on British activism in Turkey as an academic. I finished that book, the Iraq invasion happened. in 2006. I visited Iraqi Kurdistan for the first time, and a couple of years later, I was looking for new projects, new work to do, and decided to go over the border into the Kurdistan region of Iraq and see what I could do there. And in that December in 2009, I, I made this first kind of exploratory research trip to Soleimani in Iraqi Kurdistan. And I was interested in looking into a protest that had happened in the town of Halabja, which you may know is, a town that was terribly,
00:00:43 - and suffered, what sometimes is called the worst, chemical attack on civilians in human history. And around 5,000 people died in 1988. But in 2006, I was a protest there, and I was interested in learning more about this protest. And I ended up at the American University of Iraq Soleimani, which had just opened. And in the hallway there, I was introduced to a young undergraduate whose name's ua. And the provost at the time said to me, you know, Nicole, this is ua ua, this is Nicole. And Nicole's interested in, in this protest that happened in Halal and Pesa was from Halal. And Pesa looked at me and said, well, nice to meet you. I was actually there at that protest.
00:01:24 - Would you like to visit Halal? And I said, absolutely. And so that was the beginning of my relationship with Pesa, who became much later on the protagonist of this book. But initially, we worked together, as friends. He became a research assistant for me. I was doing academic research and writing scholarly articles, book chapters on street protest and campaigns for Democratic change in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. And I published those pieces. But along the way, I was meeting so many extraordinary people who had these, lives that they had suffered so much.
00:02:06 - and humanity, UA and his family included among them. And I ended up thinking, I don't wanna write a book that will bury their stories in some academic argument. I thought, I wanna write a book where I can, I can share something of these, these people's lives and what they've come through. And I also, in the back of my mind for some time had been the idea that I wanted to write a book, that shared some of this world that talked about the Kurds, that, that helped people learn more about, Iraqi Kurdistan to a, a non-specialist audience to a more general public.
00:02:46 - that was gripping, where people would pick up the book and get engaged with a character in a family and, and wanna keep turning the pages research process originally was very much as if I were doing a scholarly academic article. So qualitative ethnographic research, and the whole book is informed by my decades long, efforts in studying Kurdish activism and Kurdish politics. But once I decided I wanted to write a work of narrative nonfiction to write something that in many ways read like a novel, even though it was completely nonfiction, then the process really became, the challenge really was
00:03:28 - and these events with the kind of, detail and sensory detail and inner point of view that you might get if you were reading a novel. And so for that, I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in conversation with Pesa and his family, and in some cases, some of his friends who feature in the book, I, we did a lot of, I I dug up sources, newspapers. I interviewed more than a hundred of other people who were involved in these events. In some cases I was there. So in 2011, I was in Soleimani during some of the pro-democracy protests. I was in, air

"Crafting Narrative Nonfiction: The Journey from Research to Collaboration"

00:04:09 - So I was there observing. I was in the, the room when UA actually cast a ballot in the, in that independence referendum. And of course, all kinds of other documentary sources, video sources, photographs, you know, if you wanna recreate a moment in a day 10 years ago, you need to know what the weather was like. and then as part of that writing process, also I realized along the way that I probably needed more training in how to write effectively for a more general audience. And I actually began and then completed a master's in fine arts in creative writing at the university here.
00:04:49 - And in terms of the writing process, what I ended up doing is I would draft a chapter and real as I drafted it. So it was very different than writing an academic article in this way, in that it was a very, it was very much a journey that the classic sort of writing journey. And I would write these chapters and realize as I wrote them, where the, the most, you know, the tension points were where, where were the areas of like pivotal decision making or areas that needed more work. And then I would go back to Pesa and his family and other people involved in those scenes and ask them to flush out this particular moment or to go deeper.
00:05:30 - And what, what did you see? So it was, a very interactive process, and I was incredibly fortunate. 'cause most people writing this sort of nonfiction don't have that kind of access to the characters that they're writing about. They're often, you know, they're often dead relationship between UA and myself that made this book PO Possible, I think is really something extraordinary. And I will say neither of us really understood at the outset what we were getting into. When, when I, at one point said to him, Hey, Pastora, would you mind being a character in my book? And he said, sure. But then partially what happened is in the beginning, he was one person among a number
00:06:13 - But the more I wrote, the more everybody wanted more of Pesa. And so I came back to him and said, how would you feel? And, and it, for him, I think it was, initially, he's not somebody who's, who's much into self-promotion. So, but, but I think he also recognized that his story could be very inspiring to, to other people, especially young Kurds who were struggling. And it was a, it was a relationship and a collaboration I think, that relied so much on the trust between us and the trust he gave me. It was a huge responsibility because he said to me at the outset, he said,
00:06:54 - I'm just gonna tell you if I think you got something factually wrong, but other than that, I trust you to write me and to write me onto that page. So what I also did, and very much trying to honor that trust was as I wrote drafts, I shared them with him and said, Hey, you know, you're okay with this. Obviously there are moments where I, or choices I had to make about what to include or not to include. There were things that might have been risky for him that I just decided didn't need to be in there, that we weren't getting anything out of it. But there are those, those challenging moments where you think this is gonna go out there for public consumption. you know, how, how will this land for people?
00:07:34 - and what's lost and in, in communication with him. So he's been reading, he's not somebody who likes to write, so he was not somebody who was interested in being a co-author, but he's being a very, you know, a key part of this the whole way through. And I'm just feel very blessed to have him and have his family in my life that way. The Iraqi Kurds and the Kurdish national Movement have both being used by the states in the region. So Iraq, Turkey, Iran is particular Syria and have used those states to survive. So it's, it's been a, you know, a a back

"Contradictions and Resilience: Understanding Kurdish Politics and Identity in a Fragmented Landscape"

00:08:14 - But the way I look at it, there's a couple of major tendencies, almost contradictions in this history that have really shaped, politics in Iraqi Stan today. And one of these contradictions is if, or one of these tendencies is the fact that all of these major states in the region in the 20th century, they're engaged in state building and nation building projects, and they all found themselves with a sizable Kurdish population within their borders that they really didn't want or didn't know what to do with. And they were also, very leery of any sort of, cultural or political autonomy that their neighboring Kurdish populations might get
00:08:56 - They were afraid that that might inspire their own Kurds. At the same time, there were all of these interstate regional tensions between Iraq and Turkey, between Iran and Iraq. Of course, that meant that it was often useful for these same states to strike up alliances with, for instance, the Iraqi Kurds in a, as a, as a way of weakening their, their, their neighboring states. So, the kind of enemy of the enemy is my friend idea. And so what this meant over time is that the Iraqi Kurds were both able to find sanctuary and support from especially Iran in the case of the Iraqi Kurds, because Iran was trying to weaken Iraq.
00:09:39 - allowing the Kurdish movement from Iraq to survive over time. But at the same time, these are very unreliable allies. And these states would drop these Kurdish parties that, you know, in a, in a moment, in a heartbeat if it suited their needs. The other major contradiction I see is that for the Kurds themselves, of course, they're, you know, straddled across the youth boundaries. These were national boundaries that were imposed. They often fought them, pushed back on them, crossed them, didn't necessarily recognize them, tried to re carve them, on the one hand. And on the other hand, they were all Kurdish populations that now found themselves within particular and very distinctive states and their own histories.
00:10:19 - was very much contingent on their own particular experiences within those states. And what we see from that is a very distinctive Iraqi Kurdish national movement versus a Kurdish movement from Turkey versus an Iranian Kurdish movement. So instead of having one Pan Kurdish movement, which I think we sometimes think of the Kurds as one people, one movement, you really ended up with four distinctive movements. And so there's this kind of fracturing. And when we fast forward to today and look at the Kurdistan region of Iraq, then you can see that these two contradictions and the help from states, the, the, the, the wariness that states had of the Kurds,
00:11:03 - for Iraqi Kurdistan to gain the kind of autonomy that it now has. And it's also a source of great vulnerability and internal struggle by telling these stories largely through PETA's point of view and his families and friends' points of view, it really gives us a kind of front row seat, I think, on some of these events. And also because PE and his family were generally not agents, they weren't major players in these, they didn't have stakes. It, it shows how ordinary people coped with these huge events that were transforming their lives
00:11:43 - I'll just backtrack a little and say a little bit about Pesa and his family. And one of the things for me that made, him and and his family such just extraordinary people to write about is this is a working class pious Muslim family. His parents fled the chemical gassing of Halal in 1988. PE was in his mother's womb at the time, and he was born in a refugee camp under a tree in Iran. And, his parents are illiterate. They eventually returned to Haja, but you know, they were just barely eking out a living. So this is a very much a poor family, that really didn't have anything. And yet, through dint of determination

"Navigating Identity and Agency Amidst Conflict: A Kurdish Perspective"

00:12:24 - And UA eventually decides that he wants to do something really big with his life and meaningful with his life, even though he is not sure how to do it or the, the ways to go forward. so we're, this is the, the situation we find as, for instance, the US invasion happens in 2003, and we can see the ways that in, on the one hand, the US invasion was very remote for a family like Peche was because they were up in Iraqi Stan and they weren't, you know, deeply involved with it. But it also had these transformative effects, in sometimes in positive and unintended ways, like the creation of new educational institutions down the road
00:13:05 - And then other events such as the 2006 protest, which Pesa kind of accidentally just joined the protestors and was there, and this was, again, halal by showing this event through PSA's eyes, we're able to see that even though Halal is often held up as a kind of sacrificial, lamb and a symbol of Kurdish national suffering for local, the local community in Halal, they often resented this designation and resented their Kurdish leadership because they saw them as almost exploiting them for this use while neglecting the city and not providing it with basic services.
00:13:46 - of a local family and their involvement in this protest, it, it really helps us dig below that surface. And we can see that in a number of other events as well. I have a couple of chapters on the 2011 pro-democracy protests that took place mostly in Soleimani, but in other parts of Iraqi Kurdistan in the context of the Arab Spring. And this is another example where we see the internal turmoil and internal challenge that was going on to the established Kurdish leadership, the established Kurdish political parties that had dominated the nationalist movement and then dominated the Kurdistan regional government after 2003. And we see that there's a whole young generation
00:14:26 - and, Tunisia elsewhere, that is, really pushing back on this traditional kind national ethnonationalist leadership and says, Hey, we we want more democracy. We want more transparency. We want you to be sharing power. We, we want a more democratic place to live. And this is even separate from the Kurdish struggle and in the back and forth with Baghdad. So this is happening internally. And UA again, he's, he is not a, a sort of classic activist, but he had plenty of friends who were, and so through, partially through his eyes and partially through the eyes of another friend of his who was very active in the protest and then got detained, were able to show
00:15:08 - and some of the internal dynamics, why they became so big, how local people responded to them, and then something about how and why they were shut down and crushed in at the end of April. And another example of this would be in 2017, the Curtis on Independence referendum, and you may remember that in there was a, an effort by the Kurdistan Regional government to, they, they put a, a independence ballot, out there for everybody. It passed with 95%, yes, we want us secede from Iraq. And, I am able to show through Paua and his friends and family how, even though he, and, and most people in Rocky Kurdistan who did go
00:15:49 - there were deep mis like misgivings and concern internally over the process that had been used to get that, that ballot out there and that referendum out there, and the potential aftermath and how a number of people were so concerned that they decided they couldn't vote no, but they weren't going to vote at all. First of all, it's just very simple. I, it I want them to appreciate the humanity of, of these communities, of these people. So just, I, I want a humanization of a part of the world that is often very negatively stereotyped. so whether it's pious Muslims, Iraqis, middle Easterners, Kurds, so just that kind of appreciation

"Resilience and the Power of Home: Navigating Identity Beyond Victimhood"

00:16:33 - and generosity of these people. That's one thing I also really want, to interrogate some of the victimhood narratives that are out there and the depictions of people simply as victims. And to recognize that even when people have been victimized, there is much more to them and their lives than that victimization. And that even when handed a script, people will try and change it and push back and rewrite it and rebel and mutiny and that they will in, in small and large ways. So that's another, another thing I really want people to take from the book. I also find it very much a story of hope that, again,
00:17:15 - who have been dealt just the worst ha you know, cards of fate. And yet they find way forward and they find meaning in life, and they find joy and they find success. And I think in this day and age, we need those stories of hope. another thing that for me is extremely important has to do with the internal diversity within, among the Kurds themselves. And I think this is really important because again, we see a lot of centralization. We see a lot of generalizations about quote the Kurds. And I want us to get under there and appreciate both the political diversity that we have.
00:17:56 - struggles going on within the Kurds and the Iraqi Kurds themselves, and also some of the cultural and sociological diversity. So in the book, you see huge differences in class. You see differences in different experiences based on gender, whether people are from rural areas and urban areas. So that kind of diversity. And then I think one of the last big points for me is the power of home and homeland. And again, we hear a lot about now, especially immigrants, illegal immigrants, refugees, you hear about Kurds and Kurdish children dying in the A GNC
00:18:37 - drownings and things like that. But what you see in this book also is how hard people will work to get home and stay home and build home and rebuild home. And we see people who are forced out, who come back time and time again. And then somebody like Pesa, who ultimately, who I think in the beginning thought he wanted to be one of those people who was successful enough to be able to get out in the end. And I, this a spoiler here. He, he gets out and realizes that there is a, a grounding that he finds in home and a, a meaning that he finds as work
00:19:49 - and a support network that exists there that he wants actually to go back. And it's that I think it really speaks to this power of home and homeland and how even if you have a political system that's completely messed up or corrupt or undemocratic, and even if you have poverty or major, social in inequalities, there still may be so much that people are getting from their communities at home and in their home environment, that it's very much worth them staying and, and they often want to stay.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis

Data

Originals

Explainers

Podcasts

Faculti

New on Faculti

Idea Explorer

Definition

News Context

Critical Questions and Answers

Research Summaries

Republic of Dreams: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Struggles, and the Future of Iraqi Kurdistan

Media Literacy Toolkit

Critical Questions to Consider ▼

Bias and Perspective Awareness ▼

Further Reading ▼