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Beyond Language

Kurdish Language Activism in the Face of Colonial Language Governmentality
  • Demet Arpacık
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2025
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Contributions to the Sociology of Language [CSL]

About this book

Joshua A. Fishman Award winner 2021

This ethnographic work examines both the colonial language governmentality imposed by the Turkish state and the Kurdish language activism as a response to this system. Through a genealogical study, it calls for a reconsideration of the linguistic condition in Turkey as being more than nationalist, highlighting its foundation in intertwined ideologies of racism, imperialism, and colonialism. It then provides an analysis of new possibilities and directions led by the actors of the Kurdish language movement, which seeks to enhance not only the linguistic but also the socio-political condition of the Kurdish people by taking a "beyond language" approach. The work advances our thinking about language oppression and minority language activism.

Author / Editor information

Demet Arpacık, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    I
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    Acknowledgements

    V
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    Contents

    VII
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    List of figures

    XI
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    Abbreviations

    XIII
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    Introduction

    1
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    Chapter 1 Kurds and Kurdistan

    37
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    Chapter 2 Colonial language governmentality in Turkey and its relation to Euro-Colonial linguistics

    54
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    Chapter 3 Colonial governance of non-Turkish languages in Turkey

    103
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    Chapter 4 Party, politics, and language: The genealogy of the anti-colonial Kurdish language movement

    135
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    Chapter 5 Liberal bracket in colonial history: Kurdish language politics during the peace negotiation process (2009–2015)

    188
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    Chapter 6 The split in the language sphere and the closing of the liberal bracket

    228
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    Chapter 7 Decolonial education in Dibistanên Azad [Free Schools]

    264
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    Conclusion

    302
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    Appendix

    311
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    References

    317
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    Index

    341
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
November 4, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9783111143873
Hardcover published on:
November 4, 2024
Hardcover ISBN:
9783111139739
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
10
Main content:
342
Illustrations:
1
Coloured Illustrations:
10
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111143873
eBook ISBN: 9783111143873
Hardcover ISBN: 9783111139739
Keywords for this book
Language Activism; Colonial Linguistics; Kurdish; Critical Pedagogy
Audience(s) for this book
Researchers in Sociolinguistics, Kurdish Studies, Critical Pedagogy, Colonial Linguistics, Anthropological Linguistics.
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