Seref Kavak
Dr. Şeref Kavak joined Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)’s centre "Recherche et Etudes en Politique Internationale" (REPI) as postdoctoral researcher in September 2020. Previously, he carried out his research activities at École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) Paris and worked as lecturer in international relations at Sciences Po Paris, where he taught a course entitled "Non-State Actors, Transnationalism and Diaspora Politics" that he designed for undergraduate year 2 students.
Şeref holds a PhD (2017) in Politics and International Relations from Keele University (UK), where he taught "The UN in World Politics » course during his doctoral studies. He holds a B.A in Political Science and International Relations from Marmara University and M.A in Modern Turkish History from Bogazici University in Istanbul. His doctoral thesis focused on transnational community politics of the Kurdish diaspora based on a field reseach in London. His master’s thesis examined the transformation of pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey with regard to the tensions between ethnicity and national integrity.
Şeref's areas of interest are non-state actors in world politics, transnational social movements, music and politics, Kurdish politics, Middle East and international relations theory. Şeref has sung in polyphonic choirs in Istanbul and Paris and founded the multilingual eastern Mediterranean folk band "jAnatolia Project" in London. Some of his poems have been published and translated into English and French. He is a member of Kurdish Studies Network (KSN)
Supervisors: Prof. Bulent Gokay (PhD Lead Supervisor), Prof Farzana Shain (PhD Co-Supervisor), and Assist. Prof Berna Yazici (MA Supervisor)
Şeref holds a PhD (2017) in Politics and International Relations from Keele University (UK), where he taught "The UN in World Politics » course during his doctoral studies. He holds a B.A in Political Science and International Relations from Marmara University and M.A in Modern Turkish History from Bogazici University in Istanbul. His doctoral thesis focused on transnational community politics of the Kurdish diaspora based on a field reseach in London. His master’s thesis examined the transformation of pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey with regard to the tensions between ethnicity and national integrity.
Şeref's areas of interest are non-state actors in world politics, transnational social movements, music and politics, Kurdish politics, Middle East and international relations theory. Şeref has sung in polyphonic choirs in Istanbul and Paris and founded the multilingual eastern Mediterranean folk band "jAnatolia Project" in London. Some of his poems have been published and translated into English and French. He is a member of Kurdish Studies Network (KSN)
Supervisors: Prof. Bulent Gokay (PhD Lead Supervisor), Prof Farzana Shain (PhD Co-Supervisor), and Assist. Prof Berna Yazici (MA Supervisor)
less
InterestsView All (39)
Uploads
Books
Türkiye Siyasetinde Kürtler’deki yazılar bu arayışın ve mücadelenin arkasında yatan dinamikleri, tarihsel süreci farklı açılardan ele alıyor: Kürtlerin siyasi temsiliyet ve katılım mücadelelerinden Kürt etnobölgesel hareketinin doğuşuna, Kürt hareketinin “geleneksel”le ilişkisinden 2000’li yıllarda aldığı pozisyonlara, “Demokratik Özerklik” fikrinden Kürtçenin direnişine, sürekli olarak Türkiye siyasetine katılmak, kendisine yer bulmak isteyen Kürt hareketlerinin bir panoramasını ortaya koyuyor.
Büşra Ersanlı, Günay Göksu Özdoğan, Ahmet Alış, Cemil Gündoğan, Şeref Kavak, Halil Bayhan ve Nesrin Uçarlar’ın katkılarıyla…
Papers
Based on the comparison of the Kurds from different parts of Kurdistan taking part in a single singing contest called Xoshtrin Dang (Kurdish version of “the Voice”), this article sheds light on the Turkish Kurds’ inadequacy and alienation experiences in the Kurdistani cultural and political space. Then l touch upon the possible causes and effects of these experiences based on their reflections on the popular cultural level as a potentially conflict-prone zone.
I argue that the Kurds from Turkey show stronger sings of alienation due to the bigger ‘success’ of the assimilationist policies of Turkey as a major NATO ally, EU candidate, geographically, economically and politically more modern liberal nation state compared to other countries sharing the region of Kurdistan. The higher the integration to the global economy and culture the stronger the countries are in assimilating local populations as evident in several examples including the UK vis-a-vis its Irish, Scottish and Welsh populations. Although Turkey has never been as politically modern and economically well corporate as the UK or France, still it has been introduced to the Middle Eastern countries as a "model" of liberal democratic country with a Muslim majority population. However when it comes to the issue of autochthonous peoples’ linguistic, cultural, political rights, Turkey has been reluctant to grant rights onto them claiming recognition of ethnic groups would be a betrayal to the liberal democratic system, returning back to pre-modern "feudal structures" embedded in the locale and eventually lead to their secession. Therefore it has tried to reduce the rights of the Kurds to minority rights framework rather than local people’s right to self rule. According to this view, Turks and Kurds are all equal abstract ‘citizens’ given the Kurdish language bans have been lifted recently. However the norm is still to speak and use Turkish language in public and in most socio-cultural spaces. This approach inevitably leads-at least- to linguistic assimilation.
In the article I am presenting concrete observations from the singing contest (TV show) taking place in Iraqi Kurdistan and attended by Kurds from Turkey and Iran, as well. I am pointing out to the sharp divergences/differentiation between the Turkish Kurds on one side and the Iraqi and Iranian Kurds on the other. The knowledge and comfort to speak the Kurdish language, the obvious differentiation of the ‘modern’ Western style dressed Kurdish contestants from Turkey singing Western music oriented songs with the operatic singing techniques as opposed to Iraqi and Iranian Kurds in traditional costumes singing mostly classical/traditional Kurdish songs with a particular throaty style. The title of my article implies an interesting pattern which repeats several times in all episodes of the auditions. Turkish Kurds prefer saying ‘Spas!’ (Thanks!) to the judges and other TV staff for any comment they receive from them. The Turkish Kurds sound like English learning foreigners who keep saying words such as: “Yes””No” “OK!” and “Thanks!” as they feel inadequate in and alienated from their mother tongue which is under the risk of dropping down to a second language.
I conclude the article by briefly emphasizing the risks of the abovementioned experiences of the Turkish Kurds for a stable political/social psychology both among the Kurds and the Turkish society, at large.
Kitap Bölümü
1- OLUŞUM VE SERPİLME SÜRECİNDE KÜRT DİASPORASI
2- ZAMANLAMA VE BAĞLAM
3- TABAN HAREKETİ OLARAK KÜRT DİASPORA AKTİVİZMİ
A- GÖRÜNÜRLÜK MÜCADELESİ VE KÜLTÜREL HAKLAR
B- YERELDEN ULUSÖTESİNE
C- ‘ÖNDERLİK’ MESELESİ VE SİYASİ TALEPLER
4- SONUÇ YERİNE: BARIŞ UMUTLARI VE TEMKİNLİ BEKLEYİŞ
Book Reviews
The book tackles vital politico-historical issues of area studies in the Middle East. It challenges the Muslim-dominant readings of the region reproduced – to varying extents – in the discourses of the states, media and academics. The author touches on violence led by the state, community and individuals including genocide, ethnic cleansing, dispossession, reappropriation of land and resources mainly by Muslim subjects (Kurds and Arabs), first of the Ottoman Empire and then of the Turkish Republic that enable them to be new hegemonic dwellers of the historically diverse land.
Biner carries out her analysis of conflict and ethnic relations in a subtle way. Instead of presenting a grand portrait of a post-genocidal nation-building process, she prioritizes daily repercussions of this new setting in the lives of Mardinites. Her original contribution is the successful incorporation of imagined spiritual actor’s (the jinn, the ghosts, etc.) into the analysis of human subjects of the field while they are interacting with the built (cemeteries, monasteries and houses in cement and stone) and natural environment (fields). Throughout the book, we see examples of this multi-layered and multidimensional interaction supported by quotations from the people inhabiting and/or digging into these houses about how they see these properties and how they relate or detach these properties to/from history. Biner makes the reader question the functions of the spiritual beings imagined by the new owners in the process of their internalization of reappropriation of property that once belonged to individuals or communities from different ethnic or religious backgrounds. Therefore, the book projects on microlocality benefiting from certain elements of oral history of superstition, ideas and materiality.
Türkiye Siyasetinde Kürtler’deki yazılar bu arayışın ve mücadelenin arkasında yatan dinamikleri, tarihsel süreci farklı açılardan ele alıyor: Kürtlerin siyasi temsiliyet ve katılım mücadelelerinden Kürt etnobölgesel hareketinin doğuşuna, Kürt hareketinin “geleneksel”le ilişkisinden 2000’li yıllarda aldığı pozisyonlara, “Demokratik Özerklik” fikrinden Kürtçenin direnişine, sürekli olarak Türkiye siyasetine katılmak, kendisine yer bulmak isteyen Kürt hareketlerinin bir panoramasını ortaya koyuyor.
Büşra Ersanlı, Günay Göksu Özdoğan, Ahmet Alış, Cemil Gündoğan, Şeref Kavak, Halil Bayhan ve Nesrin Uçarlar’ın katkılarıyla…
Based on the comparison of the Kurds from different parts of Kurdistan taking part in a single singing contest called Xoshtrin Dang (Kurdish version of “the Voice”), this article sheds light on the Turkish Kurds’ inadequacy and alienation experiences in the Kurdistani cultural and political space. Then l touch upon the possible causes and effects of these experiences based on their reflections on the popular cultural level as a potentially conflict-prone zone.
I argue that the Kurds from Turkey show stronger sings of alienation due to the bigger ‘success’ of the assimilationist policies of Turkey as a major NATO ally, EU candidate, geographically, economically and politically more modern liberal nation state compared to other countries sharing the region of Kurdistan. The higher the integration to the global economy and culture the stronger the countries are in assimilating local populations as evident in several examples including the UK vis-a-vis its Irish, Scottish and Welsh populations. Although Turkey has never been as politically modern and economically well corporate as the UK or France, still it has been introduced to the Middle Eastern countries as a "model" of liberal democratic country with a Muslim majority population. However when it comes to the issue of autochthonous peoples’ linguistic, cultural, political rights, Turkey has been reluctant to grant rights onto them claiming recognition of ethnic groups would be a betrayal to the liberal democratic system, returning back to pre-modern "feudal structures" embedded in the locale and eventually lead to their secession. Therefore it has tried to reduce the rights of the Kurds to minority rights framework rather than local people’s right to self rule. According to this view, Turks and Kurds are all equal abstract ‘citizens’ given the Kurdish language bans have been lifted recently. However the norm is still to speak and use Turkish language in public and in most socio-cultural spaces. This approach inevitably leads-at least- to linguistic assimilation.
In the article I am presenting concrete observations from the singing contest (TV show) taking place in Iraqi Kurdistan and attended by Kurds from Turkey and Iran, as well. I am pointing out to the sharp divergences/differentiation between the Turkish Kurds on one side and the Iraqi and Iranian Kurds on the other. The knowledge and comfort to speak the Kurdish language, the obvious differentiation of the ‘modern’ Western style dressed Kurdish contestants from Turkey singing Western music oriented songs with the operatic singing techniques as opposed to Iraqi and Iranian Kurds in traditional costumes singing mostly classical/traditional Kurdish songs with a particular throaty style. The title of my article implies an interesting pattern which repeats several times in all episodes of the auditions. Turkish Kurds prefer saying ‘Spas!’ (Thanks!) to the judges and other TV staff for any comment they receive from them. The Turkish Kurds sound like English learning foreigners who keep saying words such as: “Yes””No” “OK!” and “Thanks!” as they feel inadequate in and alienated from their mother tongue which is under the risk of dropping down to a second language.
I conclude the article by briefly emphasizing the risks of the abovementioned experiences of the Turkish Kurds for a stable political/social psychology both among the Kurds and the Turkish society, at large.
1- OLUŞUM VE SERPİLME SÜRECİNDE KÜRT DİASPORASI
2- ZAMANLAMA VE BAĞLAM
3- TABAN HAREKETİ OLARAK KÜRT DİASPORA AKTİVİZMİ
A- GÖRÜNÜRLÜK MÜCADELESİ VE KÜLTÜREL HAKLAR
B- YERELDEN ULUSÖTESİNE
C- ‘ÖNDERLİK’ MESELESİ VE SİYASİ TALEPLER
4- SONUÇ YERİNE: BARIŞ UMUTLARI VE TEMKİNLİ BEKLEYİŞ
The book tackles vital politico-historical issues of area studies in the Middle East. It challenges the Muslim-dominant readings of the region reproduced – to varying extents – in the discourses of the states, media and academics. The author touches on violence led by the state, community and individuals including genocide, ethnic cleansing, dispossession, reappropriation of land and resources mainly by Muslim subjects (Kurds and Arabs), first of the Ottoman Empire and then of the Turkish Republic that enable them to be new hegemonic dwellers of the historically diverse land.
Biner carries out her analysis of conflict and ethnic relations in a subtle way. Instead of presenting a grand portrait of a post-genocidal nation-building process, she prioritizes daily repercussions of this new setting in the lives of Mardinites. Her original contribution is the successful incorporation of imagined spiritual actor’s (the jinn, the ghosts, etc.) into the analysis of human subjects of the field while they are interacting with the built (cemeteries, monasteries and houses in cement and stone) and natural environment (fields). Throughout the book, we see examples of this multi-layered and multidimensional interaction supported by quotations from the people inhabiting and/or digging into these houses about how they see these properties and how they relate or detach these properties to/from history. Biner makes the reader question the functions of the spiritual beings imagined by the new owners in the process of their internalization of reappropriation of property that once belonged to individuals or communities from different ethnic or religious backgrounds. Therefore, the book projects on microlocality benefiting from certain elements of oral history of superstition, ideas and materiality.