Papers by Mari Toivanen
The insider and outsider positions in migration studies have conventionally been approached in te... more The insider and outsider positions in migration studies have conventionally been approached in terms of ethnic or national belonging. Recently scholars have problematized the essentialist approaches to these roles by arguing for the inclusion of multiple intersecting social locations that are at play in the constitution of researcher positionality. Less attention has been paid, however, on how different ethnicities are constructed and how they can become politicized and depoliticized at particular moments during the research process. This article discusses the fieldwork experiences of two “apparent outsiders” to the studied diaspora community. Drawing from our experiences in multi-sited and comparative fieldwork on the Kurdish diaspora, we argue that rather than taking insider and outsider positions as a starting-point to understand researcher positionality, scholars need to look at particular moments of insiderness and outsiderness to grasp how the researcher’s assumed ethnicity becomes politicized and depoliticized during ethnographic fieldwork.
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Peace Profile: Journal of Social Justice, 2018
In 2012, the country was in the midst of a relatively open political atmosphere for peace negotia... more In 2012, the country was in the midst of a relatively open political atmosphere for peace negotiations, and despite increasing tensions, there was hope of ending the almost four-decade-long, low-intensity civil war between the Turkish State and the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). Yet just three years later the negotiations had collapsed, fighting had resumed, and the conflict looked like it was spiraling out of control. Against this backdrop, in early 2016 the Academics for Peace released another petition—“We Will Not be a Party to this Crime!”—in an attempt to draw attention to human rights violations taking place under the pretext of the state of emergency and military curfews in various towns and cities in southeast Turkey.
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This article explores genocide recognition politics (GRP) with a specific focus on Saddam Hussein... more This article explores genocide recognition politics (GRP) with a specific focus on Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign (1988) against the Kurdish population in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). In the context of a pending referendum on independence in the KRI, this study investigates the evolution of GRP in relation to secession, nation-building and commemoration as well as the social, political and economic drivers in the process. In addition, the study zeroes in on the internationalization of genocide recognition claims via diaspora lobbying and the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq (KRG)’s bureaux of representation in Europe. The results are based on extensive fieldwork conducted with KRG representatives, diaspora entrepreneurs and other stakeholders between 2012 and 2016 in Europe and Iraqi Kurdistan. The KRG’s genocide recognition claims are not explicitly associated with secession, but instead are employed to legitimize local rule by referencing collective trauma and shared victimhood. In this way, Anfal – as the ‘chosen trauma’ – has become a component of (local) nation-building mechanisms. Nevertheless, recognition claims can become instrumentalized for secession so long as the political circumstances in the region become favourable to Kurdish independence. In the diaspora context, GRP serve to establish a link to homeland through commemoration practices, but they also provide greater space for lobbying and transnational advocacy networking.
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The Syrian civil war has been, without doubt, the war most widely covered by international media ... more The Syrian civil war has been, without doubt, the war most widely covered by international media in this millennium. Having engaged in an armed combat against the Islamic State (IS), Kurdish military troops, especially the female battalion, have received considerable international media attention. This study examines the gender dimension of national media representations of female Kurdish combatants belonging to the Protection Units (YPJ) in Syria. How have the female combatants been framed in British and French media? To what extent are these representations gendered? The overall data consists of news articles from national media outlets in France and in the United Kingdom between 2014 and 2015, and is analyzed with frame analysis. The results show that the juxtaposition of female combatants with is fighters allows the depiction of the participation of the former as exceptional and heroic and as one that deconstructs the masculinity of its adversary. The role of female combatants in the ongoing conflict is represented in the British and French media through the construction of sexualized and modern-day heroine figures that are largely glorified.
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Dislocations of Civic Cultural Borderlines, 2016
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In this interview, Dr Kendal Nezan, the director of the Kurdish Institute in Paris, reflects on t... more In this interview, Dr Kendal Nezan, the director of the Kurdish Institute in Paris, reflects on the development of the Kurdish diaspora, the current state of affairs concerning Kurdish movements in Europe and the past and present of the Kurdish Institute in Paris, first established in 1983. Nezan notes that the institute has been successful in creating a non-partisan public space open for Kurds from all corners of the world as well as to others interested in Kurdish history, language, culture and politics. Furthermore, the institute has been an important platform to raise awareness about the Kurdish cause in Europe. The continued functioning of the institute remains essential and, according to Nezan, not least for the second generation diaspora to be able to engage for the Kurdish cause. To this end, the institute has been negatively affected by the austerity policies of the French authorities and launched a donation campaign to draw contributions to ensure that it can continue to operate as an independent institute.
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This study argues in favour of including an analytical focus on in/visibilities in order to gain ... more This study argues in favour of including an analytical focus on in/visibilities in order to gain insights into the racialization processes as experienced by individuals who have become subjected to derogatory categorizations. This paper examines how individuals’ experiences of everyday racism relate to
their struggles to belong. In this paper, I discuss how the theme of in/visibility emerges in the accounts of young Kurds, who have migrated to Finland at a young age and grown up in the country. What kind of visual lexica of belonging do they employ when narrating their experiences of everyday racism? And
relatedly, how do they speak of boundaries of (national) belonging and nonbelonging?
The results show that “Finnishness” denotes “racial” belonging
to the nation. Young Kurds contrast “white Finnishness” with racializing categorizations that indicate non-belonging to the Finnish nation. They have been labelled with such categorizations in social situations in the public space or at work by people they have encountered. However, there is space for young Kurds to contest such racializing categorizations and to negotiate their belonging to Finland by mastering the Finnish language and, in some cases, having Finnish citizenship.
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Co-authored by Mari Toivanen
The Syrian civil war has been, without doubt, the war most widely covered by international media ... more The Syrian civil war has been, without doubt, the war most widely covered by international media in this millennium. Having engaged in an armed combat against the Islamic State (is), Kurdish military troops, especially the female battalion, have received considerable international media attention. This study examines the gender dimension of national media representations of female Kurdish combatants belonging to the Protection Units (ypj) in Syria. How have the female combatants been framed in British and French media? To what extent are these representations gendered? The overall data consists of news articles from national media outlets in France and in the United Kingdom between 2014 and 2015, and is analyzed with frame analysis. The results show that the juxtaposition of female combatants with is fighters allows the depiction of the participation of the former as exceptional and heroic and as one that deconstructs the masculinity of its adversary. The role of female combatants in the ongoing conflict is represented in the British and French media through the construction of sexualized and modern-day heroine figures that are largely glorified. * We would like to thank the Academy of Finland, Department of Sociology (University of Turku), School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (cadis-ehess) and the Center for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (University of Coventry) for their funding and support that enabled the finalization of this study.
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The Kurdish diaspora has been transnationally active and efficient in terms of raising awareness
... more The Kurdish diaspora has been transnationally active and efficient in terms of raising awareness
of the plight of the Kurds in Europe and elsewhere. However, there is a clear need to situate
the current analysis of the diaspora in the context of rapidly changing political landscapes that
includes both local and global power relations conditioning the diaspora’s transnational
participation, political mobilisation and action. This special issue contributes to the abundant
stream of research by including articles that touch upon various issues regarding Kurdish
diasporic behaviour. We hope this will provide new openings for scholars working on the
Kurdish diaspora. We present articles from diverse disciplines in social sciences including
sociology, anthropology, and political science. This interdisciplinary approach not only enriches
the analysis related to Kurdish diaspora mobilisation, but also highlights new perspectives
emerging from this initiative.
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Papers by Mari Toivanen
their struggles to belong. In this paper, I discuss how the theme of in/visibility emerges in the accounts of young Kurds, who have migrated to Finland at a young age and grown up in the country. What kind of visual lexica of belonging do they employ when narrating their experiences of everyday racism? And
relatedly, how do they speak of boundaries of (national) belonging and nonbelonging?
The results show that “Finnishness” denotes “racial” belonging
to the nation. Young Kurds contrast “white Finnishness” with racializing categorizations that indicate non-belonging to the Finnish nation. They have been labelled with such categorizations in social situations in the public space or at work by people they have encountered. However, there is space for young Kurds to contest such racializing categorizations and to negotiate their belonging to Finland by mastering the Finnish language and, in some cases, having Finnish citizenship.
Co-authored by Mari Toivanen
of the plight of the Kurds in Europe and elsewhere. However, there is a clear need to situate
the current analysis of the diaspora in the context of rapidly changing political landscapes that
includes both local and global power relations conditioning the diaspora’s transnational
participation, political mobilisation and action. This special issue contributes to the abundant
stream of research by including articles that touch upon various issues regarding Kurdish
diasporic behaviour. We hope this will provide new openings for scholars working on the
Kurdish diaspora. We present articles from diverse disciplines in social sciences including
sociology, anthropology, and political science. This interdisciplinary approach not only enriches
the analysis related to Kurdish diaspora mobilisation, but also highlights new perspectives
emerging from this initiative.
their struggles to belong. In this paper, I discuss how the theme of in/visibility emerges in the accounts of young Kurds, who have migrated to Finland at a young age and grown up in the country. What kind of visual lexica of belonging do they employ when narrating their experiences of everyday racism? And
relatedly, how do they speak of boundaries of (national) belonging and nonbelonging?
The results show that “Finnishness” denotes “racial” belonging
to the nation. Young Kurds contrast “white Finnishness” with racializing categorizations that indicate non-belonging to the Finnish nation. They have been labelled with such categorizations in social situations in the public space or at work by people they have encountered. However, there is space for young Kurds to contest such racializing categorizations and to negotiate their belonging to Finland by mastering the Finnish language and, in some cases, having Finnish citizenship.
of the plight of the Kurds in Europe and elsewhere. However, there is a clear need to situate
the current analysis of the diaspora in the context of rapidly changing political landscapes that
includes both local and global power relations conditioning the diaspora’s transnational
participation, political mobilisation and action. This special issue contributes to the abundant
stream of research by including articles that touch upon various issues regarding Kurdish
diasporic behaviour. We hope this will provide new openings for scholars working on the
Kurdish diaspora. We present articles from diverse disciplines in social sciences including
sociology, anthropology, and political science. This interdisciplinary approach not only enriches
the analysis related to Kurdish diaspora mobilisation, but also highlights new perspectives
emerging from this initiative.