In this episode of “Ventures,” Bahadin Kerborani and Patrick Lewis talk about Kurdish language activism in Turkey and Kurdistan. They discuss the current state of Kurdish language education and the role social media has played in making the language accessible across borders.

Patrick Lewis is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago.

Bahadin Kerborani is a PhD student at the University of Chicago. He focuses on the history of the Ottoman Empire, Yezidis, and Kurds in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Episode Resources:

• Jamison, Kelda. “Hefty dictionaries in incomprehensible tongues: Commensurating code and language community in Turkey.” Anthropological Quarterly (2016): 31-62.
• Öpengin, Ergin. “Sociolinguistic situation of Kurdish in Turkey: Sociopolitical factors and language use patterns.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language no. 217  (2012):151-180.
• Üngör, Uğur Ümit. “Untying the tongue-tied: Ethnocide and language politics.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language, no. 217 (2012): 127-150.
• Zeydanlıoğlu, Welat. “Turkey’s Kurdish language policy.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language  no. 217 (2012) :99-125