Theses and Dissertations Collection

The Kurdish people are a unique ethnic group whose origins can be traced from the Zagros Mountains in ancient Media (864 BCE), migrating into what is now Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. From the sixth century (CE), Kurds have inhabited the ancient Mesopotamian plains and the highlands of southern Turkey. There are also significant populations of Kurds in Armenia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. For over 2000 years, Kurds have been in an almost perpetual state of conflict throughout the Middle East. In response to numerous incidents of genocide, sectarian violence, and cultural oppression, Kurdish migrants have fled their native lands in three consecutive waves, establishing diasporic communities in nations around the world. This thesis explores Kurdish identity in Kurdistan and within the diasporic communities of London, United Kingdom, and Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. Interviews with Kurdish emigrants from Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran, combined with demographic and quantitative information obtained from an online questionnaire, suggest an identity negotiation that is both fractured and suppressed in Kurdistan; yet rediscovered and emergent in the comparative safety and freedom of diaspora.