Activism and Its Moral and Cultural Foundations: Alternative Citizenship and Women’s Roles in Kurdistan and the Diaspora

About this project

<p>ALCITfem is an interdisciplinary research programme that is rooted in Literary Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Gender Studies and Sociology. It investigates how the Kurds, who lack state structures and state institutions, have operated outside of such structures by building cultural and social institutions of their own in the different states of which they are citizens. As women’s voices and activities have often remained underexposed, ALCITfem will specifically focus on women’s roles herein, and on moral ideas and narratives about the societal positions of women and men. ALCITfem combines feminist theorizing about ‘lived citizenship’ with theories of ‘everyday resistance,’ and ‘micropolitics.’ The project focuses on how female activists found spaces and imaginations to forge change in their communities, while simultaneously attempting to influence the community’s position in the nation-state. ALCITfem will study Kurdish alternative citizenship by focusing on two deeply interrelated spaces: activism as initiated by women, and its moral and cultural foundations. This will be investigated in four work packages: 1). The representation of women in Kurdish literature and cinema. 2). Covert activism of Kurdish women. 3). “Doing family”. 4). Eco-feminism. The project thus investigates both highly visible as well as more discrete or hidden practices, and, at the same time, investigates how activism is rooted in cultural and moral traditions. Based in four high-quality research institutes in Poland and Norway, the project uniquely combines the interdisciplinary character of its team-members who will share interview and other research material for each other’s work packages, and will work on joint publications. In its entirety, ALCITfem's fieldwork covers important centres of activism in Kurdistan and in the diaspora, and will be conducted in the local languages which are known by the team-members.</p>

Bilateral cooperation results

The project has been based on collaboration between the Polish and Norwegian partners and the level of it should be seen as satisfactory. The research outcomes include 8 joint publication submitted for review in high-quality journals which attests to the collaborative nature of the project. The project implementation, as regards the collaboration between partners located in two countries, should be seen as in complience with the funding scheme's objectives. Cooperation is also visible in project management and communication and how tasks were shared and co-performed by project team members.

Project partners

• University of Oslo Donor project partner· Norway
• Fafo, Institute for Labour and Social Research Donor project partner· Norway
• Cracow University of Economics Project partner· Poland
• The Asia and Pacific Museum Project partner· Poland