Kurdish Diaspora Online: From Imagined Community to Managing Communities

250 Pages·2016·1.949 MB·English

by  Jowan Mahmod (auth.)

THE PALGRAVE MACMILLAN SERIES IN
INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL COMMUNICATION
Jowan Mahmod
KURDISH
DIASPORA
ONLINE
From Imagined Community
to Managing Communities
The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International
Political Communication
Series Editor
Philip Seib
Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
University of Southern California, USA
Aim of the series
From democratization to terrorism, economic development to confl ict
resolution, global political dynamics are affected by the increasing
pervasiveness and infl uence of communication media. This series examines
the participants and their tools, their strategies and their impact.
More information about this series at
http://www.springer.com/series/14418
Jowan   Mahmod
Kurdish Diaspora
Online
From Imagined Community to Managing
Communities
Jowan   Mahmod
Uppsala, Sweden
The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication
ISBN 978-1-137-51346-5 ISBN 978-1-137-51347-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-51347-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016950224
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 016
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
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electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
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Cover image © Worldspec/NASA/Alamy Stock Photo
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York
In loving memory of my father
Mahmod Mola Ezat

A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The chapters in this book have their origin in my doctoral thesis,
completed in 2012 at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.  The
book has been supplemented with new material collected during my stay
in Kurdistan (Iraq) in 2013–2015. My fi rst and foremost thanks go to
Professor M.I. Franklin, my research project supervisor, for her guidance
and patience, and for asking important questions and motivating me to
continue exploring new ideas. I would like to extend my thanks to my viva
voce examiners, Professor Dawn Chatty and Dr. Dan McQuillan, who
kindly praised my work and were the fi rst to encourage me to publish this
book. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Professor
Philip Seib for supporting and believing in the value of this work. I am
grateful to my late friend Dr. ‘abh’ Anthony Burnes-Howell, for his
tireless encouragement and discussions about my research, challenges,
and ambitions. Special thanks also go to Professor David Romano for
providing with help when needed. The book has started and ended with
the encouragement and motivation of other close friends. Thank you. I
want to take this opportunity to sincerely acknowledge all participants who
have made this work possible. Their passionate conversation about matters
close to their hearts was admirable. I want to express my appreciation
to Tadgh O’Sullivan for providing editorial assistance. Finally, my eternal
gratitude goes to my family for their patience and support over the
duration of this exacting task.
vii

C
ONTENTS
Part I Multiculturalism in Imagined Communities 1
1 Introduction 3
Introduction 3
The Academic Default: A Critique 7
Identity Crisis in Europe 10
What Is the Problem? 12
The Structure of the Book 14
Notes 1 6
2 Multiculturalism Debates, Policies, and Concepts 19
Introduction 1 9
Multicultural Versus Multiculturalism 2 0
Identical Diversity: Different Multiculturalisms 2 2
Fear and Worry in the Nation 3 3
Notes 36
3 Nations, Diaspora, Identity, and Alternative Explorations 37
Introduction 37
Nations, Belonging, and the Other 3 9
Defi ning Diaspora 46
Transnationalism and Double Consciousness 5 1
Scripts, Performativity, and the Online Scene 5 4
Notes 6 3
ix