Papers by Metin Yuksel
Journal of the University of Garmian, 2022
Despite his outstanding place in the study of Kurdish society, culture and literature, sadly, Ela... more Despite his outstanding place in the study of Kurdish society, culture and literature, sadly, Elaeddîn Seccadî has not received the scholarly attention he deserves. The very few sources on his works tend to be descriptive and biographical accounts. This exploratory paper sets out to put into perspective Seccadî's continued use of the concept of kurdewarî. It is notable that Seccadî is often concerned to put the Kurdish language, culture and literature on a par with those of other nations in the world. Indeed a quick glance at the forewords he penned in his works shows his recurrent references to-other nations‖ while talking about the Kurds. This paper suggests that more justice can be done to his intellectual legacy by placing Seccadî's works in their broader political and historical milieu. An invitation to approach his contributions beyond a merely descriptive and/or romanticizing manner, this preliminary study attempts to draw parallels between Seccadî's concept of kurdewarî as it appears in his two books entitled Mêjûy Edebiy Kurdî and Kurdewarî, and the concept of négritude used by African-Caribbean intellectuals. It is suggested that both concepts aim to delineate distinctive and self-affirming Kurdishness and Africanness.
Toplumsal Tarih Akademi, 2023
Kebikeç, 2021
Kebikeç'in "Osmanlı'da Türkçe Dışı Süreli Yayınlar" konusuyla dört sayıya yayılan dosyası, Osmanl... more Kebikeç'in "Osmanlı'da Türkçe Dışı Süreli Yayınlar" konusuyla dört sayıya yayılan dosyası, Osmanlı'daki matbuat tarihinin bütüncül bir resmini ortaya çıkarmayı amaçlıyor. İmparatorluğun çok-dilli ve çok-kültürlü toplumsal ve kültürel gerçekliğinin bir yansıması olan Türkçe dışı dillerdeki matbuatı "ana anlatıya yapılan bir eklenti" olarak değil, mevcut ilişki ve etkileşim ağları içerisinde inceleme gereği bu dosyanın eleştirel kalkış noktasını teşkil ediyor. Kebikeç'in "Başlarken" başlıklı dosyaya giriş yazısında ifade edildiği gibi, Osmanlı'da yayımlanan gazetelerin dillerine hızlı bir bakış bile imparatorluktaki çok-dilliliği gözler önüne sermektedir: 1876 yılında İstanbul'da yayımlanan kırk yedi gazetenin on üçü Türkçe, dokuzu Yunanca, dokuzu Ermenice, yedisi Fransızca, üçü Bulgarca, ikisi Ladino, ikisi İngilizce, biri Arapça ve biri Almanca idi. 1 Halil İnalcık, Osmanlı toplumsal, kültürel ve siyasi tarihine dair yaygın anlatının Türklük eksenini takip etmesini şu sözlerle eleştirmektedir: "Türk imparatorluğu" teriminin kendisi tarihsel gerçekliği çarpıtıyor. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu bir "Türk imparatorluğu" değildi. Osmanlı İm
Burası Muş’tur: Tarih, Toplum, Kültür ve Edebiyat, 2019
Journal of Folklore Research, 2019
This article looks at the works of two well-known minstrels, one Turkish and one Kurdish, during ... more This article looks at the works of two well-known minstrels, one Turkish and one Kurdish, during the early nation-building years of Turkey. While the Turkish minstrel Âşık Veysel composed a eulogy on the Turkish Republic and its founder Mustafa Kemal, Dengbêj Reso performed a lament for Sheikh Said and Khalid Beg Cibrî, the two Kurdish leaders of the 1925 Sheikh Said Revolt. Oral traditions can be essential sources for anthropologists, folklorists, and historians in the investigation of political and historical consciousness. Similar to oral poetry in other parts of the world, Turkish and Kurdish oral poetry represent past events in politically charged ways, communicating a range of popular political stances. Rather than providing a peaceful resolution to the conflict between the Turkish Republic and the Kurds in 1925, the two pieces under consideration promote and perpetuate conflict by means of their common and yet contrasting references to the rope by which Sheikh Said was hanged. Metin Yüksel is an associate professor at Hacettepe University in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, where he has been teaching since the completion of his PhD at the University of Chicago's Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in 2011. His research focuses on social and cultural history of the modern Middle East with particular attention to Turkish, Kurdish, and Persian literature. His work has appeared in edited volumes and various journals such as
This article examines the tributes to Paul Robeson made by the two most prominent 20th-century Ku... more This article examines the tributes to Paul Robeson made by the two most prominent 20th-century Kurdish poets, Abdulla Goran and Cegerxwîn, who wrote in the two main dialects of the Kurdish language: Sorani and Kurmanji. It highlights the humanist, anti-racist and anti-colonial social and political engagement of Goran and Cegerxwîn as reflected in their poetry, and suggests how this can be read in the context of postcolonial writing and theory. It also aims to contribute more generally to the study of progressive solidarity discourses during the Cold War period as reflected in literary works. After a brief review of the historical origins and development of Kurdish nationalism, the article examines the literary and political careers of Goran and Cegerxwîn, as well as the life and political struggle of Paul Robeson. The body of the article analyzes Goran's and Cegerxwîn's tributes to Robeson, as instances of their radical humanist, anti-racist and anti-colonial political stance, and in terms of their solidarity with the African American singer, actor and civil rights activist.
Accompanied also by women and children, the bandits' group had totally lost their hope. There was... more Accompanied also by women and children, the bandits' group had totally lost their hope. There was no place for them to hide neither on our lands nor in Iran. Iranians and we were conducting a strict operation of tracking [them]. 1 In the wake of the First World War, empires were replaced with nation-states as the 'legitimate international norm'. 2 In the age of nations and nation-states, the map of the Middle East was also redrawn. Traced back to the late nineteenth century, 3 Kurdish nationalist aspirations did not result in a nation-state for the Kurds in the post-war settlement of the Middle East. Having been living on the borderlands of Safawid and Qajar Iran and the Ottoman Empire from the sixteenth through the beginning of the twentieth century, 4 the Kurds became an ethno-linguistic minority concentrated on the borders of Middle Eastern nation-states of Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. The new political geography meant that they would face a close surveillance by these nation-states. Although the Kurds have not achieved a state of their own, however; by no means does it mean that they were passive in the process of redrawing nation-state borders. A striking case of Kurdish agency in the final settlement of the TurkishÀIranian border is seen in the land exchange between Turkey and Iran in order to give a decisive end to the 'troubles' made by Kurdish 'bandits' on Mount Ararat.
THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR IN IRANIAN WOMEN'S MEMOIRS: READING SEYYEDEH ZAHRA HOSSEINI'S DA
Book Reviews by Metin Yuksel
Iranian literature after the Islamic revolution: production and circulation in Iran and the world... more Iranian literature after the Islamic revolution: production and circulation in Iran and the world, by Laetitia Nanquette (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021), 301 + xiii pp., £80.00 (hardback), ISBN 9781474486378 Acknowledgement I would like to thank Owen Miller for his comments on this review. Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Middle Eastern Studies, 2020
Kebikeç'e dair... by Metin Yuksel
Kebikeç'in "Osmanlı'da Türkçe Dışı Süreli Yayınlar" konusuyla dört sayıya yayılan dosyası, Osmanl... more Kebikeç'in "Osmanlı'da Türkçe Dışı Süreli Yayınlar" konusuyla dört sayıya yayılan dosyası, Osmanlı'daki matbuat tarihinin bütüncül bir resmini ortaya çıkarmayı amaçlıyor. İmparatorluğun çok-dilli ve çok-kültürlü toplumsal ve kültürel gerçekliğinin bir yansıması olan Türkçe dışı dillerdeki matbuatı "ana anlatıya yapılan bir eklenti" olarak değil, mevcut ilişki ve etkileşim ağları içerisinde inceleme gereği bu dosyanın eleştirel kalkış noktasını teşkil ediyor. Kebikeç'in "Başlarken" başlıklı dosyaya giriş yazısında ifade edildiği gibi, Osmanlı'da yayımlanan gazetelerin dillerine hızlı bir bakış bile imparatorluktaki çok-dilliliği gözler önüne sermektedir: 1876 yılında İstanbul'da yayımlanan kırk yedi gazetenin on üçü Türkçe, dokuzu Yunanca, dokuzu Ermenice, yedisi Fransızca, üçü Bulgarca, ikisi Ladino, ikisi İngilizce, biri Arapça ve biri Almanca idi. 1 Halil İnalcık, Osmanlı toplumsal, kültürel ve siyasi tarihine dair yaygın anlatının Türklük eksenini takip etmesini şu sözlerle eleştirmektedir: "Türk imparatorluğu" teriminin kendisi tarihsel gerçekliği çarpıtıyor. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu bir "Türk imparatorluğu" değildi. Osmanlı İm
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Papers by Metin Yuksel
Book Reviews by Metin Yuksel
Kebikeç'e dair... by Metin Yuksel