The Forgotten Years of Kurdish Nationalism in Iran

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Introduction: Modernity and the Emergence of Popular Politics in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat)

   • Abbas Vali

   Pages 1-9

3. The Restoration of Sovereign Order and the Kurdish Resistance

   • Abbas Vali

   Pages 11-26

4. The Revival of the Nationalist Movement

   • Abbas Vali

   Pages 27-69

5. Coup d’État and Exile

   • Abbas Vali

   Pages 71-97

6. Armed Action in Rojhelat

   • Abbas Vali

   Pages 99-123

7. The Rise of the Left and the Search for a New Identity

   • Abbas Vali

   Pages 125-146

8. The Formation and Structure of the Komalay Shoreshgeri Zahmatkeshani Kurdistani Iran (The Revolutionary Association of the Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan)

   • Abbas Vali

   Pages 147-168

9. The Revolutionary Rupture and the Political Field in Kurdistan: A Brief Survey

   • Abbas Vali

   Pages 169-182

10. Conclusions: Genealogy of Violence—Sovereign Domination and Armed Resistance in Rojhelat

    • Abbas Vali

    Pages 183-203

11. Back Matter

    Pages 205-238

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This book investigates the forgotten years of Kurdish nationalism in Iran, from the fall of the Kurdish republic to the advent of the Iranian revolution. An original and path-breaking investigation of the period, it sheds light not only on the historical specificity of the phenomenon of nationalism in exile, but also on the political processes and practices defining the development of Kurdish nationalism in the post-revolutionary era. Although nationalist landmarks such as the Kurdish republic in 1946 and the resurgence of the movement in the revolutionary conjuncture of 1978-79 have attracted the attention of historians and social scientists in recent years, little is known about the three decades of Kurdish nationalism in exile between these two events. This analysis draws on contemporary poststructuralist theory to question the concept of the minority in democratic and constitutional theory, arguing that it is an effect of the discursive linkage between sovereign power and the dominant ethnic-linguistic identity in the nation-state. This text will appeal to a wide academic audience ranging from the fields of Kurdish, Iranian and Middle East Studies to ethnicity, nationalism, government, and political science.

• Kurdish Nationalism
• Iran
• Middle East
• Nationalism
• Iranian Revolution

• London, UK

  Abbas Vali

Abbas Vali is former Chair of Modern Social and Political Thought at the Department of Sociology, Bogazici University, Turkey.

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