From Victim Diaspora to Transborder Citizenship?
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FROM VICTIM DIASPORA TO TRANSBORDER CITIZENSHIP? Diaspora formation and transnational relations among Kurds in France and Sweden Khalid Khayati Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 435 Linköping University, Department of Social and Welfare Studies Linköping 2008 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science • No 435 At the Faculty of Arts and Science at Linköping University, research and doctoral studies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organized in interdisciplinary research environments and doctoral studies mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköping Studies in Arts and Science. Distribution: Department of Social and Welfare Studies Linköping University 581 83 Linköping Khalid Khayati FROM VICTIM DIASPORA TO TRANSBORDER CITIZENSHIP? Diaspora formation and transnational relations among Kurds in France and Sweden ISBN: 978-91-7393-884-6 ISSN 0282-9800 Series: Linköping studies in arts and science, No. 435 © Khalid Khayati and the Department of Social and Welfare Studies First published 2008 Cover photo: Hawar Ramazanali Printed by LiU-Tryck, Linköping, Sweden. ii For Sayran iii iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ viii INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 THE DISCOURSE OF VICTIM DIASPORA AMONG THE KURDS AND CHALLENGING PROSPECTS ................. 2 1. DIASPORA, TRANSNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND TRANSBORDER CITIZENSHIP: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS ....................................................................... 11 THE NOTION OF DIASPORA: AN INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 12 DIASPORA AS A SITE OF CONSCIOUSNESS ............................................................................................ 15 CONSTITUTIVE ELEMENTS OF DIASPORA: A CRITICAL READING .......................................................... 16 Dispersion: nomadic or forced? ................................................................................................... 17 Homeland orientation: between teleology of return and multilocality? ....................................... 19 Boundary maintenance: vis-à-vis whom and what? ..................................................................... 22 TRANSNATIONALISM: A GENERAL VIEW ............................................................................................. 24 THE STRUCTURE OF TRANSNATIONAL CORRELATION: SOCIAL FIELDS AND SPACES ............................ 29 EMERGENCE OF TRANSMIGRANTS....................................................................................................... 31 CROSS-BORDERING ECONOMIC PRACTICES AMONG TRANSNATIONAL AGENCIES IN THE CAPITAL WORLD ............................................................................................................................................... 33 DIASPORAN AND TRANSNATIONAL ASSABIYYA .................................................................................... 35 DIASPORIC IDENTITY MAKING AND TRANSNATIONAL CONNECTIONS ONLINE AND ON AIR .................. 36 THE NOTION OF TRANSBORDER CITIZENSHIP ...................................................................................... 38 LIMITS OF THE CONCEPT OF TRANSBORDER CITIZENSHIP .................................................................... 42 SUMMARIZING THEORETICAL OUTCOMES ........................................................................................... 44 2. COMPARATIVE METHODOLOGY, ETHNOGRAPHY AND THE DILEMMA OF INSIDERNESS: METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS ...................................................... 46 DIASPORAN KURDS IN TWO DIFFERENT FIELDS: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH ..................................... 46 OBSERVING KURDISH DIASPORA THROUGH ETHNOGRAPHY ............................................................... 50 ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK AMONG DIASPORAN KURDS IN SWEDEN AND FRANCE .......................... 52 INTERVIEW AND OBSERVATION, AND EXISTING CHALLENGES ............................................................. 53 CYBER-ETHNOGRAPHY AMONG THE KURDS ....................................................................................... 57 TIME AND MODE OF ETHNOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 59 DILEMMA OF INSIDERNESS AND ETHICAL ASPECTS ............................................................................. 60 3. FORCED MIGRATION AND THE FORMATION OF THE KURDISH DIASPORA: A GENERAL VIEW ................................................................................................................................ 64 PERCEIVING THE KURDISH IDENTITY BEYOND THE NOTION OF “ORIGIN” AND THE KURDISH VICTIM DIASPORA DISCOURSE ......................................................................................................................... 65 THE RISE OF KURDISH NATIONALISM AND FORCED MIGRATION IN KURDISTAN: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................................... 67 Kurds in Turkey: from total denial to folkloristic existence .......................................................... 69 Kurds in Iran: violence and folkloristic existence ........................................................................ 75 Kurds in Iraq: from genocide to quasi-independence ................................................................... 77 Stateless Kurds in Syria ................................................................................................................ 79 CARTOGRAPHY OF THE KURDISH DIASPORA ...................................................................................... 79 THE JOURNEY OF THE KURDISH REFUGEES ......................................................................................... 83 KURDS FROM DORMANT DIASPORA TO ACTIVE DIASPORA: A GLOBAL VIEW OF THE PRACTICE OF LONG-DISTANCE NATIONALISM .......................................................................................................... 85 KURDISH DIASPORA ON AIR AND ONLINE, AND ITS LIMITATIONS ........................................................ 91 IMPLICATIONS OF ASSABIYYA FOR THE KURDS ..................................................................................... 95 THE EMERGENCE OF THE DE FACTO STATE OF IRAQI KURDISTAN ....................................................... 99 ECONOMIC PROSPECTS IN IRAQI KURDISTAN .................................................................................... 100 LIMITATIONS OF POLITICS IN IRAQI KURDISTAN ............................................................................... 102 SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................ 105 v 4. THE KURDISH DIASPORA IN FRANCE ................................................................................. 107 PART I ................................................................................................................................................ 109 THE FRENCH REPUBLICAN MODEL OF INTEGRATION ........................................................................ 109 INSTITUTIONS FOR THE RECEPTION AND INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES .................. 111 HISTORIOGRAPHY OF IMMIGRATION IN FRANCE ............................................................................... 114 THE ERA OF “THREE DECADES OF GLORY” (TRENTE GLORIEUSES) .................................................... 116 FRANCE AS A TERRE D’ASILE ............................................................................................................ 119 THE OUTLINE OF ZÉRO IMMIGRATION ............................................................................................... 121 THE ERA OF THE BANLIEUES ............................................................................................................. 124 THE DECAY OF THE BANLIEUES, SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION ......................... 126 THE BANLIEUE UPRISING OF NOVEMBER 2005.................................................................................. 129 ISLAMIZATION OF THE RIOT DISCOURSE ............................................................................................ 132 THE CRISIS OF FRENCH MONOCULTURALISM AND THE PLACE OF THE “OTHER” IN FRENCH SOCIETY 135 PART II ............................................................................................................................................... 142 FORMATION OF THE KURDISH DIASPORA IN FRANCE ........................................................................ 142 THE EPISODE OF THE EAST SEA AND THE KURDISH REFUGEES AS “BOAT PEOPLE” ........................... 144 PAINFUL MEMORIES OF SANGATTE ................................................................................................... 147 INSTITUTIONAL ACTIVITIES AND THE PRACTICES OF TRANSBORDER CITIZENSHIP AMONG DIASPORAN KURDS IN FRANCE ........................................................................................................ 149 SARHADI KURDS IN THE REGION OF MARSEILLE ............................................................................... 154 THE MEMORY OF HOMELAND AMONG THE SARHADI KURDS ............................................................ 155 SARHADI KURDS AS ETERNAL ASYLUM