PROMISED SOILS Senses of Place Among Yezidis in Dalarna and Sheikhan By: Maria Lindqvist Supervisors: Lena Roos, Simon Sorgenfrei Licentiate dissertation 60 credits Study of Religions, Historical Studies, School of Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University Abstract This is an ethnographic study that focuses on Zahmanê Êzîdîa Li Dalarna, the Yezidi cemetery, in Borlänge. The Swedish town of Borlänge has one of the largest Yezidi diaspora communities in Western Europe; a majority emigrated from the Northern Iraqi region of Sheikhan during the 1990s and early 2000s. The overall aim of this project is to investigate how the Yezidi community in Borlänge puts Zahmanê Êzîdîa Li Dalarna into use, the meanings ascribed to the site by individual interviewees, and how these relate to ritual places and practices in Sheikhan. The empirical material stems from observations and interviews among members of three extended Yezidi families in Borlänge and in Sheikhan, and archival material from the Church of Sweden. Fieldwork in Sheikhan focused on the valley of Lalish and the cemetery sites in the Yezidi villages in Sheikhan. The empirical material is presented, analysed and discussed through a theoretical framework of place, creation and maintenance of social memory through ritual practice, and the concept of transfer of ritual. The empirical material reveals that salient ritual actions and elements from ceremonies in Lalish and the Yezidi villages in Sheikhan are transferred to Borlänge, and there put into use for ritual practices and for creating and maintaining a collective identity outside of Iraq. Keywords: Yezidi, Yezidi cemetery, Dalarna, Borlänge, Zahmanê Êzîdîa Li Dalarna, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Sheikhan, Lalish, transfer of ritual, social memory, jema’iyye, Çarşema-sor, Wednesday ritual, berat, diaspora, funeral rituals, mortuary practices. Acknowledgements In the long list of people I need to thank for their encouragement and support throughout this project, I begin with my interviewees. Without you, none of this would have been possible. Thank you, again, for sharing your time, your thoughts, your experiences and your homes with me. We will meet again! Composing a long text is like climbing a difficult route. Almost every paragraph is like the climber’s crux that needs to be mastered. With some luck, passages in between cruxes run more smoothly, are less heavy on the fingers and the mind, offer a chance to breathe. The writer, like the climber, has to plan movements carefully. She needs to constantly revise her initial plan, find a balance between technique, courage, patience, stubbornness and strength. Like the climber, the writer needs belayers to guide her towards the anchor and, most importantly, to catch her when she falls. The belayers of the academic world are, of course, the supervisors. Jenny Berglund - you were one of my supervisors during the initial phases of this project and you taught me to be less intimidated by academia through your grit and whirlwind energy. David Thurfjell – I have been privileged to have you as a supervisor. You have caught me so many times when falling and you were the one who opened the doors to Södertörn University for me. I am continuously mesmerized by your playfulness, curiosity and intellectual brilliance. Simon Sorgenfrei – from the first time I presented text as a new PhD-student at Södertörn and you were my reader, I understood that there is a special sharpness to your mind and your way of reading text. In terms of writing, nothing is ever good enough for you and you have pushed me so many times throughout this project to think more, to think again, to revise, to try harder. And you were the one who paved the way to the Yezidis for me. I hope you know how much you have contributed to this project. And Lena Roos – your personality is such a wonderful mix of high intellect, resourcefulness and tranquillity. I don’t know how you manage to juggle all your commitments and simultaneously be a present, smart and ever-gentle PhD-supervisor. You have never doubted my capacity and you have known exactly when to let me work independently and when I have needed your support. I am especially grateful for all the time you have put into considerate and thorough comments on language and details of the text. I am more than lucky to have you all as mentors and friends and, almost needless to say, I could not have done this without you. The Department for the Study of Religion at Södertörn University has been a formative environment and I have learned so much by being part of this milieu of great minds. Ingela Visuri - you were one of the first who took me in and explained the logics of academic life over a cup of coffee in Sarajevo. It meant a lot. Gunilla Gunner - the Power Woman. You have always taken an interest in and encouraged my writing and given good advice and calmness when I have needed it the most. Per Faxneld – your interest in my research topic and your encouragement of my manner of writing has been both inspiring and reassuring. Charlotta Carlström – yes, we need to co-write methods chapters! I am impressed by the kind 2 of researcher you are and the manner you have of taking on challenging research topics and portray them with both sensitivity and clarity. Ann af Burén – my brilliant friend. Your inquisitive and marvellous mind never ceases to amaze. Thank you for all the invaluable input on my text. To my the rest of my esteemed colleagues – Renat Bekkin, Manon Hedenborg White, Douglas Mattson, Fredrik Jahnke, Staffan Nilsson, Åsa Schumann, Jørgen Staarup, Göran Ståhle, Linda Vikdahl and Kateryna Zorya - thank you for all the good advice, the laughter, the discussions and the travels. A special thank you to Henrik Ohlsson Rannveig Haga for constructive and valuable readings of previous drafts of this text. Hege Markussen – your reading of this text in my 90% seminar gave new energy and improved both content and form in numerous ways! I want to continue by thanking Hälsinglands Museum for giving me the work schedule flexibility to study alongside work and for offering such a creative environment. Gunilla Stenberg, my former boss, you are a perfect mixture of creative mastery and madness in its brightest forms. And you are my role model. Helge X:son Johnson foundation helped in funding my fieldwork in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul generously provided me with a scholarship in 2017. Saman, Sami, Sipal and Showan – a special thank you for keeping a watchful eye on me in in Iraqi Kurdistan and for your endless hospitality. Conducting fieldwork in Sheikhan would not have been possible without you. Cecilia, Einar, Harald and Folke – you generously offered me a bed during fieldwork in Borlänge. Rickard, Johan, Alexander and Maximilian – you let me withdraw in your wonderful home during the last, most intense phases of this project. Simone Cappati and Adam Bott – you took time out of your busy schedules to edit language and give great input on the text. To the rest of my friends and family - you have always given me helpful perspectives and you have been patient listening to my rambling about writing for years. Karin Vikander, Linda Träff, Helene Kahm and Rouzbeh Parsi – a special thank you for all the invaluable conversations. Finally, climber friends – adorable rag tags – thank you for always getting me in the best mood and for letting me forget about the at times challenging task writing this thesis has been. 3 Table of Contents Points of departure 7 Purpose and framing of research questions 8 This thesis chapter by chapter 8 1. The Yezidis and their context 10 Early writings – an historical overview 10 Contemporary research within the field of Yezidi studies 13 Perspectives on origins and early Yezidi history 15 Getting past notions of syncretism and authenticity 15 Origins and early history 16 A history of persecution, migration and exile 19 2014 and its aftermath 20 Iraq: politics of inclusion and marginalization 21 Geography 21 Politics and urbanization 23 A note on Yezidi societal structures 24 Marriage and caste 24 The significance of soil, landscape and physical place 25 Spoken and written word 25 Changing discursive landscapes 27 2. Reflections on theory and methods 30 Outline of chapter 30 Outlining the theoretical framework 31 An overview of the fieldwork 34 Mapping out the field 37 Choosing research methods 38 On semi-structured interviews 40 Trajectories and junctures 42 Junctures 42 Embodied experiences and knowledge 44 Ethical considerations 45 Navigating hopes and politicized issues 45 3. A look at Borlänge 47 4. Magic valley: Lalish 50 Outline and significance of the chapter 51 A look at Lalish 51 Celebrations and commemorative ceremonies: Çarşema-sor and jema’iyye 55 A place for ritual, silence and withdrawal 56 A multifunctional place 59 Summary of chapter 60 Memorial stone, Zahmanê Êzîdîa Li Dalarna, Borlänge June 2019. 61 5. Place for the living and the dead: Zahmanê Êzîdîa Li Dalarna 62 Outline and significance of the chapter 63 4 The making of a cemetery 64 Yezidi cemeteries and gravestones in Dalarna and Sheikhan 65 Yezidi funeral rituals 67 Choosing burial in Sheikhan or in Borlänge? 70 A place for the final rest, or for community gatherings 75 The temple: recreation of ritualized place 77 Division and dissent 80 Summary of chapter 81 6. Summary and concluding thoughts 84 Suggestions for future research 87 References 88 Appendix: Map of the Stora Tuna cemetery 5 Borlänge, Sweden Sheikhan district, Iraq (source: www.sbs.com.au) 6 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Points of departure I remember the first time someone told me about the Yezidis.1 It was in July 2012, during a visit to friends in the city of Duhok in the Kurdish parts of northern Iraq.