Connecting Through Dance: The Multiplicity of Meanings of Kurdish Folk Dances in Turkey Mona Maria Nyberg Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the M.A. degree Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen Spring 2012 The front page photograph is taken by Mona Maria Nyberg at a Kurdish wedding celebration. The women who are dancing in the picture are not informants. II Acknowledgements While studying for an exam during my time as a bachelor student, I read a work by Professor Bruce Kapferer which made me reconsider my decision of not applying for the master program; I could write about dance, I realized. And now I have! The process has been challenging and intense, but well worth it. Throughout this journey I have been anything but alone on this, and the list of persons who have contributed is too long to mention. First of all I need to thank my informants. Without you this thesis could not have been written. Thank you for your help and generosity! Especially I want to thank everyone at the culture centers for allowing me do fieldwork and participate in activities. My inmost gratitude goes to two of my informants, whose names I cannot write out of reasons of anonymity - but you know who you are. I want to thank you for allowing me into your lives and making me part of your family. You have contributing to my fieldwork by helping me in in innumerous ways, being my translators – both in terms of language and culture. You have become two of my closest friends. I have been privileged with having an adviser who has taken interest in and believed in my project from beginning to end. Dr. Kjetil Knaus Fosshagen has with his understanding and patient advice encouraged me to see my material more clearly and make it into an anthropological text. Special thanks go to Ingvild Skodvin Prestegård for helpful academic advice and feedback. For proofreading, I would like to thank Signe Wiger, Astrid Elisabeth Guåker, and Sheri Homayoon. My appreciation also goes to Haci Akman for encouraging me to do fieldwork in ‘Kurdistan’. I want to thank my master class of 2011, whose social environment has become renowned for its fellowship. Your support, advice, and always creative lunch time conversations have made this journey far more enjoyable than I had imagined it would be. Having gone through the writing process with my health intact is in large part due to the catering services of Mari Lilja Svarva and the inspiration from the instructors at the SIB gym. Finally, I want to thank my family for your love and support. III In loving memory of my grandparents who passed away during the writing of this thesis. IV Table of Contents Maps and Figures ....................................................................................................................... VIII Language and orthography ............................................................................................................ IX Maps over Turkey, Kurdish areas, and Diyarbakır ......................................................................... X Vignette: An experience from the field ......................................................................................... XI Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 Method, field location and ethnographic context Kurds ................................................................................................................................... 3 The Turkish Republic .......................................................................................................... 3 Central Themes................................................................................................................................ 3 Symbols and Politics ........................................................................................................... 3 Kurdish Dance as “Embodied Communities” ..................................................................... 5 Defining the object of study ............................................................................................................ 6 Different types of Kurdish dances ....................................................................................... 6 The problem with concepts of ‘dance’ ................................................................................ 7 Categories: ‘Participatory’ and ‘presentational’ dance ........................................................ 8 Earlier Research and Literature ........................................................................................... 9 Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 9 Entering the field ........................................................................................................................... 11 Diyarbakır .......................................................................................................................... 11 Informants ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Anonymization and ethical considerations ....................................................................... 13 Chapter Outline ............................................................................................................................. 13 Chapter 2: Ceremonial Contexts: ........................................................................ 14 Kurdish dances as embodied ‘connectivity’ Vignette ............................................................................................................................. 14 The Dance as reality, not representations ...................................................................................... 16 The importance of social exchange ................................................................................... 17 The importance of kinship ................................................................................................. 20 Connectivity and Patriarchy .......................................................................................................... 21 Patriarchy in wedding ceremonies .................................................................................... 22 V Contemporary Urban Weddings .................................................................................................... 24 Patriarchy expressed in dances ...................................................................................................... 25 Children ............................................................................................................................. 25 “Heavy” and “Light” Men ................................................................................................. 26 Women............................................................................................................................... 29 “Hot” or “Cold” Connectivity ....................................................................................................... 29 Obligation to dance ....................................................................................................................... 31 Status and portraying wealth and prestige in ceremonial contexts ................................... 33 Türkü Barı an opposition of ceremonial contexts? ........................................................... 34 Elements of Egalitarianism ............................................................................................... 34 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 3: Kurdish Dance as National Symbols ................................................ 37 Folk Dance as representation of national identities Understanding Turkish Nationalism and High Culture ................................................................. 37 Ziya Gökalp and the Turkist Theory of Culture and Civilization ..................................... 39 Folk dances part of Construction of Turkish National Identity ......................................... 40 Uneven Assimilation of Kurds in the Republic of Turkey ............................................................ 42 Interaction revealing the conflicting ethnic boundaries .................................................... 43 Nascent Kurdish Nationalism (prior to the PKK) ............................................................. 45 The Kurdish resistance and PKK ...................................................................................... 46 Narratives about assimilation and Kurdish resistance ....................................................... 47 Promoting Kurdish culture ............................................................................................................ 48 Claims about Kurdish authentic past ................................................................................. 50 Claims of Kurdish culture as egalitarian ........................................................................... 52 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 4: Teaching Kurdish ‘Presentational’ Dances: .................................... 54 Empersonment and hierarchies of taste From rural to urban contexts: From