The Cultural Foundations of Kurdish Identity in the Nineteenth Century

This lecture examines the cultural foundations of Kurdish identity in the nineteenth century, a period marked by important political and social transformations in the Ottoman–Iranian frontier regions. Focusing on Kurdish urban centers and their ruling elites, it highlights the role of Kurdish emirs in fostering a vibrant cultural environment. Through the patronage of Sufi networks, poets, and scholars, as well as the establishment of madrasas, libraries, and charitable foundations, these rulers helped shape important intellectual and cultural spaces. At the same time, the rebuilding and expansion of urban centers with new architectural structures contributed to the consolidation of local cultural life. These developments nurtured literary production, religious learning, and social institutions that played a significant role in the early formation of Kurdish cultural identity.
The lecture is intended for a general audience. It will be followed by Q & A session.

Metin Atmaca is Professor of History at the Social Sciences University of Ankara and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Kurdish Studies at the University of Exeter. He teaches courses on the Kurds, the Persian-speaking world, world history, and modern Middle Eastern history. With support from the British Library, he currently leads a collaborative project with the Zheen Centre in Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan on the preservation and digitisation of historical documents. He has published widely on Kurdish emirates, Iraq, Ottoman studies in the Arab world, and biographical scholarship. He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the multi-volume Encyclopaedia of the Kurds, a comprehensive reference work covering Kurdish history, politics, society, arts, architecture, cinema, media, and migration.

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