Abdullah Jalal Fatah and his doctoral dissertation
Institute of Sociology, University of Warsaw, Section of Kurdish Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, and Kurdistan Regional Government Representation in Poland are pleased to invite you to the session Abdullah Jalal Fatah and The First Doctoral Dissertation on Kurdish Studies, Defended in Poland, 1978, May the 14th, 6 pm., Karowa Street 18, room 112, I floor.
In 1978 a Kurdish student from Slêmanî (Iraqi Kurdistan), Abdullah Jalal Fatah, defended his doctoral dissertation at the Institute of Sociology, Department of Social Studies of the University of Warsaw. The thesis was entitled Problemy rozwoju i upowszechniania kultury kurdyjskiej w Iraku (Development and Dissemination of Kurdish Culture in Iraq) and was written in Polish language under the guidance of the well known Polish sociologist Prof. Józef Chałasiński, Abdullah J. Fatah left Poland soon after his defense. He died in a refugee camp in Tahran in 1985. The thesis was the first PhD on Kurdish studies defended at a Polish University. However, it remained totally unknown to Polish researchers studying the subject. Therefore, for many years it was the dissertation by Leszek Dzięgiel entitled Rural community of contemporary Iraqi Kurdistan facing modernization (1981), prepared at Jagiellonian University, which was considered the first doctoral thesis on Kurdish subject written in Poland. The book based on it and entitled Węzeł Kurdysjki (The Kurdish Knot) was published in 1992. It was at the beginning of the 2000s when Kurdish studies started to develop at Jagiellonian University in Kraków. New scientific works emerged, some of which were devoted to Kurdish culture and identity. They were also rooted in the Polish school of sociological theory, following, among others, Antonina Kłoskowska. Therefore, the discovery of Fatah’s dissertation raised our interest. Despite the fact that his thesis was forgotten, it has a lot in common with the Kurdish topics developed in Poland and is an interesting example of the inspiration drown from the Polish school of sociology. The dissertation examines Kurdish history in a period of an intensive intellectual elite formation in Iraqi Kurdistan. The main aim of our session is to remember Abdullah J. Fatah, his biography, work, scientific interests, and contacts with Poland.
Programme
Opening Speech:
Director of The Institute Of Sociology, University of Warsaw
The Representative of The Kurdistan Regional Government in Poland, Mr Ziyad Raoof,
Director of the Section of Kurdish Studies, Jagiellonian University, Dr Joanna Bocheńska
Session:
Kurdish Wanderings Before The Exodus: The Life and Scholarship of Abdullah Jalal Fatah Dr Karwan J. Fatah-Black (Leiden University)
Culture and Identity: The Doctoral Dissertation by Abdullah Jalal Fatah and The Kurdish Studies in Poland Dr Joanna Bocheńska (Jagiellonian University)
Józef Chałasiński, Warsaw University and Middle Eastern Students in the 1970s Prof. Jarosław Kilias (Warsaw University)
Organisers:
Pracownia Studiów Kurdyjskich ZI IO UJ
Rząd Regionalny Kurdystanu, Biuro Pełnomocnika w Polsce
