Kurdish studies conference

We have pleasure to invite you to the international conference entitled Uncovering The Past Towards the Future, Uniting Experiences and Values. Kurdistan in Western and Eastern Research Tradition, which will be held between 24-26.10.2016 in the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University. The program is available in the file below.

The conference will be held in memory of August Kościesza-Żaba, the Polish-Russian diplomat and researcher and Mela Mahmud Bayazidi the Kurdish clergyman who according to Żaba “was his teacher and collaborator” in collecting, translating and commenting on Kurdish texts.

The main aim of the conference is to bring together scholars in Kurdish studies from Kurdistan as well as from the West and the East of Europe. The conference is related to the research project How to make a voice audible? Continuity and change of Kurdish culture and of social reality in postcolonial perspectives. Until now, our experiences have shown that methods and approach to Kurdish studies applied in the light of different academic traditions give birth to different interpretations of what Kurdish studies entails and what is important in developing and deepening its research areas. This creates the diverse hierarchy of topics and methods of studying them, which is not necessarily readable for the academics from different parts of the world. That is why during our conference we would like to pay attention to the problem of distinct Eastern and Western European traditions in Kurdish studies and to thematise their differences and similarities. Our aim is also to stress the importance of the three elements which today should contribute to more successful Kurdish research: the wide theoretical background, good knowledge of language and the contact with the studied reality and people. Although sometimes differently evaluated and discussed, knowledge and experiences can, be in fact, effectively shared and exchanged in our Kurdish studies society.

We would also like to invite you to the photo exhibition Let there be light! by Artur Rodziewicz which is accompaning the conference. Details available here.