The Politics of Cultural Production Exile, Integration and Homeland in Europe's Kurdish Diaspora

Abstract

This article examines the politics of cultural production in the Kurdish diaspora in Berlin and Stockholm. The paper argues that Kurdish cultural actors deploy various forms of cultural production as a strategy to restore Kurdish collective heritage and cultural identities and achieve visibility for the Kurdish cause. Furthermore, the politics of cultural production serves to promote universal solidarity for particularistic Kurdish agendas and challenges oppressive policies of ruling Turkish, Iranian and Arab governments. Finally, this article aims to address the integration of Kurdish refugees and boost cohesive diasporic communities to overcome exilic conditions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews with twenty-five Kurdish artists and intellectuals, and participant observations in Berlin and Stockholm, the paper sheds light on how Kurdish cultural production in the diaspora offers an alternative approach to understanding and tackling complex matters. However, at the same time, cultural production can become an object of contention and political mobilisation.