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Turkey, a country at the very intersection between Europe and the Middle East, is comprised of a plethora of ethnicities and minority groups. There is however very little official data about many of its chief minorities. The Zazas are one such group: a Kurdish people speaking the Zaza dialect, and living as a distinct people in the eastern Anatolian provinces. In this book, Mehmed S. Kaya investigates all aspects of Zaza life: kinship, economy, culture, identity, gender relations, patriarchy and religion. His fieldwork among local communities in the Zaza area sheds light upon the ways in which this Middle Eastern minority has maintained its way of life and cultural identity in today’s globalized society. This book provides valuable insights into a people about whom little is known, and will be of interest within the fields of Middle East Studies, Islamic Studies, Minority Studies and Diaspora Studies.
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Mehmed S. Kaya received his Dr. polit. degree in sociology and social anthropology from the Norwegian University of Scientific and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. He is professor at Lillehammer University College. He founded the Norwegian Journal ofMigration Research and was its editor-in-chief during the period 2000-5. Kay a has published Muslim Immigrants' Adaptations to Norwegian Society (Dr. polit. dissertation) and a series of articles in scientific journals. The Zaza Kurds of Turkey A Middle Eastern Minority in a Globalised Society Mehmed S. Kaya LONDON· NEW YORK Published in 20 I I by I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd. 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 RfthAvenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 RfthAvenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright© 20 I I Mehmed S. Kaya The right of Mehmed S. Kaya to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Library of Modern Middle East Studies 71 ISBN 978 I 8451 I 875 4 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Ubrary A full CIP record for this book is available from the UbraryofCongress Library of Congress catalog card: available Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham Camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author Contents Illustrations Important episodes in the history of the Zaza Preface 1 Introduction vii ix xi 1 2 Kinship 12 3 A tribal society 29 4 A patriarchal society 42 5 A society with its own authorities 54 6 Reciprocity among the Zaza population 81 7 The economic system of the Zaza society 96 8 Turkey, a nationalist state in conflict 111 9 Culture and identity 146 10 Gender relations, family and division of labour 171 11 Religion, collectivism and individualism 190 vi The Zaza Kurds of Turkey Notes References Index 208 212 216 Illustrations Figures 1.1 Areas where Zaza-speaking Kurds live 1.2 The Sherevdin landscape, with a flock of sheep in 3.1 3.2 5.1 5.2 7.1 7.2 8.1 10.1 10.2 11.1 the middle The origin of the tribe, lineage structure and the partition into levels The relation between tribal units and unit leaders at different levels Important centres of propagation of the Nakshibendi Order Types of authori