Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History by Susan Meiselas, Martin Van Bruinessen (Introduction)

From the Publisher

Kurdistan was erased from world maps after World War I, when the victorious powers carved up the Middle East, leaving the Kurds without a homeland. Today the Kurds, who live on land that straddles the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, are by far the largest ethnic group in the world without a state.
Renowned photographer Susan Meiselas entered northern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War to record the effects of Saddam Hussein’s campaigns against Iraq’s Kurdish population. She joined Human Rights Watch in documenting the destruction of Kurdish villages (some of which Hussein had attacked with chemical weapons in 1988) and the uncovering of mass graves. Moved by her experiences there, Meiselas began work on a visual history of the Kurds. The result, Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History, gives form to the collective memory of the Kurds and creates from scattered fragments a vital national archive.

In addition to Meiselas’s own photographs, Kurdistan presents images and accounts by colonial administrators, anthropologists, missionaries, soldiers, journalists, and others who have traveled to Kurdistan over the last century, and, not to forget, by Kurds themselves. The book’s pictures, personal memoirs, government reports, letters, advertisements, and maps provide multiple layers of representation, juxtaposing different orders of historiographical evidence and memories, thus allowing the reader to discover voices of the Kurds that contest Western notions of them. In its layering of narratives—both textual and photographic—Kurdistan breaks new ground, expanding our understanding of how images can be used as amedium for historical and cultural representation.A crucial repository of memory for the Kurdish community both in exile and at home, this new edition appears at a time when the world’s attention has once again been drawn to the lands of this little-understood but historically consequential people.

Library Journal

At first glance, this history of the Kurds appears to be another coffee-table collection of stunning photographs. But award-winning documentary photographer Meiselas (Carnival Strippers, 1976; Nicaragua, 1981) has created much more than that in this in-depth documentary of the Kurds' struggle for survival and independence over the past 125 years. Chronologically arranged, each chapter begins with a concise historical overview by anthropologist Martin van Bruinessen, who has published extensively on the Kurds. The body of each of the six chapters consists of primary source information from oral histories, diaries, letters, newspapers, memoirs, British and American government documents, and telegrams, all juxtaposed with remarkable photographs. A glossary and short biographies are included. Meiselas has developed a web site (www.akaKURDISTAN.com) as an extension of the book. Although a number of books on Kurdish history have been published recently (e.g., David McDowall's Modern History of the Kurds, LJ 1/96; and Gerard Challiand's People Without a Country; LJ 6/15/93), this volume uniquely combines images and varied textual elements. Recommended for specialized Middle East collections and larger public libraries.Ruth K. Baacke, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Sys., Bellingham, Wash.

School Library Journal

YAThe first page of this unique photodocumentary shows a wide vista in Iraq. The mountains look peaceful and empty of human life. Turning the page, readers see a different reality. Thousands of Kurds with everything they own are refugees once more. This time they flee the aftermath of the Gulf War, but this is not the first time they have fled their homes. Meiselas traced families through these photos and then found more information and pictures as she met new survivors. Thus, Kurdistan acts as both a personal testimony and a historical record. On the human level, the book exposes a terrible history in brilliant photos along with compelling narratives of the long Kurdish struggle. It also serves as an excellent resource for primary-source material. The accounts are from all sides and this challenges readers to form their own opinions. This is an emotionally charged, compelling record that is bound to have a tremendous impact on its readers.Rebecca L. Woodcock, formerly of Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

NY Times Book Review

The family album of a people without a country, held in contempt by their masters and betrayed by distant friends; rendered in photographs, memoirs and intelligence files by a photojournalist who visited Iraq with a Human Rights Watch team.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0226519287
  
• ISBN-13: 9780226519289
• Format: Paperback, 429pp
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Pub. Date: March 2008
• Edition Description: Multilingu
• Edition Number: 2
• Sales Rank: 227,995

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents