The Unsung Poetry of Kurdish Women

Dr. Farangis Ghaderi is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Kurdish Studies at the University of Exeter and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies at Jagiellonian University, Kraków. She obtained her Ph.D. in Kurdish Studies from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of the University of Exeter in 2016 and her doctoral research examined the emergence and development of modern Kurdish poetry. She has taught Kurdish Sorani and Persian languages and is the author of several peer-reviewed articles on Kurdish literature. Dr. Ghaderi is associate editor of the Kurdish Studies Journal and co-editor of the Kurdish peer-reviewed journal, Derwaze.

As a rich, ancient, and varied tradition, comprised of oral, classical, and modern forms, Kurdish poetry is portrayed as a genre largely dominated by male poets. The marginalization of women’s contributions is illustrated in anthologies of Kurdish poetry, historiographical accounts of Kurdish literature, and translation initiatives. Challenging this marginalization, I examine women’s voices in oral and classical poetry, modern poetic transformation and the emergence of the idea of “new woman” in literature, and the increased prominence of women’s poetry from the mid-twentieth century. Samples of classical and modern poetry will be examined throughout the discussion.