Kurdish Identity, Discourse, and New Media (review)

The new communication media (satellite television and the internet specifically) have increasingly affected global political and economic dynamics from democratization to terrorism and from economic development to conflict resolution. Jaffer Sheyholislami — born in Kurdistan-Iran and currently an assistant professor at the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University in Canada — examines the ways Kurds have been using satellite television and the internet to construct their multiple identities as well as a pan-Kurdish identity. To order and inform his data and findings, the author uses the interdisciplinary approach of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), a framework "for studying media discourse [that] consists of three interrelated dimensions: text, discourse practices, and sociocultural practices" (pp. 14-15). "CDA is useful in combining theories of nationalism and national identities, discourse and media, the three main areas with which this study is concerned" (p. 41), and is "a research approach aimed at making transparent the discourses and ideology of the powerful in order to create discourse awareness among the oppressed" (p. 184).

Following his jargon-laden and overly technical introduction, the author devotes his second chapter to theory and method to illustrate how national identities are discursive constructs, examine the significance of communication technologies in identity construction, and explore sociocultural contexts that bear upon media products. Further chapters focus on the Kurdish identity, Kurdish media from print to Facebook, discourse practices and textual analysis of the Barzani-led Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) satellite television channel KTV, and discourse practices and textual analysis of the Kurdish internet.

In contrast to his initial introductory chapter, the author now begins to turn apt phrases and make insightful observations. For example, although one must be wary of "technological determinism" (p. 37), one might still see "nationalism as the child of print" (p. 31). "It is safe to suggest that the press shaped the ideas and politics of the intellectuals and activists, who are the architect of nationalism" (p. 83). At the same time, however, the author also examines why none of the traditional news media were capable of creating a truly imagined pan-Kurdish community. He submits, however, that "since the mid-1990s, satellite television and the Internet have facilitated a dialogic communication among the Kurds, a development that possibly has contributed to the emergence of a strong and unprecedented cross-border collective Kurdish identity" (p. 79).

The author notes that although "in the late 1700s, the printing press contributed to the formation of the modern nation-states; today, the electronic media are used by minorities and nations without a state of their own in their projects of building communities and collective identities" (p. 183). Among numerous other accomplishments, these new media have engineered a "disrespect for nation-state borders" (p. 36), fostered "long-distance nationalism" (p. 177), and helped its participants "shed more ink than blood in making themselves heard" (p. 182). Moreover, "far from [just] being agents of homogenizing the world, satellite television and the Internet [also] have enabled non-state actors and marginalized minorities to reify both their regional/local and their cross-border identities in unprecedented ways" (p. 183). Thus, KTV emphasizes Iraqi Kurdistan more than greater Kurdistan.

Important are the author's distinctions between the two new media: "television is primarily an aural and visual medium, transcending literacy barriers; the Internet, while offering communication in these two modes, is heavily dependent on the written mode" (ibid.). Satellite television is also more accessible for the Kurds "for both economic and sociopolitical reasons" (p. 174). This is particularly true for Kurds living in Kurdistan. "Even today, Kurds living in Europe and North America by far make up the majority of webmasters, bloggers, forum, and chat-room administrators and moderators" (p. 175). "Kurdish political parties ... own and control all the Kurdish satellite television stations" (p. 18), while the internet allows input from "smaller political organizations, societies, and individuals" (p. 139).

The author interestingly notes how "the presence of the number four in the URL of ... [Kurdish] web sources playfully evokes the...