This talk aims to move beyond simplistic and often celebratory accounts of Kurdish women fighters resisting ISIS in Syria and Iraq by exploring underlying ideological and political underpinnings. We illustrate the dialectical relationship between the writings of the political leader Ocalan, and the resistance to male hegemony within the movement on behalf of Kurdish women activists. We interrogate the long-term prospect of radical gender equality and justice in a context of escalating conflict, militarization and the prevalence of conservative gender norms and relations, particularly pertaining to sexuality.
Nadje Al-Ali is Professor of Gender Studies at the Centre for Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London, where she is also currently head of the Doctoral School.
Latif Taf is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Fellow at SOAS, University of London, and a faculty member of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University (New York) and of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany.
