Reconsidering Zaza Ethnicity
Emic Perspectives, Kurdo-centric Paradigms, and the Reconfiguration of Ethnopolitical Analysis
In: Iran and the CaucasusSearch for other papers by Garnik S. Asatrian in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
This review essay examines Mesut Asmên Keskin’s recently published Identitätsdynamik und Ethnizität der Zaza-sprachigen Bevölkerung zwischen Fremdzuschreibung und Selbstverortung (Keskin 2025) as a decisive intervention in the long-standing debate on the ethnic status of the Zaza-speaking population of Anatolia, as well as some related issues. By systematically privileging emic self-identification over external ascription, Keskin challenges entrenched Kurdo-centric (in fact, Pankurdist) paradigms that have dominated both academic discourse and political narratives since the second half of the 20th century. With this essay I argue that Keskin’s work not only establishes the Zazas as a distinct ethnic group but also exposes deep methodological and ideological flaws in earlier scholarship, particularly in works by European protagonists of Kurdish nationalism.
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Arakelova, Victoria (2010), “Ethno-religious Communities: To the Problem of Identity Markers”, Iran and the Caucasus 14: 1–18.
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Arakelova, Victoria (2019), “Notes on Language Affinity and Imagined Kinships”, Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 23: 380–389.
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Asatrian, Garnik (1987), “Yazyk zaza i armyanskij”, Patma-banasirakan Handes 1: 159–171.
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Asatrian, Garnik (1990), “Ešče raz o meste zaza v sisteme iranskix yazykov: Zametki po novoiranskoj dialektologii”, Patma-banasirakan Handes 4: 154–163.
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Asatrian, Garnik (2009), “Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds”, Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 13: 1–57.
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Asatrian, Garnik (forthcoming), Etymological Dictionary of Persian, Leiden: De Gruyter Brill.
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Asatrian, Garnik/Hakobian, Gohar (forthcoming), Armenian in Kurmanji (Kurdish) and Zaza.
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Hakobian, Gohar (2017), “Lexical Similarities of Zazaki and Talishi”, Zeynep Arslan (ed.), Zazaki-Yesterday Today and Tomorrow. Survival and Standardization of a Threatened Language (Grazer Liguistische Monographien, Grazer Plurilingualismus Studien University, Bd. 4): 33–55.
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Hakobian, Gohar (2023), “Introduction”, [in:] Andranik, Dersim: Journey and Topography, Introduction, translation and commentary by Gohar Hakobian (Iran and the Caucasus Monographs, Vol. 1), Leiden-Boston: 1–20.
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Hakobian, Gohar (2025), “Locative-Inessive in the South-Caspian-Aturpatakan Iranian Sprachbund”, Qafqāz va Kāspīn 5.1, Tehran: 37–51.
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Keskin, Mesut Asmên (2025), Identitätsdynamik und Ethnizität der Zaza-sprachigen Bevölkerung zwischen Fremdzuschreibung und Selbstverortung. Eine Analyse Kollektiver Wahrnemungen im Spiegel der Forschung und Empirischer Umfragen (Ethnologie, Anthropology, Bd. 78), Berlin: Lit Verlag.
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Mackenzie, David Neil (1963), “Pseudoprotokurdica”, BSOAS 26.1: 170–173.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 135 | 135 | 62 |
| Full Text Views | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 15 | 15 | 5 |
Reconsidering Zaza Ethnicity
Emic Perspectives, Kurdo-centric Paradigms, and the Reconfiguration of Ethnopolitical Analysis
In: Iran and the CaucasusSearch for other papers by Garnik S. Asatrian in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This review essay examines Mesut Asmên Keskin’s recently published Identitätsdynamik und Ethnizität der Zaza-sprachigen Bevölkerung zwischen Fremdzuschreibung und Selbstverortung (Keskin 2025) as a decisive intervention in the long-standing debate on the ethnic status of the Zaza-speaking population of Anatolia, as well as some related issues. By systematically privileging emic self-identification over external ascription, Keskin challenges entrenched Kurdo-centric (in fact, Pankurdist) paradigms that have dominated both academic discourse and political narratives since the second half of the 20th century. With this essay I argue that Keskin’s work not only establishes the Zazas as a distinct ethnic group but also exposes deep methodological and ideological flaws in earlier scholarship, particularly in works by European protagonists of Kurdish nationalism.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 135 | 135 | 62 |
| Full Text Views | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 15 | 15 | 5 |
