The Politics of Dance and The Poetics of Space: Kurdish Dances in Germany
by Habibe Sentürk
Date of Examination:2022-06-01
Date of issue:2023-05-23
Advisor:Prof. Dr. Regina Bendix
Referee:Prof. Dr. Sabine Hess
Referee:PD Dr. Victoria Hegner
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Abstract
English
Abstract of the Dissertation The Politics of Dance and the Poetics of Space: Kurdish Dances in Germany This dissertation explores a popular form of collective dancing known as govend in Kurdish and halay in Turkish. Intrigued by how the dance can be a politically contentious topic in Turkey as it is often labelled as “ideological halay,” the study pursues the transnational journey of the dance from Turkey to Germany. With a special focus on Mîhrîcana Govendên Kurdistan, the text aims to explore the effects of collective dancing. As an annual dance festival that takes place in a different city each year on the long Pentecost weekend, Mîhrîcan includes a parade, exhibition, and a dance competition, which is the main component of the festival. The history of Mîhrîcan spans more than three decades and it grows to be a professional dance festival as a corollary of the Kurdish political migration to Germany. The festival attempts to preserve the elements of Kurdish culture in the diaspora and helps the first generation transmit the tangible and intangible culture to the second generation. By involving yearlong preparations for the organization and the dance competition, the festival also keeps the community together. Introducing the historical background and the political context of the migration, the text offers an in-depth analysis of the relationship between folklore and questions of nationalism and identity. It also explores the appropriation of folklore for different purposes. In an attempt to understand the power of collective dancing in space making, the text moves from the case of Mîhrîcan and examines different purposes of collective dancing diachronically. The research is based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews with the festival organizers and participants, most of which were conducted in the festival context. Interviews not conducted at festivals were made in different cities in Germany. The research also includes autoethnographic elements relevant to the topic of this study.
Keywords: dance anthropology; folklore; traditional dances; transnational migration; identity