KURDISTAN
in The Shadow of History

2008

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Susan Meiselas,
Född 1948, Foto: April - 1991

 

 

 

 

 

KURDISTAN FÖRSTÖRDES HELT OCH HÅLLET
AV ARABISKT ISLAMO-FASCISTISKT IRAK 1991

På varje plats förstörda byar och stenhus som förvandlades till spillror där det inte finns el inget vatten och folk bor i spillrorna och många av dem stannade i sina förstörda hem
istället för att gå i exil i Iran eller Turkiet ........

Photo: Ranya

 

 

 

 




by Susan Meiselas

A magnificent photographic history of the Kurdish people and their struggle for independence and survival over the past 125 years, gathered by one of America's foremost photojournalists. In bringing together these dispersed pieces, Susan Meiselas allows history to speak for itself through the words of freedom fighters, missionaries, spies, politicians, and princes. Over 400 photos.


 

 

 

 

 

Publisher Description

Kurdistan was erased from world maps after World War I, when the victorious powers carved up the Middle East, leaving the Kurds without a homeland. Today the Kurds, who live on land that straddles the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, are by far the largest ethnic group in the world without a state.

Renowned photographer Susan Meiselas entered northern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War to record the effects of Saddam Hussein's campaigns against Iraq's Kurdish population. She joined Human Rights Watch in documenting the destruction of Kurdish villages (some of which Hussein had attacked with chemical weapons in 1988) and the uncovering of mass graves. Moved by her experiences there, Meiselas began work on a visual history of the Kurds. The result, "Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History, "gives form to the collective memory of the Kurds and creates from scattered fragments a vital national archive.

In addition to Meiselas's own photographs, "Kurdistan" presents images and accounts by colonial administrators, anthropologists, missionaries, soldiers, journalists, and others who have traveled to Kurdistan over the last century, and, not to forget, by Kurds themselves. The book's pictures, personal memoirs, government reports, letters, advertisements, and maps provide multiple layers of representation, juxtaposing different orders of historiographical evidence and memories, thus allowing the reader to discover voices of the Kurds that contest Western notions of them. In its layering of narratives—both textual and photographic—"Kurdistan" breaks new ground, expanding our understanding of how images can be used as a medium for historical and cultural representation.A crucial repository of memory for the Kurdish community both in exile and at home, this new edition appears at a time when the world's attention has once again been drawn to the lands of this little-understood but historically consequential people.

Author Biography

Susan Meiselas is an award-winning photographer and a member of the Magnum Photos agency. She was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal and was named a MacArthur Fellow. Martin van Bruinessen is an anthropologist who has been involved with the Kurds for over three decades. He is currently a professor at the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World and at Utrecht University.

Details

 

KURDISTAN

 

 

 


Foundation For Kurdish Library & Museum