Rojava: politics of space between revolution and war
2019 (English)Other, Exhibition catalogue (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.)) [Artistic work]
Resource type
Mixed material
Physical description [en]
Online multimedia.
Abstract [en]
An unknown entity rose out of the war in Syria – Rojava. As the world’s attention fixated on the Kurds’ fight against ISIS, their revolution began to restructure society along democratic confederalist ideals. The built environment, therefore, had to follow suite.
KKH research conducted in northern Syria examined the politics of space in society-building and revolution, and explored the rise and fall of the Commune, architecture’s role in state-building, as well as memory and destruction.
The multimedia project is an intersection, both in the methodology and its outcomes, between journalism, architectural research, and storytelling.
Place, publisher, year, pages
2019.
Keywords [en]
Rojava, Kurd, Kurdish, Kurdistan, Syria, Northern Syria, Northern, Northeastern, Northeastern Syria, Syrian Democratic Council, SDC, YPG, YPJ, SDF, Syrian Democratic Forces, politics of space, conflict, war, civil war, urbanism, conflict urbanism, confederalism, syndicalism, commune, communes, communalism, PTSD, post-traumatic, healing, urban fabric, built environment, defence
National Category
Humanities and the Arts Architecture Social Sciences Political Science
Research subject
Architecture
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kkh:diva-507OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kkh-507DiVA, id: diva2:1429308
Note
AUTHORBenas GerdžiūnasEDITING SUPPORTJonathan Brown and Justinas ŠuliokasDESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATIONRokas Anisas
The project does not aim to be a comprehensive account of the revolution, and many of the key contextual factors – such as the PKK and other 20th century Kurdish movements – are barely touched upon. The crucial women’s rights movement and other socioeconomic accomplishments in Rojava, such as the incorporation of ethnic minorities into the decision-making apparatus, as well as economic and educational advances, also deserve to be explored in more detail.
Since 2015, I’ve been reading and collecting material on Rojava’s revolution from mostly secondary sources. Since 2018, I’ve held interviews with Kurdish diaspora representatives in Europe, including, but not limited to, PYD and the Kurdish National Council representatives in Brussels.
The research trip in Rojava lasted from October 26 to November 22, 2018, and was partly funded by a research grant from the Stockholm Royal Institute of Art. I was dependent on translators, although, I chose them based on recommendations from other colleagues in an attempt to find impartial people.
Kobane was chosen as the main point of investigation due to its symbolic role in the fight against ISIS and its importance in the opening stages of the revolution. However, the situation varies dramatically across the SDC, especially in the Arab-dominated provinces. During the course of the investigation, I spoke to more than 40 activists and representatives from all tiers of self-administration, as well as the military. Many more local people were also kind enough to share their stories, opinions and experiences with me.
Due to the aforementioned limitations, this work does not intend to be an in-depth look at the Rojava revolution as a whole, but is merely an attempt to critically examine some aspects of what happened to this ambitious project and its revolutionary communes.
2020-05-102020-05-102020-05-26Bibliographically approved