Barzoo Eliassi

Barzoo Eliassi has a PhD in social work. He is a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Middle-Eastern Studies at Lund University where he conducts research about migrants with Middle-Eastern backgrounds in Sweden. His dissertation (A stranger in my homeland: The politics of belonging among young people with Kurdish backgrounds in Sweden, 2010, Mid Sweden University) engaged with the politics of belonging and resistance among youth with Kurdish background in Sweden. Before joining CMES at Lund University, He served as a junior lecturer at Mid Sweden University (2004-2010) and as a senior lecturer at Linnaeus University (2010-2011). He has been guest teacher in England, Germany, Italy and Norway. He co-authored an undergraduate essay in 2004 that was selected as the best essay in Sweden in an annual undergraduate essay contest by the Union of Swedish Academicians (Akademikerförbundet, SSR). His knowledge of language includes Kurdish, Swedish, English, Persian, Arabic, Italian and French.

Research Interest

Barzoo’s main research interests involve the political situation of the Kurds in Western Europe and the Middle-East, social policy, social work, identity formation, qualitative methodology, critical discourse analysis, Middle-Eastern politics, Kurdish studies, statelessness and modernity, representation, post-colonialism, anti-racist politics and resistance.  

Current Research

Barzoo is currently writing a book under the title “Contesting Kurdish Identities in Sweden: Quest for Belonging Among Middle Eastern Youth”. It will be published by Palgrave 2013.

Publications

Monographs
Eliassi, Barzoo (forthcoming). Contesting Kurdish Identities in Sweden: Quest for Belonging Among Middle Eastern Youth. Palgrave.

Eliassi, Barzoo (2012) Ülkemde Bir Yabancı .İsveç'teki Kürt Gençlerinin Aidiyet Politikaları. Istanbul: Avesta

Eliassi, Barzoo (2010). A stranger in my homeland: The politics of belonging among young people with Kurdish backgrounds in Sweden. Doctoral Dissertation: Mid Sweden University.

Book chapters
Eliassi, Barzoo (2011) “Political Terrains of Writing Belonging, Memory and Homeland” in Mona Livholts (ed). Emergent Writing Methodologies in Feminist Studies. New York/London: Routledge.

Eliassi, Barzoo (2006). “Diskriminerande föreställningar inom socialtjänsten” in: SOU 2006:73 Den segregerande integrationen. Om social sammanhållning och dess hinder. Governmental inquiry on Power, Integration and Structural Discrimination in Sweden: Fritzes.

Eliassi, Barzoo (2010). ”Ojämlikhetens landskap och västerländska fantasier om räddningsuppdrag i världen”. In Magnus Ottelid (ed). Röster om internationalisering. Pedagogiska meddelanden: Mid Sweden University

Eliassi, Barzoo (forthcoming) La lotta per l’appartenenza tra i giovani curdi in Svezia.

Journal (peer reviewed)
Eliassi, Barzoo (forthcoming) Mellan tillhörighet och exkludering: identitetsformering och motstånd bland unga kurder i Sverige (Between belonging and exclusion: identity formation and resistance among Kurdish youth in Sweden). Locus

Eliassi, Barzoo (accepted) Orientalist Social Work: Cultural Otherisation of Muslim Immigrants in Sweden. Critical Social Work

Popular science
Eliassi, Barzoo. (2006). Berättelsens dystra färd genom Kurdistan. Kurdistan Studies Journal (15): 69-80.

Eliassi, Barzoo (2005). Syndabocken bland oss. Mana 6: 12-13

Online media
Interview with Yeni Özgur Politika on Kurdish diaspora (2012-05-07)

Eliassi, Barzoo (2001-12-21). National conflicts reflected in diaspora: the quest for recognition among Kurdish youth in Sweden. Open Democracy 

Eliassi, Barzoo (20011-11-28). Sweden Democrat’s anti-Muslim hysteria. Open Democracy 

Eliassi, Barzoo (2011-09-15) ناسیۆنالیسمی کورد لە سایەی کۆسمۆپۆلیتانیسمێکی پشت پێنەبەستراو (Kurdish nationalism under the shadow of a treacherous cosmopolitanism) Awene 

Interview with Metro (2010-09-21): Unga Kurder byter namn för att få jobb. 

Eliassi, Barzoo (2009-03-17). Återvändandets magi och hemkänslans flyende karaktär. 

Eliassi, Barzoo (2008-11-29). Belägrade ”infödingar”.

Eliassi, Barzoo (2008-11-07). Tillhörighetspolitik.

Eliassi, Barzoo (2008-03-05). Under Hürriyets blickar.

Eliassi, Barzoo (2007-09-18). Strategisk nationalism i östra Kurdistan.

Conferences and invited speeches
Reproduction of national conflicts in diaspora: the case of Kurdish youth in Sweden, International Conference on Kurdish Migration and Diaspora, 12-13  April 2012, Uppsala University

MESA annual conference in Washington, December 4 2011.  Presenting a paper about: Subordinated inclusion of Kurdish youth in Sweden.

New regional Perspectives for the Kurds. Department of International Relations Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul 28 October 2011. Invited speaker.

World Congress of Kurdish Studies. Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan 6-9 September 2006. Invited speaker.

International Conference on the process of integration of Kurds in the countries of European Union, Paris 24 February 2006. Invited speaker.

International Olof Palme Centre. Migration and Youth. 17-19 October 2008. Stockholm. Invited speaker.