Seminar: Religious Belonging and Ethnic Identification in the Middle East

Published 27 January 2023

Mosaic front of a shrine with blue and gold colors — Shrine in Iraq. Photo: mhrezaa on Unsplash

In this seminar, which is co-organised by the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies and the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, we will look at some cases of fluid boundaries and intertwined identities, when religious belonging and ethnic identification freely mix, and evolve, and change. We will hear about two groups, in Israel and in Turkey, with intertwined identities. And we will take a look at national and sectarian identities in Iraq.

When: 9 February 2023, 13:15-16:15

Where: LUX B251 (Helgonavägen 3, Lund)

Language: English

Target Group: All are welcome!

In the Middle East religion and ethnicity easily mix with each other. When asked what people a person comes from, he/she might easily answer by indicating his/her religious community. Sometimes a religious community evolves into something considered as an ethnicity or nation. Many Maronites in Lebanon see themselves as not only members of the Maronite church, but also of the Maronite people. These identifications can also easily change. A decade ago, most Yazidis in northern Iraq said that they were Yazidis to their religion and Kurds to their ethnicity. After seeing the Kurdish behaviour in 2014 as a betrayal of them, most Yazidis today do not want to identify as Kurdish.

Programme

(see below for abstracts)

13:15-13:20 Welcome and introduction (Karin Aggestam, CMES, Lund University)

13:20 -14:00 Svante Lundgren (Lund University): Aramaic speaking Jews in Israel – Kurds or Assyrians or something else?

14:00-14:40 Hege Markussen (Lund University): Alevi Identities and Ethnicities: Language, Homeland and Lived Religio-Political Engagement

14:40 Coffee Break

15:00-15:40 Fanar Haddad (University of Copenhagen): Intertwined but not separate: national and subnational identities in Iraq

15:40-16:10 Final discussion (Karin Aggestam, moderator)

Abstracts

13:20 -14:00 Svante Lundgren (Lund University): Aramaic speaking Jews in Israel – Kurds or Assyrians or something else?

In Israel there is a substantial community of Aramaic speaking Jews with a background in Kurdistan. Traditionally identifying as Kurdish Jews, this is now challenged by those who claim affinity with the Armaic speaking Christians, i.e., Assyrians. How is it possible to combine these identities and what is the Assyrian Embassy they hope to establish?

14:00-14:40 Hege Markussen (Lund University): Alevi Identities and Ethnicities: Language, Homeland and Lived Religio-Political Engagement

Among Alevis in and from Turkey, religious, cultural, and ethnic identities are intertwined. This presentation will take its departure in life and family histories to describe how and why focus on Kurdishness, Turkishness and Aleviness may differ among Alevi groups, but also change in the lives of individual Alevis.

15:00-15:40 Fanar Haddad (University of Copenhagen): Intertwined but not separate: national and subnational identities in Iraq

This talk discusses the concept of Iraqi nationalism and explores the way in which it interacts with subnational (particularly ethnic and sectarian) identities. In doing so, it differentiates between centripetal and centrifugal divides and challenges the normative dichotomization of national and sectarian identities.

This event is part of the spring 2023 CMES seminar series. For more information see the full program:

CMES seminar program spring 2023