Scholarly works on the Kurds have approached the subject form a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives. Nevertheless while there exist considerable scholarly literature that takes anthropological, philological, sociological and political science orientated approaches, critical historical writing on the Kurds remains a relatively underdeveloped area within the field of Kurdish Studies. Writing the history of the Kurds is often a fraught task, given the overtly political nature of the Middle East’s ‘Kurdish question’. Indeed, the historian must ask him or herself whether it is in fact possible to write a history of the Kurds without falling afoul of the methodological and epistemological dangers presented by the ‘nationalist’ paradigm. In other words, is it possible to write Kurdish history from a non-nationalist perspective?

It is with these points and questions in mind that St. Antony’s College in association with Ertegun House will be holding a one day conference entitled ‘New Perspectives on Writing the History of the Kurds’. We invite all interested scholars to submit abstracts for consideration. Of particular interest are those working on: • Historiography and Historical Writing • Political and Diplomatic History • Social History • The History of Language and Literature • Archaeology

Abstracts should be to submitted (200 words) in word format by 30th January 2013 to djene.bajalan@sant.ox.ac.uk Please entitle your e-mail ‘Kurdish History Conference’ and include your name and institutional affiliation in a separate word document.

The conference will be held 17th May 2013 at Ertugun House. http://www.ox.ac.uk/ertegun/ertegun_house.html We look forward to seeing you in Oxford, ‘New Perspectives on Writing the History of the Kurds Organisational Committee’.