The Sung Home: Narrative, Morality, and the Kurdish Nation

The Sung Home tells the story of Kurdish singer-poets (dengbêjs) in Kurdistan in Turkey, who are specialized in the recital singing of historical songs. After a long period of silence, they returned to public life in the 2000s and are presented as guardians of history and culture. Their lyrics, life stories, and live performances offer fascinating insights into cultural practices, local politics and the contingencies of state borders. Decades of oppression have deeply politicized and moralized cultural and musical production. Through in-depth ethnographic analysis Hamelink highlights the variety of personal and social narratives within a society in turmoil. Set within the larger global stories of modernity, nationalism, and Orientalism, this study reflects on different ideas about what it means to create a Kurdish home.

Wendelmoet Hamelink, Ph.D. (2014) is currently a research fellow at Leiden University. She is an associate editor of the international peer-reviewed Kurdish Studies Journal and works on new research material regarding the memories and histories of Armenians originating from Sassoun.