As Strong as the Mountains: A Kurdish Cultural Journey, Second Edition

The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without their own homeland, numbering about 30 million people divided among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Originating as rural nomads living in the mountains, the Kurds have transformed into an urban entity within the Middle East. Brenneman, who has lived and conducted long-term fieldwork among the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey, presents a rich arc of their culture and experiences from ancient to modern times.The latest edition incorporates original and updated accounts of core and changing aspects of contemporary Kurdish culture, including human rights challenges, complicated ethnic identity, women's roles and gender issues, family and community dynamics, diverse religious practices, transition from oral tradition to literacy, and struggles to defeat the Islamic State. Questions for discussion at the end of each chapter encourage readers to think deeply about what it means to be a proud ethnic group fighting for sovereignty and recognition.Titles of related interest also from Waveland Press: Azoy, Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan, Third Edition (ISBN 9781577667209); Fernea, A Street in Marrakech: A Personal View of Urban Women in Morocco (ISBN 9780881334043); Jordan, The Making of a Modern Kingdom: Globalization and Change in Saudi Arabia (ISBN 9781577667025); and Omidian, When Bamboo Bloom: An Anthropologist in Taliban's Afghanistan (ISBN 9781577667001).