Professor Christine Allison
BA (Oxon), Ph.D. (SOAS)
Extension: 4026
Telephone: 01392 724026
Ibrahim Ahmed Professor of Kurdish Studies
Professor Allison is Director of the Centre for Kurdish Studies.
My main areas of interest are orality, literacy and popular culture across the Middle East and especially amongst the Kurds. Much of my written work has focused on the Yezidis, a Kurdish religious minority. I am currently preparing a book on discourses of memory in Kurdish communities. I also have a strong interest in the literary and cultural history of the Kurds of the former Soviet Union.
My core areas of supervision are Kurmanji language and literature and popular culture and folklore in Kurdistan. I am also happy to co-supervise work on orality, folklore and popular cultures in other parts of the Middle East, and comparative studies where appropriate.
Apart from contributing to the Kurdish Studies MA and the proposed undergraduate degrees containing Kurdish elements, which we hope to offer as from September 2009, from September 2008, I will be teaching a new undergraduate module on ‘Folklore and Identity in the Middle East’.
