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Photo of Dr Farangis Ghaderi

Dr Farangis Ghaderi

Lecturer in Gender and Kurdish Studies, Director of the Centre for Kurdish Studies, Principle Investigator (PI) of the Kurdish Digital Archive

First-generation scholar, I am Lecturer in Gender and Kurdish Studies, Principal Investigator of the Kurdish Digital Archives project, and Director of the Centre for Kurdish Studies. My research and teaching experience build on my fields of specialisation which are Kurdish cultural production, gender studies, and translation studies. As a female Kurdish scholar, I recognise how understudied Kurdish culture and literature and Kurdish women's contribution to cultural and intellectual heritage are in the field and that has shaped the direction of research.

As the Principal Investigator of the Kurdish Digital Archives, the Kurdish component of the Digital Archives of the Middle East (DAME) project, I have set up partnerships with leading archival repositories in Kurdistan, to build a Digital Kurdish Archives, which includes primary source materials hitherto inaccessible to scholars. In studying Kurdish archives I am particularly interested in gendered erasures and opportunities archives offer in recovering Kurdish women's voices. I am also examining the canon formation and Kurdish print culture under the British Mandate. 

I obtained my doctorate at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies in 2016 and my dissertation examined the emergence of modern Kurdish poetry. I am currently finalising my monograph entitled, The Emergence and Early Development of Modern Kurdish Poetry. Inspired by semiotic theory, I have illustrated a gradual shift in aesthetic paradigms in Kurdish poetry which unfolded over the oeuvre of several poets, starting from the late nineteenth century. I have demonstrated that modern Kurdish poetry emerged in response to the advent of modernity and its socio-political implications in Kurdish society.

I am associate editor of the Kurdish Studies Journal and co-editor of Derwaze, Kurdish peer-reviewed journal in social sciences and humanities. I am also a literary translator and have translated Kurdish Sorani and Gorani poetry into English. 

In addition to my academic experience, I have worked as an independent Middle East consultant and Expert Witness in the UK. I have contributed to English and Kurdish media including BBC World Service, Newsweek, Nation Cymru, Kurdistani Nwe, Zemen Press, and Geli Kurdistan.  

 

 

Research group links

Research interests

My research interests comprise of Kurdish cultural production, social history, women's studies, cultural diplomacy, and translation studies. As well as my own research, I have collaborated in three research projects at the University of Exeter and the Jagiellonian University, Kraków www.kurdishstudies.pl/

My research has been circulated in translation in Kurdish journals. Some of these translations are:

Ghaderi, F. (2017). ‘Astengên li ber Nivîsîna Tarîxa Edebiyata Kurdî: Pêşkeşkirin, Tasnîfkirin, Qonaxbendî’ (The Challenges of Writing Kurdish Literary History). Wêje û Rexne, 8. pp. 88– 113.

Ghaderi, F. (2016). ‘Serwa: Lêkollîneweyekî Şîkarîy Berawirdkarîyele Şî’rî Kurdî da’ (Book review: A Comparative Study of Kurdish Rhyme Schemes). Derwaze, 1 (1).

Ghaderi, F. (2015). ‘Tevgerên Civakîyên Jinan’ (Women Movements). Kenanê Nado (Trans.). Zarema. II (4). pp. 5–16.

Ghaderi, F. (2015). ‘Ji nû ve Hizirîna li ser Peydabûna Helbessta Kurdî ya Modern’ (Revisiting the Emergence of Modern Kurdish Poetry). Fahriya Adsay (Trans.). Zarema. I (3), pp. 136– 141.

Ghaderi, F. (2014). ‘Hecî Qadirê Koyî û Peydabûna Netewperweriya Kurdî’ (Haji Qadir Koyi and Kurdish Nationalism). Zarema. I (2), pp. 43–50.

Other information

Literary Translations

“Unknown Ghazals”, Translation of Ghazals by Mahwi (1830-1906), from Kurdish-Sorani into English. Circumference Magazine, Summer Issue. August 2022. https://circumferencemag.com

“An Elegy for Khosrow”, a ghazal by Mestûre Erdelan (1805-1848). In Women's Voices from Kurdistan. 2021. London: Translational Press. pp. 19-21. https://www.tplondon.com/product/women-voices/

“Memory of Shirin”, a poem by Hêmin (1921-1986). In Women’s Voices from Kurdistan. 2021. London: Translational Press. pp. 23-30.> https://www.tplondon.com/product/women-voices/

“Nasrin”. a poem Fayeq Bêkes (1905-1948). In Women’s Voices from Kurdistan. 2021. London: Translational Press. pp. 31-35.https://www.tplondon.com/product/women-voices/

“When I Dream About You” & "Question". Two poems by Jîla Huseynî (1964-1996). In Women’s Voices from Kurdistan. 2021. London: Translational Press. pp. 37-41. https://www.tplondon.com/product/women-voices/

 

External impact and engagement

Editorial responsibilities

 

Associate Editor, Kurdish Studies Journal 

 

Member of Board of Scholars, Women Poets Iranica, Encyclopedia Iranica 

 

Co-editor and co-founder, Derwaze: Kurdish Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 

 

Member of the Editorial Board, Kurdish People, History, and Politics Series, Peter Lang Publishing.

 

Member of Steering Committee, Kurdish Gender Studies Network (KGSN)

 

Member of the Editorial Board, Nûbihar Akademî, International Peer-reviewed Journal of Kurdish Studies. 

 

 

Media Engagement

 

NewsweekBBC World ServiceNation Cymru, Gali Kurdistan, KurdsatKurdistani Nwe, and Zamen Press.

 

Organised Conferences

 

12-13 June 2023. Kurdish Archives: Past, Present, Future. 

University of Exeter, University of Sulaimani (KRI), and the Kurdish Heritage Institute (KRI). 

 

27-28 October 2022. Kurdish Folklore as World Heritage: Language, Music, and Archives

University of Exeter, Jagiellonian University (PL), Kurdish Heritage Institute (KRI), Mezopotamya Foundation (TR).

  

17 September 2018. Kurdish Cultural Production in Iran: Past, Present, and Future. University of Exeter. Funded by Iran Heritage Foundation.  www.exeter.ac.uk/news/events/details/index.php

 

26 January 2012. The Portrait of a Nation in Poetry and Music. University of Exeter. www.exeter.ac.uk/news/events/details/index.php   

 

Organised panels

 

‘Meet the Author Series’, Kurdish Gender Studies Network, co-organised with Dr Joanna Bochenska:

19 May 2022. Conversation with Ava Homa, Kurdish-Canadian novelist.

31 March 2022. Conversation with Jana Seyda, Kurdish writer, poet, and translator.

24 February 2022. Conversation with Zeyneb Yash, Kurdish writer and archivist.

 

‘Documenting and Archiving Kurdish Heritage Series’, co-organised with Dr Joanna Bochenska of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, November 2020- June 202:

 

22 June 2021: “Oral Tradition, Language, and Kurdish Art”

 

8 June 2021: "Translating Kurdish into Kurdish: inter-dialectal translations"https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/events/details/index.php?event=11347

 

25 May 2021: “Kurdish Translations of World Literature with participation of Kurdish authors and translators” https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/events/details/index.php?event=11318

 

4 May 4 2021: “Women dengbêjs and women collectors”

 

29 April, 2021: “Translation and Language Revitalisation: Global Kurdish Literature”https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/events/details/index.php?event=11236

 

20 April 2021: “Dengbejs' Performance as Inspiration for Modern Kurdish Theatre and Music”

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/events/details/index.php?event=11213

 

March 16, 2021: “Reflections on Dengbêjs as Narrators of the Past”

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/events/details/index.php?event=11174

 

9 March 2021: “Documenting and Archiving Kurdish Written Heritage; part II”

 

25 February 2021: “Documenting and Archiving Kurdish Oral Heritage; part I”

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/events/details/index.php?event=11113

 

18 December 2020: "Women’ Voices in Kurdish literature," Kurdish Women Studies Network Lecture Series. 

 

31 January–2 February 2019: ‘‘Resistance is Life’; Paths of Resistance in Kurdish Arts and Literature,’ 14th Società Italiana di Studi sul Medio Oriente (SeSaMo) Conference, Paths of Resistance in the Middle East and North Africa, University of Turin (Italy). 

 

 

Public Lectures 

 

8 October 2020: “Dengê Jinan: Nimandên ji Helbesta Kurdî” [Representation of Women in Kurdish Poetry]. Diyarbakır Comparative Literature Days. [in Kurdish]

 

18 June 2020. “The Situation of Kurdish Language in East Kurdistan”. The Use of Kurdish Language in Kurdistan and Diaspora. KURD-AKAD UK.

 

8 November 2019. “The Poetics of Kurdish Resistance”. Exeter Literary Festival.

 

27 September 2019. “Kurdish Language in Translation: My Language Is My ‘Mal’”. Translation! Festival, Exeter.

 

4 December 2018. Kurdish Library of Stockholm. [in Kurdish]

 

7 February 2016. “Hacî Qadirê Koyî and Poetic Modernity”. Kurdish Institute of Istanbul. [in Kurdish]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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