Postgraduate Module Descriptor


ARAM147: The Kurds: History and Politics

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

This module will introduce you to the social and political history of the Kurds, the largest stateless nation and the largest group in the Middle East after Arabs, Persians and Turks. They have begun to play a prominent role in the complex politics and social transformation of the Middle East, which are difficult to understand without a grasp of the Kurds’ long and complicated history. The module aims to give you an understanding of the social and political history of the Kurds in relation to the global context, and to help you analyse their political organisation and the evolution of the society from a range of perspectives. The module will encourage you to critically examine the social and political history of the Kurds, considering issues of social organisation, nationalism, political party formation, identity and religion, migration, diaspora, and mobility, gender, political economy, regional and international relations.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.

On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate a critical approach to the historiography of the Kurds and Kurdistan
2. Objectively examine the position of the Kurds in the Middle East and the interaction between the Kurds and the dominant states of the region, as well as the position of non-state people in world history and politics
3. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the transformation of the Kurdish society in its global context
4. Apply and discuss a wide range of theories such as state-building and ethnic politics; nationalism; political economy; social change; gender; migration
Discipline-Specific Skills5. Discuss and analyse historical material, including primary sources
6. Embrace a multi-disciplinary approach in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of a particular ethno-national group.
7. Discuss and engage with a range of methodological approaches as well as variety of genres, i.e. historical, political or anthropological and sociological texts, (auto)biographical writings and fictions.
8. Undertake a study from a multi-disciplinary perspective
Personal and Key Skills9. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
10. Engage in independent study and work effectively in group with limited guidance
11. Communicate complex ideas verbally and in written
12. Engage critically with a variety of materials and sources (e.g. web, video, text, fiction archives)