[In this interview, Holly Mason Badra, curatorial editor of Sleeping in the Courtyard: Contemporary Kurdish Writers in Diaspora, speaks here with Raz Xaidan and Dr. Farangis Ghaderi about their efforts to expand Kurdish archives, focusing on Kurdish women in the archives, specifically. Xaidan talks about her work with The Jiyan Archives; Ghaderi unpacks her work with The University of Exeter’s Digital Archive of The Middle East— DAME.]
HOLLY MASON BADRA: Why are archives important to you? What importance do archives hold?
RAZ XAIDAN: To me, archives aren't just about the past—they're about presence, continuity, and belonging. I view archives in all their mediums as living spaces where memory breathes, where people can return to themselves and recognise that their stories matter. As a Kurdish woman, I've always felt how easily our histories can be scattered or silenced. That's why I see archiving as an act of resistance—a way of reclaiming what was denied to us: authorship, memory, identity. That's what drives me with The Jiyan Archives: to gather what has been dispersed, to hold it with care, and to ensure that Kurdish women's stories are not only remembered but also recognised and celebrated. Every image or story that enters the archive feels like a small defiance against erasure.
FARANGIS GHADERI: Archives store and preserve materials, records and documents, so they hold historical, political, and cultural significance. They influence knowledge production and shape discourses. They impact what societies value and remember by influencing what events, memories, and experiences are documented and preserved and what are sidelined and forgotten. Therefore, they are powerful tools of memory making and identity formation. They are also important sites of preserving languages and cultures and provide vital tools for research and teaching. Archives allow historians to revisit and reinterpret historiography over time. They don’t just preserve the past, but also shape the present and construct/imagine the future. For the Kurds who have faced continued erasure, archives are significant spaces to reclaim identity and to rewrite history from their perspectives.
Archives, as critical archival studies have illustrated, are not neutral, but deeply political sites of power relation. Decisions on what to preserve, cataloguing practices, and accessibility are not neutral but politically driven and shaped by dominant discourses. As such archives can be means of control and epistemological violence, but they can also be spaces of resistance and reparative justice, for instance, in alternative and subaltern archives.
HMB: Why do you do archival work?
RX: I began this work out of both frustration and longing. Growing up, I had little access to my own history as a Kurdish woman in the diaspora. Even with internet access, when I searched academic or institutional archives, everything I found was centred on men, war, politics, and leadership, while women were almost absent—it was so repetitive. It struck me that the photographs of Kurdish women that do exist were often taken by touring Western photographers who had the tools and privilege to document us, but rarely the context or intention to preserve our stories with care. Meanwhile, so much of what truly belonged to us, like family albums, oral histories, and community records, had been lost, displaced, or forgotten. When a land is constantly at war, such details become fragile and slip through the cracks of trying to survive, understandably.
FG: Kurdish documents and records have been systematically destroyed and erased especially in the twentieth century, by state actors or by Kurds out of fear of persecution. Memoirs and autobiographical accounts by Kurdish intellectuals and literary figures repeatedly attest to the confiscation, destruction, and forced concealment of Kurdish books and records. Access to state records concerning Kurds has also been restricted, but also cataloguing and curating practices in state archives and libraries have ensured Kurdish documents and manuscripts concealment or marginalisation. Kurdish statelessness and prevalent state-centred archival and cataloguing practices has also contributed to erasure and marginalisation of Kurdish documents. For instance, several Kurdish manuscripts in the British Library were catalogued as Persian manuscripts before being discovered by Kurdish scholars. In such context, access to materials have been a significant obstacle for Kurdish studies scholars. The limitation of access to primary Kurdish materials has also shaped the discipline of Kurdish Studies and the marginalisation of Kurdish voices in the scholarship. Within this regime of archival destruction and loss and in the context of systemic and structural exclusion of Kurds, preserving their records, documents, and voices and curating specialised Kurdish archives, are critical epistemic interventions. Establishing Kurdish archives and documenting marginalized experiences are the refusal of imposed silences but also the assertion of alternative knowledge systems. They safeguard cultural heritage, disrupt hegemonic state-sanctioned narratives, and enable the reconstruction of fragmented histories.
HMB: What inspired you to start and continue your project(s)?
RX: The Jiyan Archives really began with a simple feeling that photographs and stories of all Kurdish women deserved to be part of a shared history and not hidden away. As a creative, I drew on a wide range of public and private archives for my multimedia collages and artworks for The Darling Beast. These art pieces focused a lot on resistance and the strength of our matriarchs, but it became clear that these archival pieces didn't just deserve to be preserved in art— they deserved a home of their own. But the metadata to support and credit the bulk of our women's archive was just not accessible. So I took it upon myself to build a platform that did just that: a safe space where Kurdish women could be seen and remembered on their own terms.
FG: I am inspired by the dedication of Kurdish scholars and activists who refused to be silenced and in turn paid significant price for their activism and against all odds kept the Kurdish heritage alive. All the individuals who have advocated for Kurdish rights, pioneered schools, periodicals, publishing houses, and continued to write and publish in Kurdish despite risks. Those who have founded archival initiatives despite political repression and in the absence of a national archive have worked indefatigably to uncover, collect, and preserve Kurdish records, documents and oral traditions. Individuals who have collected and safeguarded collections at their own expense, and often at great personal risks. For instance, in an article co-authored with Dr Joanna Bochenska we discuss the dedication of individuals collecting, archiving, and publishing Kurdish folklore in Iran and Turkey, where Kurdish language has been suppressed. Inspiring writers and artists behind Binkey Jîn (Zheen Centre for Documentation and Research) and Enistîtutî Kelepûrî Kurd (Kurdish Heritage Institute), and many other initiatives in Kurdistan and diaspora that we can’t name here. They have curated and preserved Kurdish archives and have made it possible to critically examine Kurdish heritage and the past. As researchers we are deeply indebted to their vision and resilience, and we have the responsibility of continuing and advancing the path.
HMB: What are some challenges to archival work/your work?
RX: Okay, this will be a pretty long response, but there are many challenges that come with being an independent and grassroots-centred platform. To maintain that independence, I've had to focus on keeping The Jiyan Archives running smoothly on its own terms both creatively and ethically. However, the real challenge often arises when it's not easy for Kurdish women to share their precious archives. Especially among the older generation, there's still a sense of taboo around these materials, a feeling that such intimate family photographs, letters, or memories shouldn't be made visible online or shared with a wider audience. Many assume that convincing women to share their archives would be the most challenging part of the work. But in truth, it hasn't been at all. That trust has grown naturally, and I think it's a testament to the community of women I've built around this project, both in Kurdistan and across the diaspora. Women trust women. When they see the care, transparency, and attention to detail behind the work I do, they understand the intention. The real challenge lies elsewhere—in reaching women who want to share their stories but live under conditions of fear and restriction. This challenge is especially true for contributors from Bakur, where the act of being visible as a Kurdish woman can still carry real risks. I've had women send me their archives and then, within 24 hours, ask if they can retract them, not out of regret, but out of fear of exposure and lack of protection. That, to me, is the hardest part: working with women who want nothing more than to preserve and celebrate their history, yet are still made to feel that their identity is something to hide.
FG: The biggest challenge is the fragmentation of archives which means records are dispersed across borders and are often inaccessible. Under conditions of political repression a significant part of Kurdish heritage has been destroyed as discussed above, but what has survived are scattered libraries and private homes in Kurdistan and beyond, uncatalogued and in poor condition. Dr Hêmin Xoşnaw, who has done extensive research on unpublished manuscripts in Kurdistan, estimates that there are over 20,000 manuscripts in northern Kurdistan scattered across private homes and collections, but they are endangered and in need of preservation. Statelessness and the absence of state funding has made systematic preservation difficult as most archival initiatives in Kurdistan are privately funded therefore, they have poor infrastructure and very limited resources. Even those in state-sanctioned libraries in Iraqi Kurdistan are in poor conditions and often uncatalogued. There is also the absence of networks between many different organisations and individuals who work on archives. What this means is that we don’t know what archives are available and what have been recovered. Researchers, therefore, have to rely heavily on personal contacts to locate materials and to secure access. Another challenge is language standardisation issues which complicate cataloguing, digitization, and accessibility.
HMB: What are some of the delights and exhilarating moments?
RX: The most delightful part of what I do through The Jiyan Archives is sitting down with the women who contribute, listening to their memories, connecting with their past, and witnessing the pride that surfaces when they see their stories valued. Most Kurdish women come from a lineage of extraordinary women - women whose lives have been defined by survival, resilience, and grace. And to me, there's nothing more beautiful, especially in the world we live in now, than the story of survival. One of the moments I'll never forget happened during the very first week after launching The Jiyan Archives. I was connected with Sinemxan Bedirxan, often referred to as the “Last Princess of Kurdistan.” Just weeks earlier, I'd been reading more into her family's incredible past, and suddenly I was sitting in her home, surrounded by her memories, as she shared her archives with such warmth. She even sat us down to eat with her. It was one of those surreal moments where everything came full circle, from documents seen in the history books to holding them my hands, and scanning them for our platform on her living room floor. It reminded me that this work goes far beyond the novelty or noise of what you see online. These moments of connection, trust, and shared memory are what make it real. They're what make it worthwhile. For me, that's the purest kind of joy to gain.
FG: Uncovering lost works and voices! Over the past few years, I have uncovered serval women writers whose voices have been rendered invisible in Kurdish cultural and literary histories. For example, in 2020, I came across a poetry collection titled Bîrî Çespaw (Unwavering Idea, 1973) by Samîye Şakir at the Zheen Archival Centre in Sulaimani (Iraqi Kurdistan). I could only find two sources referring to Samia: one published in 1983 and the other is an online newspaper piece published in 2019, which helped me find her, make contact, and finally meet her in 2023 in Erbil. Samia was a teacher, poet, and an active member of the Iraqi Communist Party and a member of Legislative Council from 1974 until 1979. In 1979 she had to flee Iraq to avoid arrest. She moved to Germany and soon began her academic journey at the University of Leipzig, where she completed her undergrad, Master’s, and PhD in sociology and also taught for 17 years. In exile she published her second poetry collection, Behrey Dur (Exiled Thoughts) in 1983, alongside her academic works on Kurdish women in German, and translations from Arabic to Kurdish. It is astonishing that a prolific woman like her has remained unknown. She was also a keen photographer and has a remarkable photo collection. At Exeter we have digitised some of her photos which are now accessible via the Kurdish Digital Archive project. To uncover lost or forgotten voices, especially those of women, and make them accessible via digital archive is truly rewarding.
HMB: What gap are you hoping to fill? What story do you hope the archive tells?
RX: I'm a firm believer that when you go searching for something and realise it doesn't exist, that absence becomes an invitation to create it yourself. That's what I've tried to do with The Jiyan Archives— to fill the void where Kurdish women's archives should have always been. The gap isn't just about visibility, but about accessibility and connection, having a space where our stories can be explored, shared, and understood in our own voices. We want to make it possible for anyone, anywhere, to encounter the richness of Kurdish women's lives not just through the lens of politics or tragedy, but through everyday moments of beauty, labour, laughter, and resilience. We celebrate the matriarch in all her forms, from the women in the villages to those on the front line, from kitchens and classrooms to studios and streets, from the Kurdish mountains to the diaspora. The archive tells the story of our collective womanhood: one that is brave, complex, creative, and deeply human.
When I launched The Jiyan Archives in 2021 (Hawler) it was the first digital archive and library dedicated solely to Kurdish women, the first of its kind. I built it with the belief that archiving should always be a collaborative effort, shaped by the women and communities it represents (the submission page on our sight allows direct collaboration!). Collaboration is at the heart of what we do; the archive belongs to everyone who contributes to it. Since then, it has been inspiring to see other archives and projects emerge that centre Kurdish women and their stories. The more of these efforts, the better; it means there's a growing recognition of our collective need to preserve and celebrate women's histories. What I hope we continue to develop, though, is a deeper dialogue around the ethics of archiving, especially when it comes to copyright, consent, and metadata. It's easy to post a beautiful old photograph online, but without context, the story risks getting lost. The image, metadata, and narrative are equally essential; together, they form the complete record. That's what gives an archive its integrity, and that's the standard I hope we all keep building toward.
FG: I have been particularly interested in gendered erasures in Kurdish historiography and have found excavating and examining archives highly effective in uncovering women’s voices. Women have been systematically marginalized—even erased—from Kurdish political, cultural, intellectual history, and the Kurdish national memory. Such absences are produced through processes of canon formation, archival mediation, and historiographical authority. While historical exclusion of women’s intellectual and creative production is a global phenomenon, for Kurdish women as well as patriarchy complex web of exclusion including statelessness, political, and linguistic suppression, the hegemony of state languages, Kurdish political, and linguistic fragmentation, and the power relation between Kurdish dialects have compounded their dominated status.
I have traced Kurdish women voices in the archives, manuscripts, early Kurdish periodicals and publications, as well as oral history, and am hoping to make them accessible for wider public and further research. For Kurdish women, whose intellectual and creative production has been systematically marginalized, specialized archives function as sites of counter-memory that counters their historical erasure, disrupt male dominated historiographical narratives, and rearticulates their voices as foundational to Kurdish history.
Note: Dr. Ghaderi has noted materials from her book chapters:
Ghaderi, F. (2024). Uncovering Women's Voices in the History of Kurdish Poetry. In Shahrzad Mojab (Ed.) Kurdish Women Through History, Culture, and Resistance. Mazda Publishers, 209-235.
Ghaderi, F. & Leezenberg, M. (forthcoming, 2027). Sufi Poetry in Kurdish. In Alexander Knysh & Bilal Orfali (Eds.), Handbook of Sufi Studies. Leiden: Brill.
Featuring
Holly Mason Badra (interviewer) is a Kurdish American writer. She is the associate director of Women and Gender Studies at George Mason University. Mason Badra is the curatorial editor of Sleeping in the Courtyard: Contemporary Kurdish Writers in Diaspora (University of Arkansas Press, 2025). Her poetry, essays, reviews, and interviews appear in Meridian, The Markaz Review, Everything is Political, The Arkansas International, The Rumpus, CALYX, Circumference, Asymptote, Oxford Bibliographies, and elsewhere. She serves as the board vice-president for Henar Press.
Dr. Farangis Ghaderi is lecturer in Gender and Kurdish Studies and the Director of the Centre for Kurdish Studies at the University of Exeter, UK. She has published extensively on Kurdish literature, poetry, translation, and Kurdish women. She is the Principal Investigator of the Kurdish Digital Archive project at the University of Exeter, a project that is building an open access digital archive of primary source materials hitherto inaccessible to scholars and a network between dispersed Kurdish archives. She is associate editor of the Kurdish Studies Journal and a literary translator.
Rax Xaidan is a Kurdish Multidisciplinary artist, independent archivist, curator, photographer, and cultural advocate whose work centres on memory, identity, and statelessness. A daughter of the Kurdish diaspora, she was born in Sweden, raised in South London, and spent over a decade working as a creative in Kurdistan. Her practice merges archival methodology, visual storytelling, and experimental media to document and celebrate the lives of Kurdish women and broader themes of resistance, matriarchy, and cultural survival. Xiadan holds a Masters in Media, Culture, and Identity. The academic landscape taught her to question the representation of identity, especially as a stateless Kurd, and led to creating platforms like The Jiyan Archives, which has been an endeavor in humanisation.