Review article: Kurds, Zazas and Alevis

Abstract

This review article discusses recent research about two major religious and linguistic minorities among the Kurds of Turkey and their efforts to define distinct identities. The books reviewed include:

Celia Jenkins, Suavi Aydin & Umit Cetin, eds., Alevism as an Ethno-Religious Identity: Contested Boundaries, Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2018, 130 pp., (ISBN 978-1-138-09631-8).

Erdal Gezik & Ahmet Kerim Gültekin, eds., Kurdish Alevis and the Case of Dersim: Historical and Contemporary Insights, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019, 172 pp., (ISBN 978-1-4985-7548-5).

Eberhard Werner, Rivers and Mountains: A Historical, Applied Anthropological and Linguistical Study of the Zaza People of Turkey Including an Introduction to Applied Cultural Anthropology, Nürnberg: VTR Publications, 2017, 549 pp., (ISBN 978-3-95776-065-4).