Leaving the party: former Kurdish rebels and the remaking of post-revolutionary sujectivities in Iraqi Kurdistan and the European diaspora

This research project analyses processes of disengagement, migration and b/ordering through the life stories of former Kurdish rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan and the diaspora. While in its early stages, The aim of the research would be to understand how military involvement has informed the embodied and emotional experiences of Kurdish rebels in the PUK and KDP as they navigate the gendered processes of demilitarization, border regimes, and questions around protection through disentanglement from armed struggle. Drawing from embodiment and affect theory, the project would apply feminist perspectives to explore how affect functions in ways that may enable new forms of gendered subjectivities that disrupt, subvert, or redefine masculinity. The aim would also be to shed light on how violence

continues to reverberate in the body and mind and its gendered implications.