The question of Kurdish identity and belonging is counted among the most controversial and challenging issues in modern Turkey. Kurdish Life in Contemporary Turkey cuts to the heart of this debate in an exploration of shifting ethnic identities brought on by the processes of extensive rural-urban labour migration. As well as analysing the effects of migration on social networks and local political landscapes, this volume examines how Kurdish gender roles have changed. The everyday experiences of rural-urban migrants from Van province, on the south-eastern borders of the country, are central to this book, but they are inextricably linked to conflicting discourses on Kurdishness and the place of this minority in Turkey.

Anna Grabolle-Celiker, a German-British anthropologist, received her PhD from Tubingen University. She has lived in Turkey since 1997, working first as a language teacher and translator, and then as a university lecturer.