"With an estimated population of over 30 million, the Kurds are the largest stateless nation in the world. They are becoming increasingly important within regional and international geopolitics, particularly since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Arab Spring and the war in Syria. This multidisciplinary Handbook provides a definitive overview of a range of themes within Kurdish studies. Topics covered include: Kurdish studies in the United States and Europe, Early Kurdish history, Kurdish culture, literature and cinema, Economic dimensions, Religion, Geography and travel, Kurdish women, The Kurdish situation in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, The Kurdish diaspora. With a wide range of contributions from many leading academic experts, this Handbook will be a vital resource for students and scholars of Kurdish studies and Middle Eastern studies" -- Barnes & Noble.

Kurdish studies in the United States /Michael M. Gunter -- Kurdish studies in Europe / Vera Eccarius-Kelly -- The Kurdish Emirates : obstacles or precursors to Kurdish nationalism? / Michael Eppel -- An overview of Kurdistan of the 19th century / Hamit Bozarslan -- The development of the Kurdish national movement in Turkey from Mahmud II to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk / Ahmet Serdar Akturk -- Ehmede Xani's Mem u zin : the consecration of a Kurdish national epic / Michiel Leezenberg -- Classical and modern Kurdish literature / Hashem Ahmadzadeh -- Calibrating Kurmanji and Sorani : proposal for a methodology / Michael L. Chyet -- Kurdish cinema / Bahar Simsek -- The oil imperative in the KRG / David Romano -- De-development in eastern and southeastern Anatolia / Veli Yadirgi -- Islam and the Kurds / Mehmet Gurses -- The inadequate Islamic grappling with the Kurdish issue / Christopher Houston -- The Jewish communities in Kurdistan within the tribal Kurdish society / Mordechai Zaken -- Yezidi baptism and rebaptism : resilience, reintegration, and religious adaptation / Tyler Fisher and Nahro Zagros -- The geopolitics of the Kurds since the first World War : between Iraq and other hard places / Michael B. Bishku -- Roaming Iraqi Kurdistan / Stafford Clarry -- Kurdish women / Anna Grabole-Celiker -- The rise of the pro-Kurdish democratic movement in Turkey / Cengiz Gunes -- The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Kurdish political parties in the 1970s / Joost Jongerden and Ahmet Hamdi Akkaya -- Turkey's Kurdish complexes and its Syrian quagmire / Bill Park -- The state we're in : postcolonial sequestration and the Kurdish quest for independence since the First World War / Francis Owtram -- The disputed territories of Northern Iraq : ISIS and beyond / Liam Anderson -- The continuing problem of KRG corruption / Michael Rubin -- The Russian historical and political approach towards non-conventional independence of Iraqi Kurdistan / Kirill V. Vertyaev -- The Kurdish PYD and the Syrian Civil War / Eva Savelsberg -- The evolution of the Kurdish struggle in Syria : between pan-Kurdism and Syrianization, 1920–2016 / Jordi Tejel -- The roots of democratic autonomy in Northern Syria—Rojava / Michael Knapp -- Iran and the Kurds / Nader Entessar -- The future of the Kurdish diaspora / Osten Wahlbeck -- Diasporic conceptions of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq / Barzoo Eliassi -- The Kurds in Germany / Vera Eccarius-Kelly -- The Kurdish diaspora in the UK / Desmond Fernandes.