The Power of Humanisation. The Role of Literary Studies and of Kurdish Literature
The Power of Humanisation. The Role of Literary Studies and of Kurdish Literature

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the role of literature and literary studies in the possible humanisation of people representing different cultures. It is based on the results of socio psychological studies on the subtle forms of dehumanisation and on the personal experience of being a representative of minority. Furthermore, the author focuses on Kurdish literature by offering a close analysis of a story by Mehmet Dicle, the Kurdish writer from Turkey. She argues that whereas people have generally a tendency to ascribe less of the so called uniquely human features to the representatives of the outgroups (i.e. to subtly dehumanise others), the access to the inner worlds of others – as expressed through literature – may become an important tool to overcome this dangerous phenomena. It is because the aesthetical aspects of the narratives and the moral imagination they furnish make us more sensitive to the complexity of human choices. Accordingly, paying more attention to the literature of minoritized groups seems of crucial importance for challenging the discriminatory policies and exclusion.

• Details
• Contents