Community Building in Diaspora through Political Engagement Forms: Case of Kurds from Turkey in Marseille, France
Community Building in Diaspora through Political Engagement Forms: Case of Kurds from Turkey in Marseille, France

Author(s): Zuhal Karagöz
Subject(s): Politics, Geography, Regional studies, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Present Times (2010 - today), Migration Studies, Identity of Collectives
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Turkey; France; Marseille; migration; Kurds; political engagement; community building; diaspora;
Summary/Abstract: The Kurdish diaspora’s configuration and mobilization strategies provide excellent ground in understanding plural dynamics of diasporization as it is built on experiences and memories of oppression and exile, forced displacement, labor migration, and insecure environment. Following this socio-constructionist approach that examines diasporas as being imagined transnational communities (Sökefeld, 2006), in this paper, the diaspora politics formation is conceived through a specific mobilization process that leads to the politicization of the Kurdish migratory space. The political engagement serves as an instrument of community building within the Kurdish Diaspora and is conceived as the core of the diasporic identity (Adamson, 2008; Baser, 2013).

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