Between honour and dignity : Kurdish literary and cinema narratives and their attempt to rethink identity and resistance

Based on Kwame A. Appiah’s take on the moral revolution as well as on the concept of moral imagination, this chapter analyses selected Kurdish literary and cinema narratives. It shows that while the traditional honour relied on courage and faithfulness, the understanding of dignity developed by modern narratives recognises the value of life and elevates love for human life as a guiding moral principle. This process engages many traditional motives which have been updated according to the needs of modern society. The chapter also links postcolonial approaches with the recent studies on dehumanisation and suggests that reading Kurdish narratives through the lens of moral imagination can assist in overcoming the entrenched dehumanisation of the Kurds