From Productive Power to Blunt Control: Theses on the technology of (re)settlement in Turkey and the Kurds. Paper presented at the World Congress of Kurdish Studies, organized by the Kurdish Institute of Paris and Salahaddin University, Arbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, September 6 to September 9, 2006

The forced (re)settlement of Kurds within the borders of the contemporary states they live in is a contentious issue in Kurdish historiography. This paper will discuss this issue of (re)settlement, focusing on resettlement policies and practices in Turkey and the Kurds. Based on archive research and field work, this paper will formulate some (new) theses on (re)settlement and the Kurds in Turkey. It will contribute to an understanding of (re)settlement policies and practices as means for the constitution of a homo-nationalis. It will be emphasized that modern resettlement policies are to be considered and analyzed as practices of biopower, concerned with the spatial management of population. It will emphasize the importance of the concept of space and the writing of micro-studie