How do Kurdish women struggle to voice themselves in contemporary Turkey? Anne van Mourik speaks with Marlene Schäfers (Utrecht University) about her book ‘Voices that Matter: Kurdish Women at the Limits of Representation in Contemporary Turkey’ (University of Chicago Press, 2022). What does it mean to ‘have a voice’ in a context of protracted political violence? To what extent do Kurdish women’s gaining voices lead to empowerment? And how does Marlene, as a scholar specialized in women’s struggle for voice, view the current protests in Iran?

Photo: Braxton Hood. Kurdish singer (dengbêj) Gazîn performing via mobile phone, Wan, Turkey, 2011.