Masters Thesis

Imagined Kurds: media and construction of Kurdish national identity in Iraq

This thesis is intended to answer the question of the rise and proliferation of Kurdish nationalism in Iraq by examining the construction of Kurdish national identity through the development and functioning of a mass media system in Iraqi Kurdistan. Following a modernist approach to the development and existence of Kurdish nationalism, this thesis is largely inspired by the work of Benedict Anderson, whose theory of nations as 'imagined communities' has significantly influenced the study of nationalism. Kurdish nationalism in Iraq, it will be argued, largely depended upon the development of a mass media culture through which political elites of Iraqi Kurdistan would utilize imagery, language, and narratives to develop a sense of national cohesion amongst their audiences. This thesis explores the various aspects of national construction through mass media in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, in mediums such as literature, the internet, radio, and television.

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