In Endurance, Alex Pillen portrays a sense of being unique within Kurdish cultural spheres. How to feel unique despite devastating violence, cultural oppression and assimilation is a question faced by many communities globally. Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) is a focal point for such uniqueness.
When a culture is under siege and many have lost a former way of life it may not be clear how a society looks itself in the mirror, finds its reflection. Alex Pillen’s portrayal of Speaking Kurdish in a Warped World locates such lines of reflection within everyday language. The fear of a random geopolitical pair of dice is global, a fear to be honed when reading this account of uniqueness in the face of totalising loss.
Endurance is wholly original, resonant across many spaces, and an invaluable model of attentive listening at its most acute, subtle, and revelatory.
– Don Brenneis, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz
This is an outstanding contribution to the anthropology of language and the study of Kurdish culture.
– David Parkin, Emeritus Professor, School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford
Brill, September 12th 2024
https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Endurance.html?id=11W00AEACAAJ&redir_esc=y