Poetic Nationalism:From National Self- Consciousness to Kurdish Political Intersubjectivity

Abstract

The study of poetic nationalism examines the manifestation of Kurdish self- consciousness in the context of its political history, as it was embodied in giving meaning to Kurdish existence and identity in Kurdish poetry collections. The first veteran poets, such as (Ahmedi Khani, Haji Qadiri Koyi, Ahmed Mukhtar Jaf, Qaani and Faiq Bekas) were credited with highlighting the national issue in poetic style, and they are considered among the most prominent founders of Kurdish self-awareness and the project of politicizing the Kurdish language. They tried hard through... Their poetic verses change the reality that imposed itself and appear in themselves as if they were the truth. This apparent reality, according to the political perspective of the Kurdish nationalist poets, results from the “other” discourse that politically dominates Kurdistan, and therefore they called for a renaissance from the historical neglect that is rooted in Kurdish culture.

Despite their poetic creativity, with regard to their awareness and perception of time and the political presence of the Kurds in history, they are intertwined in the problem of self-philosophy. One of the problems that emerged primarily in this perspective, especially within the framework of the process of establishing Kurdish nationalism, lies in dissolving it in the philosophy of consciousness, Where the knowing self is immersed in contemplating and interpreting itself and its world in isolation from others, and this in itself leads to inner dialogue or monologue and isolation into itself. This problem is intertwined and complicated at its highest level. When self-awareness about the existence of the national is based on poetic language, techniques, and their prior designations, it results in poetic hegemony, molding of thought, and this leads to the predominance of pre-existing frames and distortion of the relationship between language, idea, and reality.

 In the process of the project of nationalism, that is, the creation of the nation and the state in its Kurdish context, the nationalist movement faced the problem of the closing of inter-space and the incompleteness of the process of establishing common interests and free wills, and this is what led to the emergence of authoritarian parties, with which the Kurdish identity and affiliation became more and more dispersed, instead of the emergence of a “national front unit” is supposed to be the nation that is considered the basic nucleus for establishing the state within the final goal.  To get out of this impasse, the philosophy of inter-subjectivity, according to the perspective of the philosopher Jürgen Habermas, proposes a way out to a policy of deliberativeness that is based on arguments, a common language, and dialogue, towards action, revolution, and an exit from the fait accompli. The research consists of two chapters. In the first chapter, we addressed the problem of self-awareness within the framework of poetic language, then we discussed nationalism as an approach to self-interpretation. In the second chapter, we focused on Kurdish poetic nationalism, and after that we proposed the politics of intersubjectivity as an entry point out of philosophy and the politics of inter-subjectivity.