Dr Farangis Ghaderi

First-generation scholar, I am Lecturer in Gender and Kurdish Studies, Principal Investigator of the Kurdish Digital Archives project, and Director of the Centre for Kurdish Studies. My research and teaching experience build on my fields of specialisation which are Kurdish cultural production, gender studies, and translation studies. As a female Kurdish scholar, I recognise how understudied Kurdish culture and literature and Kurdish women's contribution to cultural and intellectual heritage are in the field and that has shaped the direction of research.

As the Principal Investigator of the Kurdish Digital Archives, the Kurdish component of the Digital Archives of the Middle East (DAME) project, I have set up partnerships with leading archival repositories in Kurdistan, to build a Digital Kurdish Archives, which includes primary source materials hitherto inaccessible to scholars. In studying Kurdish archives I am particularly interested in gendered erasures and opportunities archives offer in recovering Kurdish women's voices. I am also examining the canon formation and Kurdish print culture under the British Mandate.

I obtained my doctorate at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies in 2016 and my dissertation examined the emergence of modern Kurdish poetry. I am currently finalising my monograph entitled, The Emergence and Early Development of Modern Kurdish Poetry. Inspired by semiotic theory, I have illustrated a gradual shift in aesthetic paradigms in Kurdish poetry which unfolded over the oeuvre of several poets, starting from the late nineteenth century. I have demonstrated that modern Kurdish poetry emerged in response to the advent of modernity and its socio-political implications in Kurdish society.

I am associate editor of the Kurdish Studies Journal and co-editor of Derwaze, Kurdish peer-reviewed journal in social sciences and humanities. I am also a literary translator and have translated Kurdish Sorani and Gorani poetry into English.

In addition to my academic experience, I have worked as an independent Middle East consultant and Expert Witness in the UK. I have contributed to English and Kurdish media including BBC World Service, Newsweek, Nation Cymru, Kurdistani Nwe, Zemen Press, and Geli Kurdistan.

Other information:
Literary Translations

“Unknown Ghazals”, Translation of Ghazals by Mahwi (1830-1906), from Kurdish-Sorani into English. Circumference Magazine, Summer Issue. August 2022. https://circumferencemag.com

“An Elegy for Khosrow”, a ghazal by Mestûre Erdelan (1805-1848). In Women's Voices from Kurdistan. 2021. London: Translational Press. pp. 19-21. https://www.tplondon.com/product/women-voices/

“Memory of Shirin”, a poem by Hêmin (1921-1986). In Women’s Voices from Kurdistan. 2021. London: Translational Press. pp. 23-30.> https://www.tplondon.com/product/women-voices/

“Nasrin”. a poem Fayeq Bêkes (1905-1948). In Women’s Voices from Kurdistan. 2021. London: Translational Press. pp. 31-35.https://www.tplondon.com/product/women-voices/

“When I Dream About You” & "Question". Two poems by Jîla Huseynî (1964-1996). In Women’s Voices from Kurdistan. 2021. London: Translational Press. pp. 37-41. https://www.tplondon.com/product/women-voices/