Thomas Schmidinger
Oct 5, 2018Rojava
Revolution, War and the Future of Syria’s Kurds
Pluto Press 2018
Thomas Schmidinger's Rojava: Revolution, War and the Future of Syria’s Kurds (Pluto Press, 2018) is an exploration of the history and present of Syrian Kurdistan. It is an excellent introduction to a fraught topic, one drawn from extensive, first-hand ethnographic research. It presents multiple perspectives from both major and minor political parties as well as the perspective of Kurds and other ethnic groups living within Syrian Kurdistan. Included is an accessible and useful history of the complicated party politics within the Kurds themselves as well as Kurdistan’s relations with not just the Syrian government, but regional states also.
Jeffrey Bristol is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at Boston University as well as a JD candidate at the University of Michigan Law School.