Lords of the Mountains: Kurds and Kurdistan in English Writing
Professor Gerald MacLean
The Centre for Kurdish Studies warmly invites you to a talk by Professor Gerald MacLean on his forthcoming book on Kurds and Kurdistan in English Writing on 25 March, 12.30-14.30, IAIS LT1.
| An Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies lecture | |
|---|---|
| Date | 25 March 2026 |
| Time | 12:30 to 14:30 |
| Place | IAIS Building/LT1 |
| Provider | Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies |
| Organizer | Centre for Kurdish Studies |
Event details
Abstract
Gerald MacLean is Emeritus Professor of the University of Exeter. Formerly Anniversary Professor at the University of York, he has held visiting positions at Cornell, Boğaziҫi University, King Abdul Aziz University, and Bilkent University. In 2009, he co-founded the Evliya Ҫelebi Way, an equestrian route through western Anatolia that was appointed as a UNESCO Cultural Route in 2013. He is author and editor of a number of books on Anglo-Ottoman relations and, most recently, of Abdullah Gül and The Making of the New Turkey (2014), and co-author with Nabil Matar of Britain and the Islamic World, 1558-1713 (2011). He is currently working on ‘Lords of the Mountains: The Kurds and Kurdistan in English Literary History, 1520-1923,’ early drafts of which have appeared as ‘Friends and Foes: British Travellers Among the Kurds, 1900-1919,’ in War in Travel Literature (2023), and ‘British Travellers, the Kurds and Kurdistan: A Brief Literary History, 1520-1680,’ Kurdish Studies (2019).
"Lords of the Mountains: Kurds and Kurdistan in English Writing"
This book talk provides the first literary and cultural history of how the Kurds have been represented in four hundred years of English writing. Although the Kurds are often said to be ‘unknown,’ this book reveals how they have been continuously described in English writing since the 16th century. Between 1520 and 1800, published references to the Kurds in English travelogues, histories and geographies, including translations from influential European sources, typically represented Kurds as nomadic brigands, but sometimes as fierce mountain warriors heroically preserving their ancient culture and independence. From the start of the nineteenth century, an extensive volume of writing about the Kurds resulted from British commercial, political and imperial investments in maintaining stability in Ottoman Kurdistan amidst fears of French and later Russian threats to India. Using multiple English language sources, cross-examined with secondary Turkish, English and French secondary sources, this study profiles important Kurdish leaders and describes their resistance to Ottoman administrative reforms. It argues that conflicting official attitudes towards the Kurds shaped British interventions in the Ottoman Middle East especially after 1918.
Location:
IAIS Building/LT1