Session Information
Contribution
Description: This paper is part of a larger PhD project. The aim of the study is to investigate how knowledge, learning and identity are understood in a marginal context - like in the case of the liberation movement PKK. My starting point is that a political and social movement can be regarded as arena for collective action, knowledge- and identity construction. The question is if the PKK movement can be regarded as a school for those involved. The PKK has been described by social scientists and historians, but there is a lack of literature that takes the voice of the individual fighter as a starting point. Under oppressive regimes, formal education often contributes to the multiple processes underpinning social exclusion of those who fall outside the dominant cultural borders. Consequences might be marginalization, lack of education and limited access to knowledge that is a prerequisite for active participation in modern societies. Critical researchers claim that people learn not only from structured education alone, but also from their civic and voluntary activity and practices. Global regimes of knowledge production are contested by various indigenous and/or ethnic groups who demand that local forms of knowledge shall be ascribed status and recognized as equally valid. This paper will discuss these different approaches to knowledge production and transformation and show how knowledge produced in the liberation movement PKK is considered legitimate and valuable for those involved.
Methodology: This paper is based on a critical qualitative in depth study among guerrilla fighters in the liberation movement PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party). It contains of 20 qualitative research interviews carried out in North Kurdistan, UK, Belgium and Norway. The informants are between 20 and 35 years old, they have different educational background from academics to illiterates. The themes of the interviews are questions related to knowledge and identity transformation, and the individual outcome of the stay in the PKK. The fieldwork was carried out during 2004, 2005 and 2006. In a forthcoming article (2006) The methodological and ethical challenges concerning this project is described in a forthcoming article (2006).
Conclusions: Preliminary findings indicate that both educated fighters (academic background) and those fighters who regard themselves as illiterate when they joined the PKK movement, claim that the stay in the PKK has increased their political and social awareness. They describe an individual and collective transformation process that has profound implications on identity, knowledge view, and consciousness. They describe the stay in the liberation movement as a school for life.
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