Abstract
This research investigates Kolberi—a perilous form of cross-border labor practiced by Kurdish people in Rojhelat (Eastern Kurdistan)—as a survival strategy shaped by political oppression, systemic economic neglect, and structural violence. The Iranian state’s policies of disinvestment and securitization have rendered these borderlands sites of precarity, where survival itself becomes an act of defiance. Kolberi sits at the intersection of class, ethnicity, and gender. While men predominantly engage in Kolberi, the number of women and children participating in this labor has steadily increased over the past decade. Yet, there is limited information and very little research addressing their experiences. The risks are severe—state violence and shootings, landmines, and exposure lead to death, frostbite, or amputation. Guided by the Kurdish phrase “Berxwedan Jiyan e” (“Resistance is Life”), my studio-based research explores how survival under oppression becomes a form of resistance. Using ceramics and installation, I draw on collective memory and material culture. Sculptures inspired by spines symbolize the toll on the body, while Shiler flowers, native to the Zagros Mountains, evoke mourning and cultural endurance. Worn kolber bags, sourced from Kurdistan, become extensions of kolbers’ bodies—metaphoric vessels of resilience and burden. This work is grounded in Kurdish feminist and post-colonial frameworks, treating the body as a site of knowledge and resistance. It critiques economic and political violence, drawing parallels between the exploitation of people and land. Through material, form, and narrative, my practice proposes an epistemological space for reflection on survival, resilience, and the cost of marginalization in Kurdistan.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Kolberi, Kurdistan, Kurdish Feminism, Post-Colonial Theory, Embodied Resistance, Material Culture
