Armenian Yezidis. The acculturation process and the specificity of the diaspora

Armenian Yezidis. The acculturation process and the specificity of the diaspora

Grzegorz Pełczyński

University of Wroclaw

Adam Pomieciński

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań


Abstract

Yezidis is a religious group of Yezidi faith, sometimes identifying with Kurds or considering themselves a separate ethnic group. Parts of the Yezidi diaspora are scattered mainly in the countries of the Middle East. In Armenia, they are the largest minority in this country, with a population of around 30,000. The article presents the process of Yezidi acculturation in Armenia. The concept of acculturation of D. Sam and J. Berry, which takes into account the degree to which people want to preserve their identity and culture, and the degree to which they want to be in contact with people outside their own group and participate in everyday life within the framework of wider society, turned out to be helpful here. In the case of the Armenian Yezidis, the acculturation process is quite diverse, as it extends between integrating with the Armenian society and remaining on the margins of it.


Keywords:

Yezidis, Armenia, acculturation process, diaspora, ethno-religious minorities, process of social transformation


ALGIN, V., Y. (2018), Êzdîkî – die Sprache der Êzîden? In: Êzîdî Press http://www.ezidipress.com/blog/ezdiki-die-sprache-der-eziden/ [access: 15 X 2020].   Google Scholar

ALLISON, C. (2013), Addressivity and the Monument: Memorials, Publics and the Yezidis of Armenia. In: Histo-ry & Memory. 25, (1), 145-181.
Crossref   Google Scholar

ANTEBY-YEMINI, L. BERTHOMIÈRE, W. (2005), Diaspora: A Look Back on a Concept. In: Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem. 16, 262-270.   Google Scholar

ASATRIAN, G. (1999/2000), The Holy Brotherhood: The Yezidi Religious Institution of the "Brother" and the "Sister" of the "Next World". In: Iran & the Caucasus. 3/4, 79–96.
Crossref   Google Scholar

ASATRYAN, G./ARAKELOVA, V. (2002), The ethnic minorities of Armenia. Yerevan.   Google Scholar

ASATRYAN, G., ARAKELOVA, V. (2014), The Religion of the Peacock Angel. The Yezidis and Their Spirit World. Durham.
Crossref   Google Scholar

CHETERIAN, V. (2019), Yazidis Who Call Armenia Home. In: Agos http://www.agos.com.tr/en/article/22303/yazidis-who-call-armenia-home [access: 10.IX.2020].   Google Scholar

CINAL, S. (2008), Jezydzi i ich religia. W: Abdalla, M. (red.), Niemuzułmańskie mniejszości Iraku. Poznań, 43-50.   Google Scholar

DALALYAN, T. (2008), Идентификационные Процессы Среди Курманджиязычного Населения Армении. Tibilisi.   Google Scholar

EISLUND, S. (2019), Yazidism. In: https://www.ancient.eu/Yazidism/ [access: 11 XII 2020].   Google Scholar

JOHANNES, A./KLITCHIAN, A. (1992), Devil’s Advocates. Yezidis and Kurds: The Two Faces of Armenia’s Larg-est Ethnic Minority. In: Armenian International Magazin. 3, (5), 30-31.   Google Scholar

KREYENBROEK, P. G./RASHOW, K., J. (2005), God and Sheikh Adi are Perfect. Sacred Poems and Religious Nar-ratives from Yezidi Tradition. Wiesbaden.   Google Scholar

MARCINIAK, T. (2002), Odkrywanie Armenii. W: Kultura i Historia. 3 (kulturaihisto-ria.umcs.lublin.pl/archives/2570 [access 6. V 2021].   Google Scholar

MCINTOSH, I., S. (2003), A Conditional Coexistence: Yezidi in Armenia. In: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/conditional-coexistenceyezidi-armenia [access: 10 XII 2020].   Google Scholar

MELKUMYAN, H. (2016), “Elites” Between Nationalism and Tradition: The Modernization Processes in the Yezidi Community of Armenia. In: Antonyan, Y. (ed.), Elites and “Elites”: Transformations of Social Structures in Post-Soviet Armenia and Georgia. Yerevan.   Google Scholar

OMARKHALI, K. (2008),On the Structure of the Yezidi Clan and Tribal System and its Terminology among the Yezidis of the Caucasus. In: Journal of Kurdish Studies. 6,104-119.
Crossref   Google Scholar

OMARKHALI, K. (2011), Yezidi Religious Oral Poetic Literature: Status, Formal Characteristics, and Genre Anal-ysis. With Some Examples of Yezidi Religious Texts. In: Scrinium. 7-8, (2), 144-195.
Crossref   Google Scholar

POMIECIŃSKI, A. (2018), Jezydzi – największa mniejszośćArmenii. W: Our Europe. Ethnography – Ethnology – Anthropology of Culture.7, 21-28.   Google Scholar

RODZIEWICZ, A. (2015), Patrząc na Jezydów od strony Araratu. W: Przegląd Orientalistyczny. 1-2, 43-57.   Google Scholar

RODZIEWICZ, A. (2018), Jezydzka droga do Tyflisu. Przyczynek do historii gruzińskich Jezydów. W: Hałaburda, Rzepka, M. (red.), Kurdystan. Perspektywy badawcze. Kraków, 113-152.   Google Scholar

RODZIEWICZ, A. (2019), Środa i jej święto w tradycji religijnej Jezydów. W: Studia Religiologica. 52, (2), 109-125.
Crossref   Google Scholar

SAM, D./BERRY, J., W. (2010), Acculturation: When Individuals and Groups of Different Cultural Backgrounds Meet. In: Perspectives on Psychological Science. 5, (4), 472-481.
Crossref   Google Scholar

SCHULZE, I. (2017), Language and identity construction: Evidence from the ethnic minorities of Armenia. In: International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 248, 137-157.
Crossref   Google Scholar

SHEHADI, L. (2020), Yazidi bleeding hearts: The fragility of Armenia’s largest ethnic minority. In: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/yazidi-armenia-ethnic-minority-nagorno-karabakh-conflict-b1203313.html [access: 15 XI 2020].   Google Scholar

SIX-HOHENBALKEN, M. (2019), May I be a sacrifice for my grandchildren—transgenerational transmission and women’s narratives of the Yezidi ferman. In: Dialect Anthropol. 43, 161–183.
Crossref   Google Scholar

TAMOJAN, A., TAMOJAN, H. (2018), Jezdinerizorawar Aziz TamojanihramanatarutjambDżahangiraghaji-anwanjezdiakanrazmakandżokatyarcachjanpaterazmum (1991-2016). Erywań.   Google Scholar

UNFPA (2014), Child Marriage in Armenia. In: https://beta.girlsnotbrides.org/learning-resources/resource-centre/child-marriage-in-armenia-overview/ [access: 13 XII 2020].   Google Scholar

UNHCR (2008), The Human Rights Situation of the Yezidi Minority in the Transcaucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan). In: https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/485fa2342.pdf [access: 13 XII 2020].   Google Scholar

YEPISKOPOSIAN, L./MARGARIAN, A./ANDONIAN, L. et al. (2010), Genetic Affinity between the Armenian Yezid-is and the Iraqi Kurds. In: Iran and the Caucasus. 14, 37-42.
Crossref   Google Scholar


Published
2021-12-31

Cited by

Pełczyński, G., & Pomieciński, A. (2021). Armenian Yezidis. The acculturation process and the specificity of the diaspora: Armenian Yezidis. The acculturation process and the specificity of the diaspora. Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski, 12(2), 263–276. https://doi.org/10.31648/pw.6880

Grzegorz Pełczyński 
University of Wroclaw
Adam Pomieciński 
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań