University of Sussex Undergraduate History Journal
Works in Progress Lava Ali History and Film Studies B.A., University of Sussex (Brighton, UK)
The title of my History Dissertation which I am currently working on is ‘Documenting the Homeland: constructions of Kurdish identity in Iraq and the diaspora’. Although my special subject is ‘Palestine in Transition’, I have chosen to focus on the Kurds, an ethnic group in the Middle East native to a mountainous region of Western Asia known as Kurdistan. My interest in the subject stems from my ethnic background of belonging to Iraqi Kurdistan. Having this personal connection has enabled me to conduct interviews and use artworks and poetry from direct sources to give a voice to the Kurdish survivors and victims of the Iraqi genocidal campaign in the 1980s. Whilst carrying out my dissertation research, I have discovered the importance of documentation in protecting the Kurdish culture and preserving it for future generations.
Dan Thompson History and Politics B.A., University of Sussex (Brighton, UK)
I am in the initial stages of a dissertation which is going to be focused on the closure of music venues in Oxford and how this affects the wider community as well as those who own, work, or perform at them etc. Music venues and the significance of the ‘live’ will be at the centre of what I am trying to achieve. Looking at how they relate to musical and local identities, we can see the formation of subcultures in these contexts as a response to an increasingly globalised world; the relationship between individual creativity and social interaction was a big part of my upbringing and I fear we are losing the locations for this relationship to be carried out. My main case study will be that of The Cellar, a venue which I loved and have many fond memories of. Since it has closed, the nightlife in Oxford has really gone downhill in the opinion of me and my friends, many of whom have performed in the Cellar in the past but now say there's not many venues in which they can perform. These are issues I am looking to shine light on in my dissertation.
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