THE “OTHER” KARAGÖZ: The Kurdish Qeregoz

The traditional Ottoman shadow play Karagöz and Hacivat was broadcast in Kurdish on a Turkish state channel broadcasting in 2012. In this chapter, the author poses the question: are these Kurdish scenarios mere translations of the Turkish form, or did Qeregoz develop into a localized form of its own? Ultimately, the author contends that these plays in Kurdish represent a new staging style of the iconic form, and furthermore, the generous depiction of Kurdish life in Qeregoz on television had the effect of troubling a monolithic sense of “Turkishness.”