Religious Kurdish Identity in the Grip of
Modernism and Individualism
This study, titled “Religious Kurdish Identity in the Grip of Modernism
and Individualism”, is a sociological inquiry into the effects of modernization
on religious and ethnic identities through the case of religious
Kurds. It examines the interrelation of ethnicity, religion, and individualization
in modern societies, with particular focus on how religious
affiliation is reconstructed alongside ethnic consciousness within Kurdish
society. Employing a qualitative methodology within a phenomenological
framework, the research is based on in-depth interviews with
28 participants. These interviews explore devout Kurdish individuals’
perceptions of God, the Prophet, tradition, modernity, secularism, and
politics. The findings indicate that Kurdish identity functions not only
as a political or cultural construct but also as one deeply intertwined
with a religious system of meaning. Under the influence of modernization
and secularization, traditional religiosity has transformed toward
individualization, giving rise to a new identity form: ethnic religious
individualism. This transformation reveals a shift in religiosity from
collective belonging to personal belief, positioning religion as both a
unifying and transformative force within Kurdish identity. The study
concludes that the relationship between religion, ethnicity, and identity
in modern society is dynamic rather than static, and that the case of devout
Kurdish identity offers a distinctive contribution for understanding
the trajectories of religious individualization in Turkey’s socio-cultural
transformation.
Keywords: Sociology of Religion; Religion; Modernization; Secularization;
Identity; Individualism; Religious Individualism; Ethnic Religious
Individualism