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Archiving of Oral Children's Literature Works That Tend To Disappear

August - December 2023
ŞIRNAK

Recent research now shows that only about 10% of Kurdish parents consistently speak Kurdish with their children (Language Map Project; Center for Kurdish Studies, FES, Rawest Research, 2022). For this reason, oral Kurdish children's fairy tales, which are passed on orally from one generation to the other, are facing extinction. If you add the impact of social media and TV channels onto this along with the technological developments, the resistance power of Kurdish oral literature decreases considerably. Since there is no support from an official institution protecting this literature, these works are not archived, and many fairy tales/stories that could be transformed into animations, cartoons, television series, or children's songs perhaps with the current technology, disappear along with the memories of those who know them. It is obvious that at such a critical point, studies that will ensure the preservation of this oral culture and its transfer to future generations are very valuable. It is aimed to archive children's stories and fairy tales that are still alive in Central Şırnak and Balveren, Şenoba and Kumçatı towns with the project of Archiving Oral Children's Literature Works That Tend to Disappear.

The fairy tales told by the storytellers who are the subject of the project will be recorded visually and audio. The recorded children's fairy tales will then be edited, and uploaded to social platforms such as YouTube, thus reaching a wider audience. The video, which will be edited and prepared in the first stage, will be screened in a conference hall with a capacity of 300 people in order to increase its visibility and reach the masses more quickly. Thus, awareness will be created at the highest level and the importance of oral literature will be revealed, thus contributing to the continuity of this culture.

Diyar Bayram

Diyar Bayram, who graduated from Yüzüncü Yıl University, Department of Geography, started making short films since 2010. So far, he has shot 3 short films and 2 documentaries. His short film titled Diyarê Dilşad, which he directed in 2012, won the Special Jury Award at the Istanbul International Short Film Festival and the İnönü University short film festival. He worked as an editor of the website Kurdigeh.com for 2 years, where 45 young Kurdish writers shared their works. He took part in the organizing staff for seminars held in public areas in Şırnak, where Kurdish writers and translators participated. He worked as a reporter at Iraq-based K24 TV and Waar TV from 2014 to 2021. In 2022, he shot a documentary about women entrepreneurs in Şırnak with the support of the Think Civil organization. Diyar Bayram continues his work on animation as well as cinema and screenplays.

Connections:

https://instagram.com/diyarbayram1?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
https://www.facebook.com/diyar.bayram.9

This page is published on 7 December 2023.