The Sacred Space and Religious Identity among Yezidis: Accounting for the Lived Experiences of Internally Displaced Persons in Northern Iraq

• Main Author: Mangini, Katerina
• Format: Others
• Published: FIU Digital Commons 2018
• Subjects: Yezidism; Yazidi; Sinjar Massacre; Shingal Massacre; Ethnography; Iraq; Social and Cultural Anthropology; Islamic World and Near East History; Near and Middle Eastern Studies; Near Eastern Languages and Societies; Other Religion; Political History; Social Psychology; Sociology of Religion; Terrorism Studies
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3645; https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4875&context=etd

Religion and religious ritual has been linked to providing individuals and entire communities with the ability to cope in the aftermath of life-changing traumas. This thesis explores the intersection of coping and ritual in the aftermath of the recent persecution of the Yezidi people. The methodology utilizes qualitative interviews and participant observation which was conducted in Ainkawa, Lalish and Bashiqa during fieldwork that took place in July 2017. A sample of 25 Yezidis who remain displaced in Northern Iraq were asked to describe their experience of coping in the aftermath of the Sinjar Massacre. I argue that the introduction of a baptismal ritual extended to adult women became a medium to reclaim identity. This allowed women who were abducted to symbolically re- declare themselves as Yezidi, cope with the trauma, reintegrate into the community and reclaim their identity through ritual, which presents healing in a framework that is largely relatable.