Woman in the mirror: Kurdish women's century long search for recognition in Ata Nahai's novels

This study examines Kurdish women's century-long struggle for recognition and identity formation in Ata Nahai's three novels: Shoran Flower (1997), The Birds in the Wind (2002), and Betting on Halalah's Fortune (2007). Using Kurdish women studies, intersectionality, and mirror symbolism analysis, the research traces Kurdish women's experiences from the 1940s through the early 21st century within Iranian Kurdistan's political upheavals. Through close textual analysis, the study investigates how Nahai employs mirror imagery to depict feminine awakening, identity crisis, and resistance in his female protagonists. The novels present a poetics of Kurdish women's evolution across three generational cohorts: Khanzad (1940s–1950s), awakening to gendered identity within patriarchal constraints; Kaleh and Afsanah (1970s–1980s), transitioning from private to public spheres through political engagement; and Halalah (1980s–2000s), embodying a century-long struggle transcending geographical boundaries. The research reveals that Kurdish women's destinies remain linked to political circumstances, creating “double discrimination” based on gender and ethnicity. Through mirror symbolism, Nahai illustrates how female characters experience self-recognition that functions as both resistance and potential destruction. This study contributes to Kurdish women's studies by providing literary evidence of persistent gender-based oppression while highlighting moments of resistance transcending patriarchal boundaries.