A Qualitative Study of Ethnocentrism and Nationalism Among Sunni and Shiite Kurds of Iran

The present study aims at investigating the relationship between ethnocentrism and religion among Iranian Kurds. The research methodology is qualitative and the data was obtained via in-depth interviews. Grounded theory was used for analyzing the findings. Based on qualitative-purposive sampling method and the theoretical saturation criterion, 31 Sunni and Shiite Kurdish residents of different cities of Kermanshah province were interviewed and their perception and interpretation of ethnocentrism, and its relationship with their religion were investigated and analyzed.

The collected data were categorized into 53 basic concepts, 14 major categories and eventually 2 core categories. The data infers Shiite and Sunni interviewees had some similarities and differences in their understanding of ethnicity, religion and Iranian nationality. The major categories in which Sunni Kurds expressed their ideas include integrated Kurdish identity, dissatisfaction with government, secular interpretation of religion, preference of ethnicity to religion, alienation to the Iranian identity, self-determination right, and the role of ethnic elites. While Shiite Kurds expressed their ideas by the words and concepts categorized into 7 categories, including Kurdish ethnic identity, Iranian national identity, dissatisfaction with government, compatibility of religion and ethnicity, emphasis on the cultural rights of Kurdish ethnicity, secular interpretation of religion, and the lack of historical consciousness of Kurds. Accordingly, "secular Kurdish nationalism" was inferred as the core category for explaining Sunni Kurds interviewees’ understanding of the issue, while "cultural ethnocentrism" was suggested for that of Shiite Kurds.

A comparison of different categories obtained for the two interviewed groups, Shiites and Sunnis, revealed that they show similarity in two categories "dissatisfaction with government" and "secular interpretation of religion", however, in other cases such as their interpretation of Kurdish identity, Iranian identity, and the relationship between religion and ethnicity they show major differences. These similarities and differences are illustrated and discussed in the paper.