"Gendered Sufism: The Qādirī Ritual Among Women in Iraqi Kurdistan" by Dr. Eszter Spät (CEU Wien)
The Qadri (Qādirī) ṭarīqa, an order of Sufism or Islamic mysticism that offers its followers a direct experience of the divine, plays a significant role in the religious and social life of rural Iraqi Kurdistan. This lecture provides a brief overview of the history of Sufism and the Qādirī order in Kurdistan before focusing on the practice of Sufism among Kurdish women. It explores the ways in which Sufi spirituality is practiced and expressed within female spaces that are inaccessible to male researchers in a strictly segregated society. Eszter Spät earned her PhD from the Central European University (CEU) of Budapest. She has held research grants from the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, and the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund. She was a visiting research fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg at Ruhr University Bochum and a guest professor for Cultural Studies of the Middle East at the University of Bamberg. She was visiting faculty at the Cultural Heritage Studies Program of the Central European University (Vienna). Presently, she is teaching at the Jewish Theology Seminary and University of Jewish Studies (Budapest), while she still retains her affiliation with CEU.
