Fixers, Fieldwork, and Precarity: The Postcoloniality of Western Fieldwork on ISIS in Kurdistan

Abstract

After the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2014 and the fight of both Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces as well as the Syrian Kurdish forces of the People's Protection Units (YPG, Yekîneyên Parastina Gel) and the Women's Protection Units (YPJ, Yekîneyên Parastina Jin) against them, Western journalists tried to gather information quickly. Locals were happy to share as much as possible, as ISIS was a great danger. As an often forgotten population under permanent occupation seeking visibility, the Kurds allow Westerners unparalleled access to the field and provide unpaid or underpaid labor, hoping that the world will see their struggle. This deepened the disparity between Kurdish journalists, academics, and writers and their Western counterparts. Using postcolonial theory on the mindset of colonialized peoples, this article shows how the fear of being forgotten, the material disparity between colonizers and colonized, and the coloniality of local political actors are obstacles for Kurdish professionals. Looking at a focus-group discussion and two interviews with Kurdish journalists, fixers, and translators from Iraq and Syria, the comparison shows that both autonomous regions are projects that sought to end decades of occupation and now face challenges that show similarities and differences.