TITLE:
Future Perspectives of the Yazidi Community after the Genocide: Trauma, Cultural Transformation, and Collective Survival
AUTHORS:
Jan Ilhan Kizilhan
KEYWORDS:
Yazidis, 2014 Genocide, Collective Trauma, Cultural Resilience, Religious Norms, Diaspora, Social Identity
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.13 No.8,
August
20,
2025
ABSTRACT: The Yazidi community, a monotheistic ethno-religious minority, experienced a profound rupture of its social and cultural continuity through the genocide perpetrated by the so-called Islamic State in 2014. This article provides an interdisciplinary analysis—drawing upon historical, social-psychological, religious-sociological, and trauma-therapeutic perspectives—of the conditions for collective survival in the diaspora. The study focuses on the transformation of religious norms, particularly the caste system and marriage regulations, as well as the role of cultural resilience, oral history, and psychosocial care. The findings underscore that a sustainable future for the Yazidi community depends on a critical engagement with traditional structures and the development of socially integrative practices.