Jineolojî
Origins
Jineolojî is an alternative concept and method of social sciences for a women's revolution with the goal of building a free, ecological, and communal life. The term Jineolojî is composed of the Kurdish word jin and the ancient Greek suffix -logia. Jin means woman and has the same etymological root as the Kurdish words jîn and jiyan, both of which mean life. The suffix -logia, can be translated as teaching or science. The development of Jineolojî as the science of women and life has its roots in more than four decades of the freedom struggle and theoretical development of the women's liberation movement in Kurdistan. It was founded on the awareness that the question of women's liberation cannot be postponed to “after the revolution”, but must be the core of any revolutionary struggle and freedom movement. Hence, to build up a free society, it is necessary to think, learn, know and live in a different and radical way. Jineolojî has emerged as an approach seeking to break the patriarchal monopoly over defining the truth and the capitalist power of knowledge-spreading. The neologism and concept of Jineolojî was first introduced by Kurdish political leader and theorist Abdullah Öcalan in his 2008 work "The Sociology of Freedom." As part of his comprehensive critique of patriarchal, positivist, and Eurocentric scientific approach as a means of power, Öcalan discusses the need for a revolution in social sciences. Contrary to the ruling concept of science that pretends to be ‘objective’ and ‘neutral’ but actually maintains patriarchal and colonial dominance, the goals, principles, and methodology of Jineolojî are explicitly connected to the aim and paradigm of a democratic-ecological society founded on women’s liberation.
Why Women? Redefining the meaning of woman’s existence – which can be described as the identity that has been “most injured by power” – is an act of resistance, towards collective and individual self-determination. “Women’s existence has been defined in relation to men within patriarchal male-centred paradigms. A woman is a non-man. This not only fails to express women, it also distorts them. Another definition understands women as the feminine sex based solely on their biological characteristics, like other females. Of course, there are biological factors, but the main point is to examine the social culture that is embodied by women and to consider women within social culture. If existence expresses itself holistically and this structure is integrated within someone’s nature, language, and culture, the lack of this integration shows that women have been purposefully prevented from revealing their own nature.” Practitioners of Jineolojî argue that questioning ideological concepts imposed on women—such as “housewife,” “reproductive tool,” “unpaid and disregarded worker,” “sex object,” “complementary other,” or “oppressed gender”—cannot be addressed by denying or erasing women’s being.. Instead, they approach the meaning of “woman” as a social, political, and historical identity, grounded in an ontological existence that embraces diverse experiences. This is a decisive step towards (re-)establishing the connection between women, society, nature and life, in a good, beautiful, and free way. Expressions of a (self-)perception of women as creating and renewing the force of community life on the basis of freedom and justice can be found in various cosmovisions and the philosophy jin, jiyan, azadî [woman, life, freedom]. These three Kurdish words gained international attention with the uprisings in Eastern Kurdistan and Iran following the assassination of Jina Emini by Iranian state forces in September 2022. They express the revolutionary dedication of women to insist on defending and building freedom, in the face of the devastating patriarchal and capitalist logic of dividing, ruling, exploiting, extracting and killing.
Why Jineolojî? The first steps to build Jineolojî as an alternative science with the aim to research and rewrite history from a women’s perspective, collect and connect women’s wisdom, stories and knowledge, and to share and develop analysis from and for the women’s revolution, began in Kurdistan in 2011. In this context, the term ‘women’s revolution’ means to liberate relations between men and women from sexism, and to transform and to rebuild them according to the theory of free communal life. Women’s revolution is seen as a process of organising, creating awareness and new ways of communal living and learning. The early practitioners of Jineolojî, found essential points of reference in three basic areas: Firstly, the experiences of the Kurdish Women’s Movement. Secondly, the interpretations of the history of mother goddess culture and non-hierarchical communality, particularly in Mesopotamia. Thirdly, the rich heritage of women’s resistance against oppression and liberation struggles worldwide, including feminism.
In practice As stated by Hêlîn Murat "The real source of Jineolojî are, of course, our mountains. […] Jineolojî can uncover many truths through an examination of Kurdish language and culture. I have learned a lot about the Neolithic culture and history of Kurdistan from friends, people, shepherds, smugglers, hunters, healers, elderly people, herb gatherers, etc., whom I have met in the mountains. Sometimes I extended my way by hours to learn from the wisdom of a shepherd." Contrary to producing knowledge in state institutions for an elite and their profits, the aim of Jineolojî is to strengthen women’s and thus society's awareness of freedom through collective learning processes and thereby to develop solutions to essential problems of life and society. The elaboration of Jineolojî has been nourished by and has contributed to weaving networks of democratic confederalism and to build democratic autonomy in Kurdistan. In various regions of North-Kurdistan and Turkey, women have formed local Jineolojî working groups to develop common positions on philosophical, scientific, political and social issues. These activities contributed to the establishment of municipal policies with a women’s perspective, including the principle of equal representation and co-chairing of women and men. In particular, the revolution in Rojava starting 2011 and the formation of the Democratic Autonomy Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES), inspired discussions as women gained new self-confidence and more access to political, social, economic, educational and cultural engagement. The need for an alternative science that strengthened women's awareness of self-defence became more pressing in the midst of war in Syria. Workshop discussions, studies and educational activities about issues related to women’s history, health, politics, ecology, economy, demographic policies, education, culture, ethics and aesthetics developed step by step in different regions. By challenging patriarchal gender-role stereotypes, conducting popular education sessions and conscious-raising activities to dismantle patriarchal narratives, encouraging women to value and express their wisdom and knowledge, and discussing causes of patriarchal violence and its harming effects on women, men and children, women organizers created starting points for social change in their communities. Since 2015 the building-up process of the Jineolojî Academy has developed into a network of different institutions: local study groups, university departments, workshops, a journal and publishing house and regional research centres that are based in different parts of Kurdistan and abroad. Women of different national, cultural and faith communities are working, researching and learning together. Findings and insights from research and education works are shared. A broader public is reached by publications, TV and radio programmes in different languages, education programmes, workshops, symposiums and conferences. Through this, Jineolojî has become a source of inspiration for democratic changes in the life of women, men, families and society.
Challenges and opportunities As early as the late 1970s, feminist scholars such as Maria Mies pointed out that feminist social theory cannot emerge from state research institutes. Rather, it must develop through participation in the struggles of the women's liberation movement and in theoretical debates about the goals and strategies of this movement. However, radical approaches such as this were increasingly revised in the following decades due to the pull of liberalism. Women's studies were integrated into the dominant, elitist scientific apparatus and restructured as gender studies from the 1990s onwards. At the same time, broad circles of women's movements in the US and Western Europe favoured the concept of “gender main-streaming” instead of a program for women's liberation. Practitioners of Jineoloji evaluate that in doing so, they no longer question the patriarchal, capitalist system of exploitation itself, but demand to become “equal” accomplices and profiteers of the system. Liberal, individualistic concepts of freedom on the one hand and the rise of authoritarian, right-wing populist, and religious fundamentalist ideologies accompanied by increase in feminicides on the other are complicating the journey of Jineolojî. State repression and Turkey's occupation war against Kurdistan, executions of women's rights defenders in Iran, the “new” despotic regimes in Afghanistan and Syria, and the arbitrary decisions of the Trump administration in the US threaten the existence, freedom of expression, academic work, and organization of women. On the other hand, however, this very reality, in which colonial and patriarchal attacks are a daily reality, including targeted murders of women who done pioneering work in Jineolojî, demonstrates how vital the efforts to find new paths to a free life with Jineolojî are. The efforts for peace and a democratic society in Turkey and Kurdistan, which reached a new level with Abdullah Öcalan's recent communiques from inside Imrali prison, are of historical significance in this regard and open up new spaces.
Further Resources Books and Articles Instituto Andrea Wolf: Mujer, Vida, Libertad: Desde el corazón del movimiento de las mujeres libres de Kurdistán, 2021: https://archive.org/details/mujer-vida-libertad-2a-edicion-digital_202212/mode/2up
Jineolojî Akademisi: Jineolojîye Giriş. Istanbul: Aram Yayınları, 2015
Jineolojî Centre in Europe and regional committes: Jineolojî - A quarterly journal of science and theory: Special edition for english readers, March 2020
Weaving Another Future: Jineolojî - Readings in Women’s Science, ed. Jineolojî Committee in Europe, 2024
Zozan Sima: The role of the paradigm in the social sciences, March 2025: https://jineoloji.eu/en/2025/03/20/the-role-of-the-paradigm-in-the-social-sciences/
Zozan Sima: Jineoloji Ders Notları, 2023 [English translation to be published soon]
Websites Jineoloji Academy website: https://jineoloji.eu/en/ (English); https://jineoloji.eu/es/ (Spanish); https://jineoloji.eu/fr/ (French) Jineoloji Journal website: https://jineolojidergisi.com/ (Turkish)
Videos
Seeds of Jineolojî – part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmvj2K1UfhI&list=PLg47Fg25LdZ3l9jAwxqvvJTGsThjBIk_d&index=18
Seeds of Jineolojî – part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmvj2K1UfhI&liswww.youtube.com/watch?v=gmvj2K1UfhI&list=PLgt=PLg
Women's Revolution/Revolución de las mujeres/Révolution des femmes, Jineoloji Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow4e6VqGdYo&list=PLg47Fg25LdZ3l9jAwxqvvJTGsThjBIk_d&index=41
Nagihan Akarsel’s work in her own words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DWGzKxmBfk
Suggested images or illustrations 1. Logo of Jineolojî Academy 2. Photo of Nagihan Akarsel, founding member of the Jineolojî Academy, Journalist-Researcher-Author, assassinated by a killer hired by the Turkish secret service MIT on October 4, 2022, in Suleymania, South Kurdistan/Iraq 3. Cover of Jineoloji Journal 4. Activities of Jineolojî Academy