Author Archives: Mujge Kucukkeles

About Mujge Kucukkeles

Mujge Kucukkeles is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, and a research associate at the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies at SOAS. Her research examines the politics of humanitarianism and international development, exploring its intersections with state power, nationalism and citizenship in politically liminal spaces in the Middle East, with a specific focus on Iraqi Kurdistan. More recently, her work has turned into investigating forms of humanitarianism and solidarity activism in the Global South, particularly inTurkey.

From Relief to Rule: Food Rations and State-Making in Iraqi Kurdistan

March 28, 2026 by
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This essay analyses the emergence of limited Kurdish self-rule within the broader framework of humanitarian governmentality from 1991 to 2003. Beginning with the emergency relief that followed Operation Provide Comfort, and extending through the Oil for Food Programme (OFFP), humanitarian aid introduced a set of administrative practices that became central to governing the Kurdistan region. At the heart of these practices were food rations. Rations not only secured subsistence but also became a key site through which humanitarian aid flowed into a wider project of Continue reading → Continue reading →