Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)

The Daughters of Kobani Reader’s Guide

By Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

The Daughters of Kobani by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

READERS GUIDE

The questions, discussion topics, and other material that follow are intended to enhance your group’s conversation of Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s The Daughters of Kobani, an intimate and revealing inside look at the band of brave women who risked everything to stop ISIS and build their own far-reaching experiment in women’s equality right on the ashes of the fight against the Islamic State.

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1.      Before reading this book, what did you know about the conflict in Syria, including the involvement of the United States? How did Lemmon’s reporting enhance your knowledge of these events?

2.      What surprised you about the role of women’s rights and women’s emancipation in this story?

3.      How big a role does the founder of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, play in the day-to-day and overarching mission of the all-female militia? How did you sense his presence in the book?

4.      A main motivating factor in the establishment of the Women’s Protection Units is women’s independence and equality. Did the limitations and oppressions that the women in this story faced bring to mind other movements for gender equality, in the past and at present? How about here at home?

5.      Looking back to the history of the Kurdish people and their diaspora across several countries, why do you think this group was able to launch this mission with such discipline, and ultimate success?

6.      Even as children and young adults, many of the women we meet in the book—Azeema, Rojda, Nowruz, and Znarin—recognize the flaws in their society’s treatment of women. How are they ahead of their time in standing up to tradition with their involvement in sports, pursuit of romance and education, and a general sense of following their own path? Did they remind you of women in your own community, your own family?

7.      From 2011 onward, the U.S. stance toward the Assad regime and ISIS changed drastically. Did you agree with the Obama and Trump administrations’ tactics and decisions in response to ISIS and the plight of the Kurds? Discuss the delicate balance of maintaining international diplomacy and alliances while defending human rights and America’s relationships with Turkey and Russia as the civil war unfolded.

8.      Do you think the conflict in Syria could have been avoided if the U.S. had taken different measures early on? How do you think America’s views on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan played a role, if at all?

9.      Discuss how the Women’s Protection Units were able to overcome the highly trained, heavily armed forces of ISIS prior to the arrival of American support. What ideologies and relationships motivated the women to keep fighting and risk their lives against such an enormous threat?

10.   How did the American military commanders treat the Women’s Protection Unit members once they arrived to train them and provide supplies? What was the general attitude to-ward their efforts and tactics? What, if anything, surprised you about the relationship be-tween the Americans and the all-women’s units?

11.   What role did the internet and social media play in the international coverage of and response to this war, as well as to the ways it was fought on the ground? Consider how the women kept in touch with their families and each other even in the midst of battle. What was the role of cameras and TV?

12.   Compare and contrast the personalities and leadership styles of Azeema, Rojda, and Znarin. What did each of them bring to their positions to help them maintain morale for them-selves and be resilient after injury and defeat?

13.   How does the daily onslaught of war affect the women, emotionally and physically?

14.   Return to some of the key battle scenes of the war, such as Kobani, Manbij, and Raqqa. How did you experience these retellings of combat through the eyes of the women? Did they remind you of the narratives of other wars throughout history—what is similar and what is different about the nature of this conflict compared to others? Is it different to see war through women’s eyes?

15.   Parallel to the combat on the ground was the political combat that would codify the freedoms the all-women’s units were fighting for in principle. How did Fauzia Yusuf et al handle the introduction of radical new ideas about the role of women into their government in 2012- 2014? During and after the fall of ISIS, how did those ideals and decrees manifest in real time?

16.   The book ends in a moment when the future of Syria is still unclear, and threat looms from major international powers. At the time of your reading, how has this situation evolved, if at all?

17.   The author describes being called to tell this story despite its uncertain outcome because of a “sense that something important was happening in a place the world wanted to for-get” (149). Why would the world want to forget Syria? How have Western nations erected and maintained boundaries to other parts of the world, despite globalization and increased access to technology? How do you personally engage with world events? Does social media make you feel more or less connected? Technology?

18.   What would you do if you were called to arms in the way that these women were? What rights would you be willing to fight for—or have you fought for?

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. Why do you think we hadn’t heard the story of these Women’s Protection Units told before?

A: I wanted to understand this too—I asked, how was it that this far-reaching experiment in women’s equality took place on the ashes of the Islamic State? How did we not realize who had helped to hand ISIS their very first battlefield loss? Even in the towns these women visited, people would come up to them and say, “We didn’t think you were real.” And I just don’t think we’d ever seen, collectively, the image of thirty young women wearing fatigues, smiley-face socks, braids in their hair, wielding AK-47s and going off to fight the Islamic State. I don’t think we’d heard enough stories that showed women in all their complexity.

2. You talk in the book about being tired of trying to make Americans care about people in faraway places. What do you think is the importance of telling these Kurdish fighters’ stories, especially to Americans who might not have heard of them?

A: When I first heard about the YPJ taking on the Islamic State, it struck me as such a David and Goliath story. Except David, in this case, is a woman. Here were these all-female militias, formed to protect their neighborhoods during the Syrian Civil War, fighting ISIS, which had experienced no battlefield losses at that point, back in 2014. And then comes this extraordinary battle in Kobani. I wanted readers in the U.S. to know this story and spend time with these women.

3. What stayed with you as you traveled to the region to write The Daughters of Kobani?

A: What struck me most, and what I want readers to keep in mind, was that these women weren’t superhuman. They were just ordinary people who happened to meet extraordinary circumstances, and who rose to the challenge put in front of them. They thought they had done nothing extraordinary and would always joke with me, “Gayle, you’re back again? We have to sit down and talk again?” I wanted to capture their sense of doing this for themselves and for women across the region, and to introduce them to readers in all their facets.

4. How has your personal experience shaped your approach to writing this book?

A: My father was born in Iraq and lost his country and his home as a boy because of his religion. I grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, raised in a community of single moms, none of whom had graduated from college. My mom worked two jobs—she worked at the phone company by day and sold Tupperware at night—and my godmother worked at the government printing office. These were the kind of women who were completely underestimated by the outside world. But they taught us how to hustle and work hard, and they taught us about generosity. My mom used to tell me growing up, “On a scale of major world tragedies, yours is not a three.” Hearing that makes me get up in the morning now and think, “Where can I make a difference?”

5. How can people outside the country show solidarity with the women of Syria across communities?

A: I think paying attention and engaging is the first step. There are Syrian women in civil society across communities who are really speaking up and making their voices heard, making sure they’re not left out of their own future. It’s not just for the sake of women that they’re speaking up—it’s for the sake of the durability of peace that everyone’s voice is represented at the table. Organizations across communities are working hard to ensure that half their population is not seen as a special interest group when it comes to their country’s future.

 
Back to Top