Feyli Kurds in The United Kingdom: Migration, Integration, and Transnationalism

The post-migration experience of the Feylis, also known as Feyli Kurds, has been overlooked in the studies of Iraqi diaspora groups in the United Kingdom. It is difficult to find scholarly literature exclusively interested in this historically significant ethno-religious group. This research gap is striking considering the substantial academic focus that has been given to other Iraqi diaspora ethnic groups such as the Assyrians and the Yazidis (King, 2005; Cook et al., 2021). This study aims to help bridge this gap by analysing social integration patterns and the creation or maintenance of social boundaries (Wimmer, 2013). It also explores Feylis' social ties with their immediate communities as well as their transnational connections as part of their experience in the United Kingdom. In this respect, the research will attempt to understand the social integration of Feyli community and the ways they have managed to retain their religious and ethnic identities in the diaspora through combining ethnographic and archival methods to identify the socio-cultural and political status of the community in the United Kingdom. In doing so, this research will demonstrate how the experience of the Feyli community in the UK may advance the debates arounds integration. The impact of government policy on this process will also be studied.