Nadia Murad and the Epistemology of the Sinjar Genocide: From Survival to Collective Memory

Abstract

This article examines the 2014 Sinjar Genocide as a process through which survivor testimonies, particularly that of Nadia Murad, are transformed from individual experiences into collective memory and, ultimately, socially and institutionally recognized knowledge. Rather than treating testimony solely as a source for documenting past violence, the article conceptualizes it as an active epistemic practice that contributes to the production and legitimization of knowledge about genocide.
To analyze this transformation, the article proposes an input-process-output epis-temological model. The input stage consists of survivors’ individual experiences, testimonies, memories, and community narratives. The process stage encompasses the social, cultural, legal, academic, media, and institutional mechanisms through which these experiences are mediated, interpreted, transmitted, and incorporated into collective memory. The output stage refers to the institutionalization of knowledge through legal recognition, international reports, academic research, commemorative practices, and public memory policies. Nadia Murad’s testimony serves as an applied case demonstrating how an individual survivor’s experience can acquire representational significance and contribute to international awareness and recognition of the Yazidi genocide. The study argues that knowledge about genocide emerges not merely through documenting events but through the interaction of testimony, collective memory, cultural heritage, sites of memory, and institutional validation. The proposed model offers a framework for comparative research on the transformation of survivor testimony into collective memory and institutionalized historical knowledge.