Iraqi Kurdistan is a far cry from the common stereotypical images of Iraq that have most often made news headlines in the past few years. Whether one is walking around the market in an urban area, or driving through deserted mountain roads, there is a profound sense of peace and serenity that characterizes both the landscape and its people. It is for this reason that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) uses the moniker ‘‘the other Iraq’’in its promotional literature to encourage investment and tourism. While its peaceful climate, coupled with its oil reserves, has made it a desirable location for investment, one can nonetheless travel for an entire week without encountering another Western traveler. What makes Kurdistan so unique will be the focus of this article. With the high death tolls amongst Iraqis (citizens and militants alike) and US soldiers and contractors, it may come as a shock to hear of the relative tranquility of the northern part of Iraq (Figure 1). To help understand this seeming contradiction, it is useful to adopt a critical geographic perspective (Agnew 2003) to address this complexity rather than view nation-states as containers that erase all differences within their borders. As such, Iraqi Kurdistan is a prime example of this tremendous regional variability one finds within states. Ever since the establishment of the no-fly zone in northern Iraq following the first Gulf War in 1991, Iraqi Kurdistan has secured ever greater autonomy and, thus, has been shielded from most of the violence that has been associated with Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. A cursory examination of a variety of travel forums, guidebooks, and even Iraqi Kurdistan’s own tourist website all emphasize the region’s safety for travelers. Statistics back up the research as well; not one coalition soldier has been killed, nor has any foreigner been harmed or kidnapped, since the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq; the most significant incident of violence were two suicide bomb attacks on one particular day in 2004.

Before focusing exclusively on Iraq, an overview of the Kurdish people is warranted. Estimates suggest there are between 20–30 million people who would likely identify themselves as Kurdish, making them the largest stateless group in the world. Like the Roma, the Kurdish people are often referred to as a ‘‘nation without a state,’’an ‘‘invisible nation,’’or ‘‘people without a country’’(Chaliand 1993; Lawrence 2008). The Kurdish diaspora has sizeable communities in numerous countries such as the United States,