Laura Hamblin and Hala Al-Sarraf
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264591
- eISBN:
- 9780191734397
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264591.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
This chapter consists of collected oral histories of Iraqi women refugees in Jordan. It examines the identity of Iraqi women refugees as revealed through their personal narratives. In the Ba’athist ...
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This chapter consists of collected oral histories of Iraqi women refugees in Jordan. It examines the identity of Iraqi women refugees as revealed through their personal narratives. In the Ba’athist regime, the Iraqi identity was reinforced as an Arab identity. During the 35-year rule of this regime, Iraqis watched other Arab nationalities enjoying privileges while they lived in Iran. After the fall of the regime, the new government emphasized Iraqi identity as separate from the Arab identity. The new regime imposed an Iranian identity within the concepts of ethnic and sectarian power sharing. While this new identity posed a dilemma with the manner refugees formed representations of themselves in host countries and with the distribution of privileges they used to enjoy in the former regime, many of the Iraqi women refugees still saw themselves as Arabs and refused the sectarian criteria. All the women interviewed in this chapter expressed the notion that their identity was challenged as their life circumstances demanded them to accommodate the changes they experience.Less
This chapter consists of collected oral histories of Iraqi women refugees in Jordan. It examines the identity of Iraqi women refugees as revealed through their personal narratives. In the Ba’athist regime, the Iraqi identity was reinforced as an Arab identity. During the 35-year rule of this regime, Iraqis watched other Arab nationalities enjoying privileges while they lived in Iran. After the fall of the regime, the new government emphasized Iraqi identity as separate from the Arab identity. The new regime imposed an Iranian identity within the concepts of ethnic and sectarian power sharing. While this new identity posed a dilemma with the manner refugees formed representations of themselves in host countries and with the distribution of privileges they used to enjoy in the former regime, many of the Iraqi women refugees still saw themselves as Arabs and refused the sectarian criteria. All the women interviewed in this chapter expressed the notion that their identity was challenged as their life circumstances demanded them to accommodate the changes they experience.
Joyce Wiley
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195137996
- eISBN:
- 9780199849055
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137996.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter focuses on Bint al-Huda, Baqir al-Sadr's sister, who led the movement to educate and uplift Iraqi Shi'pi women. Educated at home by her brother, Bint al-Huda devoted her life to the ...
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This chapter focuses on Bint al-Huda, Baqir al-Sadr's sister, who led the movement to educate and uplift Iraqi Shi'pi women. Educated at home by her brother, Bint al-Huda devoted her life to the education and uplifting of her Shi'i sisters, relying on Qur'anic support for ideas of gender equality. She explored ways to reach her audience that her male colleagues would probably not have even considered. To illustrate her vision of the ideal Islamic life, she wrote novels that deplored both subservience to men and Western values. Though Ayatollah Khu'i ruled that women could not be mujtahids, he still funded her religious school for girls in Najaf, suggesting that she was able to work effectively with the ulama—even the most conservative among them. However, she was far less successful in her dealings with the Ba'thist government. On April 8, 1980, Saddam Hussein's government executed both Bint al-Huda and her illustrious brother.Less
This chapter focuses on Bint al-Huda, Baqir al-Sadr's sister, who led the movement to educate and uplift Iraqi Shi'pi women. Educated at home by her brother, Bint al-Huda devoted her life to the education and uplifting of her Shi'i sisters, relying on Qur'anic support for ideas of gender equality. She explored ways to reach her audience that her male colleagues would probably not have even considered. To illustrate her vision of the ideal Islamic life, she wrote novels that deplored both subservience to men and Western values. Though Ayatollah Khu'i ruled that women could not be mujtahids, he still funded her religious school for girls in Najaf, suggesting that she was able to work effectively with the ulama—even the most conservative among them. However, she was far less successful in her dealings with the Ba'thist government. On April 8, 1980, Saddam Hussein's government executed both Bint al-Huda and her illustrious brother.
Noga Efrati
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231158145
- eISBN:
- 9780231530248
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231158145.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This book outlines the first social and political history of women in Iraq during the periods of British occupation and the British-backed Hashemite monarchy (1917–1958). It traces the harsh and ...
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This book outlines the first social and political history of women in Iraq during the periods of British occupation and the British-backed Hashemite monarchy (1917–1958). It traces the harsh and long-lasting implications of British state building on Iraqi women, particularly their legal and political enshrinement as second-class citizens, and the struggle by women's rights activists to counter this precedent. The book concludes with a discussion of post-Saddam Iraq and the women's associations now claiming their place in government. Finding common threads between these two generations of women, the text underscores the organic roots of the current fight for gender equality shaped by a memory of oppression under the monarchy. This text revisits the British strategy of efficient rule, largely adopted by the Iraqi government they erected and the consequent gender policy that emerged. The attempt to control Iraq through “authentic leaders”—giving them legal and political powers—marginalized the interests of women and virtually sacrificed their well-being altogether. Iraqi women refused to resign themselves to this fate. From the state's early days, they drew attention to the biases of the Tribal Criminal and Civil Disputes Regulation (TCCDR) and the absence of state intervention in matters of personal status and resisted women's disenfranchisement. Following the coup of 1958, their criticism helped precipitate the dissolution of the TCCDR and the ratification of the Personal Status Law. A new government gender discourse shaped by these past battles arose, yet the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, rather than helping cement women's rights into law, reinstated the British approach. Pressured to secure order and reestablish a pro-Western Iraq, the Americans increasingly turned to the country's “authentic leaders” to maintain control while continuing to marginalize women. The book considers Iraqi women's efforts to preserve the progress they have made, utterly defeating the notion that they have been passive witnesses to history.Less
This book outlines the first social and political history of women in Iraq during the periods of British occupation and the British-backed Hashemite monarchy (1917–1958). It traces the harsh and long-lasting implications of British state building on Iraqi women, particularly their legal and political enshrinement as second-class citizens, and the struggle by women's rights activists to counter this precedent. The book concludes with a discussion of post-Saddam Iraq and the women's associations now claiming their place in government. Finding common threads between these two generations of women, the text underscores the organic roots of the current fight for gender equality shaped by a memory of oppression under the monarchy. This text revisits the British strategy of efficient rule, largely adopted by the Iraqi government they erected and the consequent gender policy that emerged. The attempt to control Iraq through “authentic leaders”—giving them legal and political powers—marginalized the interests of women and virtually sacrificed their well-being altogether. Iraqi women refused to resign themselves to this fate. From the state's early days, they drew attention to the biases of the Tribal Criminal and Civil Disputes Regulation (TCCDR) and the absence of state intervention in matters of personal status and resisted women's disenfranchisement. Following the coup of 1958, their criticism helped precipitate the dissolution of the TCCDR and the ratification of the Personal Status Law. A new government gender discourse shaped by these past battles arose, yet the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, rather than helping cement women's rights into law, reinstated the British approach. Pressured to secure order and reestablish a pro-Western Iraq, the Americans increasingly turned to the country's “authentic leaders” to maintain control while continuing to marginalize women. The book considers Iraqi women's efforts to preserve the progress they have made, utterly defeating the notion that they have been passive witnesses to history.
Noga Efrati
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231158145
- eISBN:
- 9780231530248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231158145.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter delves deeper into the women's movement in Iraq during the Hashemite period. It suggests that there were two main reasons why the full scale of women's response against the ...
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This chapter delves deeper into the women's movement in Iraq during the Hashemite period. It suggests that there were two main reasons why the full scale of women's response against the constitutional monarchy was difficult to trace. The first is connected with circumstances of the time—that is, with the government's censoring of the women's movement. The second, however, is rooted in accounts portraying the history of the women's movement, provided by Iraqi women activists and their later reproduction in contemporary scholarly literature published in English. The chapter argues that the early history of the women's movement in Iraq remains little known because the two key organizations involved in the movement—the Iraqi Women's Union, which was harshly sanctioned by the regime, and the underground League for the Defense of Women's Rights, produced two competing narratives of the women's movement.Less
This chapter delves deeper into the women's movement in Iraq during the Hashemite period. It suggests that there were two main reasons why the full scale of women's response against the constitutional monarchy was difficult to trace. The first is connected with circumstances of the time—that is, with the government's censoring of the women's movement. The second, however, is rooted in accounts portraying the history of the women's movement, provided by Iraqi women activists and their later reproduction in contemporary scholarly literature published in English. The chapter argues that the early history of the women's movement in Iraq remains little known because the two key organizations involved in the movement—the Iraqi Women's Union, which was harshly sanctioned by the regime, and the underground League for the Defense of Women's Rights, produced two competing narratives of the women's movement.
Perri Campbell and Luke Howie
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748696161
- eISBN:
- 9781474416177
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696161.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
This chapter engages with the stories told by two female Iraqi bloggers, who write a digital self online: ‘Riverbend’, as she is known, whose blog is titled Baghdad Burning; and Faiza al-Araji, whose ...
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This chapter engages with the stories told by two female Iraqi bloggers, who write a digital self online: ‘Riverbend’, as she is known, whose blog is titled Baghdad Burning; and Faiza al-Araji, whose blog is titled A Family in Baghdad. Both blogs tell the story of women growing up and working (before the war) in Baghdad. Faiza and Riverbend are tied together by friendship. They are digitally networked, prominent figures in the Iraq War blogosphere, due partly to their position as two of the first female Iraqi bloggers, and partly to their ability to capture their audience with eyewitness accounts of life in Iraq. Many of Faiza's posts are translated by Riverbend. Many of Riverbend's stories and calls for justice are echoed in Faiza's own blog.Less
This chapter engages with the stories told by two female Iraqi bloggers, who write a digital self online: ‘Riverbend’, as she is known, whose blog is titled Baghdad Burning; and Faiza al-Araji, whose blog is titled A Family in Baghdad. Both blogs tell the story of women growing up and working (before the war) in Baghdad. Faiza and Riverbend are tied together by friendship. They are digitally networked, prominent figures in the Iraq War blogosphere, due partly to their position as two of the first female Iraqi bloggers, and partly to their ability to capture their audience with eyewitness accounts of life in Iraq. Many of Faiza's posts are translated by Riverbend. Many of Riverbend's stories and calls for justice are echoed in Faiza's own blog.
Noga Efrati
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231158145
- eISBN:
- 9780231530248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231158145.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This concluding chapter describes how the Iraqi women's rights activists believe that the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq were pulling back to the days of the British-backed Hashemite monarchy, when ...
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This concluding chapter describes how the Iraqi women's rights activists believe that the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq were pulling back to the days of the British-backed Hashemite monarchy, when women were treated as second-class citizens. It marks similar threads running through past British and present American policies influencing the fate of two generations of Iraqi women separated by half a century. Under the Americans who came to Iraq armed with a vision of creating a free and democratic state in which women's rights are enshrined, women were returned to pre-1958 conditions, which led to a new wave of tribalization and subordination. Similar to as in the Hashemite period, the American occupational forces were desperate to impose order. They recruited tribal elements to secure borders and protect oil facilities, and convened tribal courts that sanctioned coercive practices pertaining to women.Less
This concluding chapter describes how the Iraqi women's rights activists believe that the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq were pulling back to the days of the British-backed Hashemite monarchy, when women were treated as second-class citizens. It marks similar threads running through past British and present American policies influencing the fate of two generations of Iraqi women separated by half a century. Under the Americans who came to Iraq armed with a vision of creating a free and democratic state in which women's rights are enshrined, women were returned to pre-1958 conditions, which led to a new wave of tribalization and subordination. Similar to as in the Hashemite period, the American occupational forces were desperate to impose order. They recruited tribal elements to secure borders and protect oil facilities, and convened tribal courts that sanctioned coercive practices pertaining to women.
Marianne Holm Pedersen
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780719089589
- eISBN:
- 9781781706930
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719089589.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
Iraqi women in Denmark is an ethnographic study of ritual performance and place-making among Shi‘a Muslim Iraqi women in Copenhagen. The book explores how Iraqi women construct a sense of belonging ...
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Iraqi women in Denmark is an ethnographic study of ritual performance and place-making among Shi‘a Muslim Iraqi women in Copenhagen. The book explores how Iraqi women construct a sense of belonging to Danish society through ritual performances, and it investigates how this process is interrelated with their experiences of inclusion and exclusion in Denmark. The findings of the book refute the all too simplistic assumptions of general debates on Islam and immigration in Europe that tend to frame religious practice as an obstacle to integration in the host society. In sharp contrast to the fact that Iraqi women’s religious activities in many ways contribute to categorizing them as outsiders to Danish society, their participation in religious events also localizes them in Copenhagen. Drawing on anthropological theories of ritual, relatedness and place-making, the analysis underscores the necessity of investigating migrants’ notions of belonging not just as a phenomenon of identity, but also with regard to the social relations and practices through which belonging is constructed and negotiated in everyday life.The Iraqi women’s religious engagement is related to their social positions in Danish society, and the study particularly highlights how social class relations intersect with issues of gender and ethnicity in the Danish welfare state, linking women’s religious practices to questions of social mobility. The book contextualizes this analysis by describing women’s previous lives in Iraq and their current experiences with return visits to a post-war society.Less
Iraqi women in Denmark is an ethnographic study of ritual performance and place-making among Shi‘a Muslim Iraqi women in Copenhagen. The book explores how Iraqi women construct a sense of belonging to Danish society through ritual performances, and it investigates how this process is interrelated with their experiences of inclusion and exclusion in Denmark. The findings of the book refute the all too simplistic assumptions of general debates on Islam and immigration in Europe that tend to frame religious practice as an obstacle to integration in the host society. In sharp contrast to the fact that Iraqi women’s religious activities in many ways contribute to categorizing them as outsiders to Danish society, their participation in religious events also localizes them in Copenhagen. Drawing on anthropological theories of ritual, relatedness and place-making, the analysis underscores the necessity of investigating migrants’ notions of belonging not just as a phenomenon of identity, but also with regard to the social relations and practices through which belonging is constructed and negotiated in everyday life.The Iraqi women’s religious engagement is related to their social positions in Danish society, and the study particularly highlights how social class relations intersect with issues of gender and ethnicity in the Danish welfare state, linking women’s religious practices to questions of social mobility. The book contextualizes this analysis by describing women’s previous lives in Iraq and their current experiences with return visits to a post-war society.
