Sectarianism in Iraq : antagonistic visions of unity / Fanar Haddad

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Haddad, Fanar, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnicity--Iraq.

Ethnicity.

Iraq--Ethnic relations.

Iraq.

Iraq--Politics and government--20th century.

Iraq--Politics and government--2003-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (307 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Summary:

Viewing Iraq from the outside is made easier by compartmentalising its people (at least the Arabs among them) into Shi'as and Sunnis. But can such broad terms, inherently resistant to accurate quantification, description and definition, ever be a useful reflection of any society? If not, are we to discard the terms 'Shi'a' and 'Sunni' in seeking to understand Iraq? Or are we to deny their relevance and ignore them when considering Iraqi society? How are we to view the common Iraqi injunction that 'we are all brothers' or that 'we have no Shi'as and Sunnis' against the fact of sectarian civil war in 2006? Are they friends or enemies? Are they united or divided; indeed, are they Iraqis or are they Shi'as and Sunnis? Fanar Haddad provides the first comprehensive examination of sectarian relations and sectarian identities in Iraq. Rather than treating the subject by recourse to broad-based categorisation, his analysis recognises the inherent ambiguity of group identity. The salience of sectarian identity and views towards self and other are neither fixed nor constant; rather, they are part of a continuously fluctuating dynamic that sees the relevance of sectarian identity advancing and receding according to context and to wider socioeconomic and political conditions. What drives the salience of sectarian identity? How are sectarian identities negotiated in relation to Iraqi national identity and what role do sectarian identities play in the social and political lives of Iraqi Sunnis and Shi'as? These are some of the questions explored in this book with a particular focus on the two most significant turning points in modern Iraqi sectarian relations: the uprisings of March 1991 and the fall of the Ba'ath in 2003. Haddad explores how sectarian identities are negotiated and seeks finally to put to rest the alarmist and reductionist accounts that seek

either to portray all things Iraqi in sectarian terms or to reduce sectarian identity to irrelevance.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. Approaching a Theory of Sectarianism

Defining Sectarianism

Drivers of Sectarian Identity

External Influence

Economic Competition

Competing myth-Symbol Complexes

Contested Cultural Ownership of the Nation

Ethnohistories' and the Formation of Sectarian Identity

Assertive, Passive and Banal Sectarianism

3. Sectarianism in Iraq

Iraqi Nationalism between State, Sunnis and Shi'as

Sectarian Relations and Dominant Narratives of the Iraqi Nation-State

The Conflation of Sectarian Identity with Ethnicity

The Suppression of Shi'a Identity

The Interaction of Sunni and Shi'a identities

'We're all Brothers'

Class and Geographic Boundaries

Sectarian Relations in Social Relations

A Final Qualifier

4. The Events of march 1991

Beginnings

Leadership and Coordination

The End of the Uprisings

Iran and the Uprisings

Contentious Symbolism

The Consequences of the Events of 1991

5. The Sanctions-Era

The Economic Breakdown

Neo-Tribalism

The Religious Revival

Al-Hamla al-Imaniya

Sectarian Identity

Conclusion

6. Sectarian Relations and the mythology of 1991

The State's Response

The Page of Betrayal and Treason

Al-Intifada al-Sha'abaniyah

7. Sectarian Relations in Post-2003 Iraq

The New Iraq

Sectarian Identity in Post-2003 Iraq

Outsiders, Insiders and the Formalisation of Sectarian Politics

The Collision of Myth-Symbol Complexes in Post-2003 Iraq

Sectarian Nationalism in Post-2003 Iraq

The Contest for Cultural Ownership of Iraq

An Old Symbol in a New Environment: the mass Graves

Iraq, the Arab World and Arab Identity

Arab Fighters in the Sectarian Imagination

Competing Victimhoods

8. Civil War

What is a Civil War?

Ethnic Conflict.

Sectarian Relations and Sectarian Civil War

The Symbols of Assertive and Aggressive Sectarianism

Fixing the Breakdown

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Glossary

Index

A

B

C

D

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page 273-285) and index.

ISBN:

0-19-023797-X

OCLC:

752620311