Return to ruin : Iraqi narratives of exile and nostalgia / Zainab Saleh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Saleh, Zainab (Professor of anthropology), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Exiles--Iraq.

Exiles.

Iraq War, 2003-2011.

Iraqis--Foreign countries.

Iraqis.

Iraqis--Great Britain.

Refugees--Iraq.

Refugees.

Great Britain.

Iraq.

Physical Description:

xiii, 262 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2021]

Summary:

"With the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iraqis abroad, hoping to return one day to a better Iraq, became uncertain exiles. Return to Ruin tells the human story of this exile in the context of decades of U.S. imperial interests in Iraq--from the U.S. backing of the 1963 Ba'th coup and support of Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s, to the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 invasion and occupation. Zainab Saleh shares the experiences of Iraqis she met over fourteen years of fieldwork in Iraqi London--offering stories from an aging communist nostalgic for the streets she marched since childhood, a devout Shi'i dreaming of holy cities and family graves, and newly uprooted immigrants with fresh memories of loss, as well as her own. Focusing on debates among Iraqi exiles about what it means to be an Iraqi after years of displacement, Saleh weaves a narrative that draws attention to a once-dominant, vibrant Iraqi cultural landscape and social and political shifts among the diaspora after decades of authoritarianism, war, and occupation in Iraq. Through it all, this book illuminates how Iraqis continue to fashion a sense of belonging and imagine a future, built on the shards of these shattered memories"--Back cover

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Childhood Stories

1. Emancipation and Revolution

In the Shadow of Fear

2. Revisionist Politics

Memories of Persecution

3. Religious Paths, Secular Pasts

In the Midst of War

4. Itineraries of Homecomings

In the Aftermath of Destruction

5. Dispossession and Authenticity

With No Ray of Hope.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-251) and index.

Arab American Book Award - The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award, Winner, 2022

ISBN:

9781503614116

1503614115

9781503607026

150360702X

OCLC:

1138675228