We Are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War

312 Pages·2013·4.88 MB·English

by  Nadje Al-Ali

We Are Iraqis
Contemporary Issues in the Middle East
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We Are Iraqis
Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War
Edited by Nadje Al-Ali and Deborah Al-Najjar
syracuse university press
Copyright © 2013 by Syracuse University Press
Syracuse, New York 13244-5290
All Rights Reserved
First Edition 2013
13 14 15 16 17 18 6 5 4 3 2 1
Chapter 17, “Arab-Jews, Diasporas, and Multicultural Feminism:
A Conversation with Ella Habiba Shohat” © by Ella Habiba Shohat.
Publication was supported in part by a gift from Mary Selden Evans.
∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
For a listing of books published and distributed by Syracuse University Press,
visit our website at SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu.
ISBN: 978-0-8156-3301-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
We are Iraqis : aesthetics and politics in a time of war / edited by
Nadje Al-Ali and Deborah Al-Najjar. — First Edition.
pages cm. — (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8156-3301-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Arts—Political aspects—
Iraq—History—21st century. 2. Arts, Iraqi—21st century. 3. Iraq—
History—2003– I. Al-Ali, Nadje Sadig, editor of compilation.
II. Al-Najjar, Deborah, editor of compilation.
NX180.P64W4 2012
700.1'0309567—dc23 2012038515
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents

List of Illustrations (cid:2) ix

Acknowledgments (cid:2) xi

Contributors (cid:2) xiii
Introduction: Writing Trauma, Memory, and Materiality

Nadje Al-Ali and Deborah Al-Najjar (cid:2) xxv
1. What Every Driver Must Know

Alise Alousi (cid:2) 1
2. Bifurcations of Iraq’s Visual Culture

Nada Shabout (cid:2) 5
3. A Barbarian in Rome
Excerpts from a Diary

Sinan Antoon (cid:2) 24
4. Putting Contemporary Iraqi Art on the Map
A Conversation with Maysaloun Faraj

Nadje Al-Ali (cid:2) 35
5. Th e Assassination of Iraqi Academic Life
A Personal Testimony

Saad N. Jawad (cid:2) 48
vi (cid:2) Contents
6. My Own Private Munich

Dahlia Petrus (cid:2) 60
7. Hassan Abdulrazzak
A Selection

Hassan Abdulrazzak (cid:2) 79
8. Reframing Sunni and Shi‘i Discussions

Yara Badday (cid:2) 83
9. Invisible Mirror
Aggression and the Th umb-Generation Response

Wafaa Bilal (cid:2) 93
10. Iraq
A Long Phantasmagorical Dream for Th ose Who
Are Not Part of the New Capitalism or Retired Communism

Ali Bader (cid:2) 103
11. Migratory Sacred Spaces
(Re)creating ‘Ashura

Dena Al-Adeeb (cid:2) 127
12. (Dis)connectioned

Celia Shallal (cid:2) 144
13. Sophisticated Ways
Destruction of an Ancient City

Nadje Al-Ali (cid:2) 151
14. My Trips to the Unknown

Maki Al Nazzal (cid:2) 161
Contents (cid:2) vii
15. A Tale of Two Exiles

Sama Alshaibi (cid:2) 171
16. 1001 Nights

Jananne Al-Ani (cid:2) 182
17. Arab-Jews, Diasporas, and Multicultural Feminism
A Conversation with Ella Habiba Shohat

Evelyn Azeeza Alsultany (cid:2) 185
18. A Film-Training Project for Young Iraqis

Maysoon Pachachi (cid:2) 205
19. Lyrical Resistance
Th e Example of Saadi Youssef

Ferial J. Ghazoul (cid:2) 216
20. Larsa

Dunya Mikhail (cid:2) 231
21. Ur’s Echo
Cosmopolitans and Radical Loss

Rashad Salim (cid:2) 235
22. Identity of the Numbers

Irada Al-Jabbouri (cid:2) 250

Bibliography (cid:2) 257