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War and Exile in Contemporary Iraqi Women's Novels DISSERTATION

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War and Exile in Contemporary Iraqi Women's Novels DISSERTATION War and Exile in Contemporary Iraqi Women’s Novels DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Hanan Hussam Kashou Graduate Program in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Joseph T. Zeidan, Advisor Dr. Morgan Liu Dr. Youssef Yacoubi Copyright by Hanan Hussam Kashou 2013 Abstract This dissertation explores the representative works of several contemporary Iraqi women’s writing and the themes of war and exile employed in their narratives. Iraqi women focus their fictional narrative discourse and themes on the Iraqi war(s) and the political situation their nation faced over the past thirty years. The writers chosen for this study are a mere representation of the many Iraqi writers who focus their efforts and their writings on the war story. I argue that the themes of war and exile, and the historical and pragmatic vein that they write from, have come to dominate the discourse of Iraqi women. It has become the focal point of their themes which has come to serve as their national narrative. The framework Iraqi women articulate, this national narrative, is an embodiment of the violence they witness in their quotidian life in war and exile. They write this experience from a feminist impulse as well as through a maternal instinct to articulate the voice of the voiceless subaltern members of their society. They depict their national war story through the sub-narratives of the tumultuous experience of Iraqis. Women novelists, through their powerful depiction of the reality Iraqis experience, deliver a significant and necessary voice to their contemporary national narrative of war. ii Dedication To my aunt Haifa Al-Khatib (d. March 19, 2000), to my mother Ibtisam El-Khatib, and to my brothers Nasser H. Kashou and Hussam H. Kashou iii Acknowledgments This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of my advisor Professor Joseph Zeidan. I cannot express the amount of gratitude and thankfulness I have for the help, dedication, and mentorship I received from Professor Joseph Zeidan throughout my studies. It was an honor for me to have worked with Professor Joseph Zeidan and to have him as my advisor. I have also had the great fortune of working with Professor Morgan Liu and Professor Youssef Yacoubi. Professor Morgan Liu was wonderfully supportive when I most needed it. He provided me the support, motivation and advice at the most dire times. I am also thankful to Professor Youssef Yacoubi for his constructive input and advice. I am grateful to both of them for serving on my committee and for their valuable input. I would like to especially thank Heather Sweetser for her valuable time and help with the edits of my draft as well as Hesham Elaqad for his help with the form. I had the great pleasure and honor to meet and interview in Jordan in 2010 one of the most successful Iraqi women writers, Luṭfīyah Al-Dulaymī. I thank her for her invaluable input on her writings and for the resources she made available to me. I am grateful to my brothers, Nasser H. Kashou, PhD, and Hussam H. Kashou, PhD Candidate, for all their help and support in getting me through this most difficult process and for standing with me at all times. They were especially helpful to me with the iv technical aspects, the proper formatting, and proofreading, as well as in helping me get all the important paperwork completed. A special thank you to my mother for her support always and for the strength and motivation she gave me throughout my studies. v Note on Translations and Transliteration I provide my own translations for the majority of the Arabic texts and quotes unless otherwise noted by the reference. A few Arabic texts since the inception of my study have been translated into English. In a few instances, if a text was translated into English and was available to me, I used the English version to reference it as a convenience to the reader. It should be noted clearly which texts were referenced from English; otherwise, all other novels and text were referenced and translated from the original Arabic novels. Most Arabic words were transliterated using the JMES transliteration system. Some popular Arabic names and words may have been Anglicized and remained this way in the texts; however, other names were transliterated to my best judgment. vi Vita December 1997 ..............................................B.A. Political Science and International Studies, The Ohio State University. June 2003 ...................................................M.A. Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Arabic Language and Literatures, The Ohio State University. December 2003 ..............................................M.A. College of Education, Workforce Development and Education Human Resource Development and Adult Learning and Training, The Ohio State University. 1998 to 2012 .................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, The Ohio State University. 2012 to Present ..............................................Assistant Professor, AMESAL, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. vii Fields of Study Major Field: Near Eastern Languages and Literatures viii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Note on Translations and Transliteration ........................................................................... vi Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii Fields of Study ................................................................................................................. viii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Organization of Dissertation ............................................................................................. 25 Chapter 1: The Politics and History of Iraq ...................................................................... 30 The History of the Intelligentsia in Iraq ............................................................... 38 Women’s Journals and Women’s Freedom .......................................................... 43 Literary Production in Iraq .................................................................................. 51 The Role of the Intellectual ................................................................................... 61 Historical Background of Arab Women Writers and their War Narrative ........... 66 Women and Their Historical Role as Writers ....................................................... 77 ix Chapter 2: Iraqi Narratives and their Theoretical Implications ........................................ 82 Identity and the Faceless Other ............................................................................ 86 Iraqi Writers, Feminist Impulses, Maternal Instincts ......................................... 105 Writing, A Form of Power .................................................................................. 117 Essentialism and its Consequences ..................................................................... 120 Chapter 3: Narrating the Victims of War ........................................................................ 129 The Male as a Victim of War .............................................................................. 129 u a al- ula m o els ad a a and a d u al ...................... 135 Martyrdom and the Expectations of a Soldier .................................................... 158 Roxanna Var ’s F c onal V gne e, a Compar son ........................................... 160 ul r n ar’s al al-n r ........................................................................... 166 Chapter 4: Narratives of Exile and Identity .................................................................... 172 Eluding Censorship Through Exile ..................................................................... 178 Stories of Exile and Nostalgia............................................................................. 180 Imagined/Hybrid Identities in Exile .................................................................... 183 Clas o den a l u a r ’s so Close ............................................. 187 A Hybrid Identity ................................................................................................. 190 Ha a Zangana’s s ʾ ʿal sa ar, Wr ng e Personal and Pol cal .............. 206 x a r ’ l- ad ’s a sam ’ n n, Imagined Identity/Imagined homeland ............................................................................................................. 226 Chapter 5: The National Narrative of War ..................................................................... 249 War and its Narratives ........................................................................................ 249 Women in War and Absent Men.......................................................................... 258 Art and State Propaganda
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