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Iraqi Women in Diaspora: Resettlement, Religion, and Remembrance in the Iraqi Diaspora in Toronto and Detroit, 1980 to Present

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Iraqi Women in Diaspora: Resettlement, Religion, and Remembrance in the Iraqi Diaspora in Toronto and Detroit, 1980 to Present Iraqi Women in Diaspora: Resettlement, Religion, and Remembrance in the Iraqi Diaspora in Toronto and Detroit, 1980 to present by Nadia Ellen Jones-Gailani A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of History University of Toronto © Copyright by Nadia Ellen Jones-Gailani, 2013. ABSTRACT Iraqi Women in Diaspora: Resettlement, Religion, and Remembrance in the Iraqi Diaspora in Toronto and Detroit, 1980 to present. Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Nadia Jones-Gailani Graduate Department of History University of Toronto This dissertation explores how Iraqi migrant women living in Toronto and Detroit negotiate identity within existing networks of ethnic Iraqi communities settled in North America. The focus is on how ethno-religious identity is imagined and performed in diaspora as new generations of migrant Iraqi women reinvent their relationship with the host countries of Canada and the U.S., and with the homeland. As part of the global diaspora of Iraqis, women of different ages and ethnicities reinvent identity from within the official multiculturalisms of Canada and the U.S. By engaging with themes of historical memory, generation, diasporic citizenship, and religiosity, I explore how Iraqi women remember, retell, and reinvent the past through their narratives. At the core of this research is a unique archive of more than a hundred oral histories conducted with Iraqi women in Amman, Detroit and Toronto. Drawing upon this archive, I explore how Iraqi women recreate official ‘myths’ of nationalism and the nation, but also, and importantly, shape subjective narratives that reveal their lived experiences of trauma, loss and oppression. I argue that these dual and dueling narratives must be understood within the historical context of oppression in the homeland, and also as the product of the repressive patriarchal framework that silences the feminine, essentially writing Iraqi women and their experiences out of Iraqi history. The narratives of women from various class, ethnic and religious backgrounds reveal their experiences of life during the authoritarian ii Ba‘th regime, as well as how and why they came to settle in North America. The dissertation highlights the importance of empowering these voices, and listening to them alongside the official and imposed national commemoration of Iraq’s past. The dissertation engages with religion as a central and organizing category in the lives of Iraqi women. Drawing from the works of western and Third World feminists, it explores the role of religiosity in the lives of multi-generational Iraqi women. In particular, I examine ideas of ‘honour’ and modesty, and the performance of religion amongst young women growing up in North America. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I dedicate this dissertation to the Iraqi women who welcomed me into their homes, fed me, confided in me, cried with me, and opened up their hearts, souls and minds to tell their life histories. This work is a testament to the strength of Iraqi women in the face of struggle and adversity. I began the research with a view to establishing professional connections in the community, but have completed the project with many dear friends. The research has also brought me closer to my own estranged family. After so many years apart, my own process of reconnecting fractured lives has made me sensitive to the psychological challenges transnational migrants face as they are separated and reconnected over time and space. To committee members Mark McGowan and Russell Kazal, thank you for your careful reading and editing of the thesis chapters. I am forever grateful for your sage advice and support at various points along the way. And to my supervisor Franca Iacovetta: special thanks for the critical comments and careful consideration of various ideas raised in the dissertation. Thank you to the Ontario Graduate Scholarship fund, the University of Toronto Alumni Association, the Bentley Historical Library (Michigan), and to the Department of History for funding parts of this research. A very special thanks to good friends Bradley Miller, Camille Begin, Bret Edwards, Lilia Topouzova, and Noula Mina who generously read and commented on various parts of the dissertation. I feel very fortunate to have had such a wonderful cohort of colleagues and friends at the University of Toronto. Thank you to Julie Anderson-Cohen for the many lunches, and for evenings of drinks and discussions with Peter Mersereau, Lindsay Sidders, Vanessa McCarthy and Jeff Martin. To all of the family support from the many corners of the world, I thank you. To my mother who always believed that I would achieve my goals, I thank you for stubbornly refusing to give up hope even when I was ready to give up. To my grandmother who’s loving care and kindness of spirit helped me to always believe the best in people; I thank you for your strong and silent encouragement throughout the years. To my sisters Emily and Carys who are as different as night and day, I hope that we will always remain close friends. And finally, to my partner Jared Glen Toney, who is both hard to live with and hard to live without. That’s what she said. iv CONTENTS Chapter One Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..…1 North American Migration, Diasporic and Transnational Histories….…...……….15 Arab, Middle Eastern and Muslim Diasporas…………………………………...…23 Third World Feminisms: Towards a Gendered Perspective………………………..27 Oral History and Memory Studies………………………………………………….32 Thesis Chapter Breakdown…………………………………………………………36 Chapter Two Competing Narratives: Historical Memory, Ethno-Religious Identity and Nationalism………………………………………………………………………………....41 The Political Development of Iraq: Ottoman, British and Revolutionary Forces….43 Historical Memory………………………………………………………………….51 Iraqi Women: History, Memory, and Ethnicity………………………………..……63 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..89 Chapter Three Dual and Dueling Narratives: Negotiating the Re-telling of the Past in the Formal and Informal Interview Space……………………………………………...……………………91 Translator and Facilitator: The Problematic Third-Person in the Interview….…..94 Formal and Informal Interview Spaces: The Dual Narrative……………......……101 Location and Dislocation………………………………………………………….109 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………117 v Chapter Four ‘Becoming’ American and Canadian: Community Activism and Claims to Citizenship……………………………………………………………………………..….119 Ethnic Organization and Sectarian Divides…………………...………………….122 The Multifaceted Role of Women in Ethnic Organizations………………….…….134 The Politics of Voting………………………………………………………….…..142 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………151 Chapter Five Womanhood, Modesty and the Female Body: Case Studies of Chaldean and Sunni Muslim Communities……………………………………………………………………...…….…155 Chaldean-American Women: A Detroit Case Study………………………………158 Iraqi Sunni Arab Women: A Toronto Case Study…………………………………174 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………190 Thesis Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...193 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………..…….207 vi Chapter One Introduction As I sat back and surveyed the remnants of the feast prepared especially for my introduction to a recent female migrant to Toronto, I could not help but reflect on the importance of food in restoring cohesion to the fractured community of Iraqis in the act of breaking bread. Present at the meal (prepared exclusively by the male executives of the Assyrian-Canadian Federation), were myself (a British-Iraqi researcher), and the interviewee (a Sunni refugee woman from Mosul). The men insisted on clearing the plates as the interviewee and I sat back and began to discuss my thesis research and interests in Iraqi diasporic women. Recorder in place, I began the interview as the men shuffled to the next room and lingered, pretending not to listen to our conversation. Emboldened by the camaraderie I felt as we shared the meal, I began to ask the interviewee about how the different ethno-religious groups fit into Iraqi nationalism. Looking over at the bowl of bamieh1 at the end of the table, she replied, Iraq is like this dish. If you put many things together it is not plain and it keeps getting more delicious. In Iraq you have different labels, yes, but these all belong to the same dish. Without one of these ingredients, the dish will not taste good anymore. All of the parts of the dish are different but they are all important. After the war, the people were not together as an Iraqi community, some people their mind is changed. When they leave Iraq now they are trying to get their own rights for Kurds and Chaldeans. If Iraqi people start to thing of themselves as Iraqi again it will be better. Iraqis have to stop thinking of themselves selfishly by ethnic group, because really we are all part of the same dish, and we are all Iraqi.2 Considering the central role of food in Iraqi culture, this metaphor is particularly helpful in illustrating the diversity and inter-connectedness of ethno-religious groups in Iraq. 1 Bamieh is a Middle Eastern lamb and okra stew. 2 Interview with author, Toronto, January 23rd, 2010. 1 This description of Iraq’s ethno-religious diversity is also a pointed discourse on the complex articulation of ‘Iraqi’ identity, and how the meaning of this term shifts over time according to the political and social situations of ethnic and religious Iraqis both in the homeland and in diaspora. Drawing upon the ideal of a communal and collective memory of Iraqi past, Sunni women (like the interviewee)
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