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The National Gets Personal: Autobiographical Writings by Iraqi Women

This chapter examines the political memoirs of three Iraqi women and argues that the life writing genre is in itself resistive as it challenges the homogeneity trumpeted by Ba‘thist literary propaganda. Moreover, the chapter explores how the autobiographical subgenres adopted by the authors, such as diary entries, letters and poetry can resist authoritarianism by shaping our perceptions through the use of form and paratext. It looks in particular, at the formation of bonds beyond state imperatives and the relationship between personal and collective identities. Whereas Iraqi and Arab nationalism were propagated by the state as the most important means of communal self-identification, the writers in this chapter consider alternative means of bonding as they situate themselves as global citizens in their places of exile.