Between nationalism and women's rights : the Kurdish women's movement in Iraq
Al-Ali, Nadje Sadig and Pratt, Nicola Christine. (2011) Between nationalism and women's rights : the Kurdish women's movement in Iraq. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, Vol.4 (No.3). pp. 339-355. ISSN 1873-9857Full text not available from this repository.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187398611X590192
This article explores an aspect of the micro-politics of the 'new Iraq' by examining the understudied topic of the Iraqi-Kurdish women's movement. Drawing on interviews with women activists in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, we describe and analyze their activities, strategies and objectives in relation to Kurdish nationalism and feminism, focusing on the period since 2003. Rather than conceptualizing nationalism and feminism as either contradictory or compatible frames of reference for these activists, we understand debates among women activists as attempts to 'narrate' the Kurdish nation, particularly in response to the realities of the 'new Iraq'. We contend that nationalism per se is not an obstacle to women's rights in Iraqi Kurdistan. Rather, it is the failure, until now, of women activists to engage with the disjuncture between nation and state that could limit the achievements of their struggle.
|Item Type:||Journal Article|
|Subjects:||H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman|
|Divisions:||Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies|
|Journal or Publication Title:||Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication|
|Official Date:||October 2011|
|Page Range:||pp. 339-355|
|Status:||Not Peer Reviewed|
|Access rights to Published version:||Restricted or Subscription Access|
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