Books by Noga Efrati
Women in Iraq: Past Meets Present
Post-Saddam Iraq: New Realities, Old Identities, Changing Patterns
Women and Gender in the Middle East in the
Articles by Noga Efrati
Postage stamp iconography in post-Saddam Iraq: sect-specific symbols or nationalist imagery?
Nations and Nationalism, 2018
Among scholars seeking a framework for analysing post‐2003 intercommunal strife in Iraq, a sectar... more Among scholars seeking a framework for analysing post‐2003 intercommunal strife in Iraq, a sectarian master narrative gained dominance. It portrayed Iraq as an artificial creation of imperial powers, lacking a national identity. Scholarly challenge, however, has been gaining momentum. The study of postage stamp iconography presents a novel venue with which to contribute to this debate. Indeed, researchers of nations and nationalism emphasis the role stamps play in the visual construction and reproduction of national narratives and identities. The postage stamp imagery surveyed in post‐Saddam Iraq (2003–2011) is incompatible with the sectarian narrative. Rather, it reflects symbols that are consistent with territorial‐patriotic nationalism. Some evidence supports the notion that those in power used stamp iconography as a means of nationalist indoctrination; other evidence suggests that the government sought to enhance its legitimacy by embracing popular values. Either or both motivations lend credence to nationalism having considerable purchase in post‐Saddam Iraq.
Women, Democracy and Representation in Post-Invasion Iraq
Representation, 2012
Activists in post-Saddam Iraq (2003–10) were in the process of forging a new discourse. They reje... more Activists in post-Saddam Iraq (2003–10) were in the process of forging a new discourse. They rejected what Dahlerup and Freidenvall (2005) termed the ‘incremental track’ in favour of a ‘fast track’ discourse. Development, of the country and/or women, was no longer accepted as a prerequisite for democratic rights. Rather, activists believed that immediate measures must be taken to ensure women's inclusion for the simple reason that there can be no democracy without adequate representation of women. Yet, realities in Iraq undermined this discourse; ‘representation as presence’ did not result in the subsequent ‘representation of ideas’ hoped for by these activists. Moreover, the rising tide of communal politics threatened not only to sweep away past hard-won advances but to de-prioritise women's concerns—again.
Negotiating Rights in Iraq: Women and the Personal Status Law
Middle East Journal, 2005
Recent attempts to abolish the Personal Status Law, in force since 1959, with the intent of placi... more Recent attempts to abolish the Personal Status Law, in force since 1959, with the intent of placing family matters in the hands of religious authorities, caused an uproar among Iraqi women's rights activists. This article seeks to place the protest in its historical context by tracing women's participation in shaping the Personal Status Law - touching upon both their achievements and disappointments. It highlights the threat that repealing the law would pose, not only to the advancements for which women activists have struggled long and hard, but more importantly to the very channel which made these achievements possible. It also exposes the "hidden costs" of the protest. Activists' energies were diverted into preserving a law which left many demands unanswered, and away from promoting improved legislation.
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Middle Eastern Studies, 1999
The Effendiyya: Where Have All the Women Gone?
International Journal of Middle East Studies, May 2011
In his “Note about the Term Effendiyya in the History of the Middle East” (International Journal ... more In his “Note about the Term Effendiyya in the History of the Middle East” (International Journal of Middle East Studies 41 [2009]: 535–39), Michael Eppel clarifies his own use of effendiyya in an article he wrote for IJMES in 1998. In the 1998 article, Eppel emphasized the value of studying the effendiyya, or what he called the “Westernized middle stratum,” and its dominance in political life to better understand Hashimite Iraq (1921–58). Members of this group, he argued, benefited from modern education and donned Western dress. They were young state employees (officials, teachers, health workers, engineers, and, later, military officers) who adopted Arab nationalism and Pan-Arab ideology as a means to cope with their socioeconomic and political discontent. From the 1930s, Eppel noted, the effendiyya created the radical political atmosphere that lent backing to the “militant-authoritarian trends” that led to the pro-German Rashid ʿAli coup and the war with Britain in 1941. After World War II, they joined with other nationalist forces to lead the 1948 Wathba (uprising) against prolonging the Anglo–Iraqi treaty. In 1958, the army officers among them overthrew the monarchy. This “middle stratum” differed from the Western concept of the “new middle class,” and the indigenous Arabic term effendiyya, as employed by Eppel, endeavored to grasp the essence of this difference. It reflected a common experience that was the result of its members’ similar education, culture, and concerns rather than their economic status, social origins, and type of employment.(Online publication April 08 2011)
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2004
The history of the women's movement in Iraq, during the first half of the twentieth century, has ... more The history of the women's movement in Iraq, during the first half of the twentieth century, has received little attention in scholarly work. This essay enlarges upon the topic using common features characteristic of more central women's movements in the Middle East. The emergence of intellectual debate on women's status, establishment of a myriad of women's organizations, evolution of a women's press, women's participation in the nationalist struggle, the adoption of nationalism as a liberating discourse and development of pan-Arab feminism, are shared characteristics which shed light on developments that occurred in Iraq. The essay suggests that the study of seemingly peripheral movements not only confirms similar patterns of development within the region but might also reveal new insights that transcend regional boundaries.
****For a more thorough description of the Iraqi women's activism (1910 - 1958), see WOMEN IN IRAQ PAST MEETS PRESENT, Chapter 4. ****
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2008
The lines dividing history, ideology, and politics are thinly drawn. Researchers of Iraq have obs... more The lines dividing history, ideology, and politics are thinly drawn. Researchers of Iraq have observed that over the years institutions and ideological movements, both inside the country and in the West, have "hijacked" the country's history. The Iraqi state's grand narratives have excluded competing histories from the days of Satial-Husri, the "father of Iraqi education," who introduced Arab history into the curriculum in order to foster Arab nationalism, up to the massive project of rewriting Iraqi history under the Bath regime. 1 Western interests, too, from the time of the British-backed monarchy until the present day, have influenced the writing of Iraqi history-utilizing it in a way that would justify their foreign policies.
זמנים, 2016
פלישת כוחות הקואליציה לעיראק בראשות ארצות הברית בשנת 2003 לוותה בהבטחה אמריקאית לחולל שינוי דרמטי... more פלישת כוחות הקואליציה לעיראק בראשות ארצות הברית בשנת 2003 לוותה בהבטחה אמריקאית לחולל שינוי דרמטי במדינה. ממשלו של ג'ורג' וו. בוש הבטיח להפוך את עיראק למדינת לאום דמוקרטית שתהווה מודל לשאר ארצות המזרח התיכון. שינוי דרמטי אכן התחולל בעיראק, אך במקום מודל של יציבות ודמוקרטיה היא הפכה לזירת התגוששות בין כוחות סקטוריאליים (סונים מול שיעים), אתניים (כורדים מול ערבים), דתיים (מוסלמים מול נוצרים), שבטיים, מגדריים ואחרים. התפרצותם של קונפליקטים אלה דחפה רבים בתקשורת, בפוליטיקה ואף במחקר האקדמי, לאמץ את "הנרטיב הכתתי" בבואם להסביר את הסיבות להתפוררותה של המדינה. מאמר זה מבקש לבחון את "הנרטיב הכתתי" מזווית מגדרית. הוא מראה כי קיים קשר הדוק בין נרטיב זה ל"נרטיב הצלת הנשים העיראקיות" שליווה אף הוא את הפלישה לעיראק. בהתבסס על ההיסטוריה של נשים בעיראק והמאבק למען זכויותיהן. הוא מערער על טיעוניו החדשים של "נרטיב ההצלה" ומאתגר כמה מהנחותיו המרכזיות של "הנרטיב הכתתי". המאמר מבקש לא רק להראות שטיעוניהם של נרטיבים אלה אינם עולים בקנה אחד עם ההיסטוריה הקרובה והרחוקה של נשים בעיראק, אלא גם להצביע על נטייתם להתעלם מההיסטוריה של המעורבות הזרה במדינה. התעלמות זו מסתירה מעיניהם את הן תרומתה של המעורבות הזרה להבניית שסעיה של עיראק והן את תרומתה להבניית נשותיה כמושא להצלה.
Chapters in Books by Noga Efrati
The Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World , 2023
Naziha al-Dulaimi, a physician and a card-carrying Communist from 1948 on, was a leading figure i... more Naziha al-Dulaimi, a physician and a card-carrying Communist from 1948 on, was a leading figure in the nationalist struggle against the British-backed Hashemite monarchy that ruled Iraq from 1921 until 1958. She headed one of the most active Iraqi women’s organizations, established in 1952, and in 1959 she became the first woman minister in Iraq, making her the first woman cabinet member in the Arab world. Yet little is known about her outside of Iraq. This chapter places al-Dulaimi’s activism in a broad historical context and presents the challenge she posed to the Hashemite government’s gender order. It argues that it was al-Dulaimi who most vigorously exposed the harsh and long-lasting consequences of British state-building for Iraqi women. It claims that al-Dulaimi’s criticism of the Hashemite government’s gender policy was pivotal in shaping a new and more favorable gender regime in Iraq after 1958 and well into the twentieth century.
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Books by Noga Efrati
Articles by Noga Efrati
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****For a more thorough description of the Iraqi women's activism (1910 - 1958), see WOMEN IN IRAQ PAST MEETS PRESENT, Chapter 4. ****
Chapters in Books by Noga Efrati