Abstract
I approach life writing as one of the most prominent forms of microhistory narratives that questions the grand narratives of history produced internationally and locally. Focusing on a transnational Iraqi background woman writer, I argue that lived-experience narratives, despite their contradictions and the politics of publication, which has placed them into the category of “misery narratives,” are still epistemically value-laden and need to be carefully and empathetically read. I draw on feminist phenomenology and use an intersectional methodology to study Leilah Nadir’s The Orange Trees of Baghdad (2014), which mostly reflects on the post-2003 invasion of Iraq, from the perspective of a half Iraqi, half British woman who has never been to Iraq but perceives of Iraq as homeland. Focusing on multiple voices in this memoir, I show how three different generations of an Iraqi family practice homemaking and create a sense of belonging to “home” before, during, and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. I study the intersections of homeland, identity, and politics, using Orange Trees of Baghdad as a good example of second-generation migrant life writing.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | The Migrant in Arab Literature: Displacement, Self-Discovery and Nostalgia |
Editors | Martina Censi, Maria E. Paniconi |
Place of Publication | U.K. |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 83-102 |
Number of pages | 20 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780429027338 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780367135881 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2023 |