City of Widows: An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance

by Haifa Zangana

In City of Widows, Haifa Zangana tells the story of her country, from the early twentieth century through the US-UK invasion and the current occupation. She brings to light a sense of Iraq as a society mainly of secularists who have been denied, through years of sanctions, war, and occupation, a system
within which to build the country according to their own values. She points to the long history of political activism and social participation of Iraqi women, and the fact that, before the recent invasion, they had been among the most liberated of their gender in the Middle East. Finally, she writes about
Baghdad today as a city populated by bereaved women and children who have lost their loved ones and their land, but who are still emboldened by the native right to resist and liberate themselves to create an independent Iraq.

Genres: Nonfiction, Middle East, Feminism, History, Social Science, Politics

150 pages

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi writer, painter, and political activist, known for her novel Women on a Journey: Between Baghdad and London about political repression, violence and exile. She has written both novels and short stories as well as nonfiction, mainly about current political events relating to Iraq, Palestine or Tunisia.

Reviews

[Diyar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting take on Iraqi history. Especially the (forgotten) perspective from and struggles of Iraqi women through dictatorship, war, occupation and the current regime. I didn't think this book would give me a lot of new insights, but it surprisingly did. Would recommend this for anyone who's interested in something that's not colonial feminism.

[Zeynab Mirzaei · Rating 4 out of 5]

دیدن تاریخ معاصر عراق از چشم یک زن روشنفکر و آگاه اتفاق جالبی بود که با خوندن این کتاب میسر شد، قطعا غمگین میشویم با خواندن خاطرات مشترکی که ۸ سال زنان مارا نیز مانند زنان عراق به عزا نشاند و هردو گروه را به یک اندازه نابود کرد، دیدن تصویر آن ۸ سال از چشم طرف مقابل همزمان جذاب و بسیار غم انگیز بود

[Hamide meraj · Rating 2 out of 5]

تصورم از کتاب جور دیگه ای بود. شاید شبیه مستند نگاری های شفاهی که این چند وقت خوندم.. اما خیلی تفاوت داشت. بیشتر یک تاریخچه ای کلی از فعالیت گروه های مختلف در حوزه زنان در طول تاریخ معاصر بود. چیزی که برام جالب بود حضور چند وزیر زن و فعالیت ان ها در دولت در زمان رژیم بعث و در حال حاضر بود(فقط مقایسه بشه با وضعیت فعالیت زنان ایرانی و میدان دادن دولتمردان به آن ها در همین سال های اخیر ). فصل زندگی در شهری اشغال شده خیلی دردناک بود، داستان تجاوزهای بیشمار و دردناک نیروهای امریکایی به زنان و دختران عرب ورای تصورم بود. یکبار دیگر ثابت کرد که اشغال یک کشور هیچ نتیجه ای برای مردم ان کشور جز درد و رنج و تجاوز و غارت ندارد و نظام سرمایه داری امریکا بر خلاف ظاهر زیباش در باطن به شدت کثیف است. کتاب از طرف نویسنده عبیر قاسم حمزه الجنابی تقدیم شده دختر چهارده ساله ای که گروهی از سربازان امریکایی در سال 2006 در حالت مستی و مصرف مواد به اون وحشیانه تجاوز کردند و خودش و پدر مادرش رو به طرز وحشیانه ای اتش زدند.
طبق گفته کتاب در جنایات فلوجه عراق امریکا از سلاح فسفر سفید استفاده کرده است، فسفر بدن ها را می سوزاند و در واقع گوشت تام غز استخوان را ذوب می کند.
"بعد از تحریم ها و محاصرات اقتصادی مردم عراق، عراقی ها برای زنده ماندن مجبور بودند چیزهای با ارزششان را بفروشند، در نیمه دهه نود نیم میلیون کودک جان خود را در عراق از دست دادند، جنایتی که به نظر بسیاری نوعی نسل کشی بود، زمانی که امریکا در 1996 با مار این فاجعه روبه رو شد، مادلین آلبرایت فرستاده امریکا به سازمان ملل عنوان کرد که به قیمتش می ارزید تا رژیم صدام سرنگون شود !!!!! "

[Downward · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is divided neatly between a history of women's rights in iraq (going wayyy back) and the state of women during the u.s. invasion and occupation of that country in the first decade of the 21st century. this take differs widely from the mainstream u.s. media's point of view in a lot of obvious ways, the main one being that the invasion - often propped up by american feminists (in this book noted as "colonial feminists") - as being in part on behalf of / related to international concern for the plight of women in iraq. instead, this colonial feminism didn't focus on real problems for iraqi women and helped exacerbate the ones that they did have by providing excuses for a violent (often sexually violent) occupying force to take agency out of their hands, while introducing a new coercive power structure that through its detachment increased various problems including poverty, lack of education, and increased physical (and again, sexual) violence. ultimately it asks for what most of us want: a right to self determination, and it uses the rich history or iraqi feminism to show that that is possible in iraq and that the western view, through savior tinted glasses, does little to help.

[Cyril M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book that gives a perspective of the war in Iraq which is not readily available through the mainstream media. I used this book as a vehicle for a column I wrote for International women's day and to commemorate the anniversary of the war. Read that here: http://www.indypendent.org/2008/03/16...

[Jill Dobbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

City of Widows is a novel that depicts the cruelty, poverty, and difficult lives of the women of Afghanistan. Young girls are married off to much older and oftentimes cruel men who beat, rape, and enslave them. They are subjected to a life of servitude under these men, yet, Afghan society believes women are nothing without a man.

Marjan, aka Rehima, takes on the life of a soldier all while hiding out from the warlord she was married to, and eventually escaped from. Along with her daughter who later learns about her mother's former life, they make several attempts to leave Afghanistan on one of the planes leaving the country during the withdrawal of the United States military.

This is a story of courage, bravery, and persistence of a woman who endures much so that she can make a better life for her and her daughter.

Thank you author, publisher, and Netgalley for this ARC.

[Shiva rsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

زنان در رداى سياه همه جا ديده ميشوند؛ دم در زندان ها ، دفاتر حكومتى مرده شور خانه ها.
زنان در جستجوى مردانشان، ناپديد شدگان يا بازداشت شدگان خانواده همه جا هستند. اين زنانند كه مى‌روند جسد مردانشان را براى دفن تحويل بگيرند.
بغداد شهر زنان داغديده است.

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Indignant for sure, but too many acronyms and a generally unorganized information dump.

[Madeleine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This can be a bit hard to follow at times, and Zangana's revolutionary/Marxist perspective is a little dogmatic (and that's saying something, coming from me).

That said, overall hers is an interesting and valuable perspective not found in the mainstream media.

[Cathy]

Left Turn reviewed this -- sounds like a perspective I'd like to have, though the writing isn't the tightest.

[Curlita]

The status of women in Iraq and the development of modern Iraqi society, from the Ottoman Empire to the present day.

[Randy Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, if hard to follow at times. The author's memoir moves from present day back 800 years to Mohammad.

[Rrprr]

very amazing account of a life of active "activism" from within a very particular political configuration. I am fascinated with her voice.