Everybody Hates Us : Iraqi Women Resisting Imperialism, Repression, and Extremism (1990-Present)

This thesis investigates Iraqi women’s history since 1990. It argues that, in the past three decades, Iraqi women have not been silent victims of US imperialism, the repression of the Iraqi state, or ISIL’s extremism. Instead, they have resisted these forms of violence with visible agency, deploying tools of economic survival, political activism, creative writing, and armed resistance. Iraqi society underwent dramatic changes in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, and in each decade Iraqi women faced violence specific to that period. This thesis argues that Iraqi women’s resistance adapted to the changing circumstances of each decade, sometimes through slight shifts and other times by forging new means of resistance