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“Not a Figure in the Past”Zionist Imperial Whiteness, the Iraqi Communist Party, and Their Reverberating Histories of Race and Gender, 1941–1951

“Not a Figure in the Past”Zionist Imperial Whiteness, the Iraqi Communist Party, and Their... This article uses the racial divisions encouraged by European Zionism in early-state Israel among European and Middle Eastern Jews as a point of departure to explore racialization and gendering among Iraqi Jewish women during the years 1941–51 from a sociopolitical standpoint. Restricting itself to politics given this standpoint, a study of Jewish women’s participation in the illegal Zionist and Communist movements of Iraq reveals that racializations, rather than a single racialization, occurred—a racial reality no other scholarship provides for Iraq’s Jewish community. Because Jewish women participating in these movements contended with patriarchal organizing structures, it is necessary to set apart the racial logics palpable in their articulations. This argument rests on primary sources in the form of three memoirs from the Iraqi Jewish women Tikva Agassi, Shoshana Levy, and Shoshana Almoslino, as well as Zionist women’s letters, a biographical dictionary of Communist participation, and British Foreign Office documents. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Middle East Women's Studies Duke University Press

“Not a Figure in the Past”Zionist Imperial Whiteness, the Iraqi Communist Party, and Their Reverberating Histories of Race and Gender, 1941–1951

May, Chelsie
Journal of Middle East Women's Studies , Volume 16 (1) – Mar 1, 2020
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21 pages

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Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies
ISSN
1552-5864
eISSN
1558-9579
DOI
10.1215/15525864-8016491
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article uses the racial divisions encouraged by European Zionism in early-state Israel among European and Middle Eastern Jews as a point of departure to explore racialization and gendering among Iraqi Jewish women during the years 1941–51 from a sociopolitical standpoint. Restricting itself to politics given this standpoint, a study of Jewish women’s participation in the illegal Zionist and Communist movements of Iraq reveals that racializations, rather than a single racialization, occurred—a racial reality no other scholarship provides for Iraq’s Jewish community. Because Jewish women participating in these movements contended with patriarchal organizing structures, it is necessary to set apart the racial logics palpable in their articulations. This argument rests on primary sources in the form of three memoirs from the Iraqi Jewish women Tikva Agassi, Shoshana Levy, and Shoshana Almoslino, as well as Zionist women’s letters, a biographical dictionary of Communist participation, and British Foreign Office documents.

Journal

Journal of Middle East Women's Studies – Duke University Press

Published: Mar 1, 2020

References

  • The Matter of Whiteness
    Dyer, Richard Back, Les Solomos, John
  • ‘Their Blood Is Eastern’: Shahin Makaryus and Fin de Siècle Arab Pride in the Jewish ‘Race.’
    Gribetz, Jonathan Marc
  • Zionist Eugenics, Mixed Marriage, and the Creation of a ‘New Jewish Type.’
    Hirsch, Dafna
  • Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Jewish Victims
    Shohat, Ella
  • The Invention of the Mizrahim
    Shohat, Ella
  • The Iraqi Communist Party, 1934–1979
    Slugglet, Peter
  • The Matter of Whiteness
    Dyer, Richard Back, Les Solomos, John
  • ‘Their Blood Is Eastern’: Shahin Makaryus and Fin de Siècle Arab Pride in the Jewish ‘Race.’
    Gribetz, Jonathan Marc
  • Zionist Eugenics, Mixed Marriage, and the Creation of a ‘New Jewish Type.’
    Hirsch, Dafna
  • Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Jewish Victims
    Shohat, Ella
  • The Invention of the Mizrahim
    Shohat, Ella
  • The Iraqi Communist Party, 1934–1979
    Slugglet, Peter