Return to Ruin: Iraqi Narratives of Exile and Nostalgia

by Zainab Saleh

With the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iraqis abroad, hoping to return one day to a better Iraq, became uncertain exiles. Return to Ruin tells the human story of this exile in the context of decades of U.S. imperial interests in Iraq―from the U.S. backing of the 1963 Ba'th coup and support of Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s, to the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 invasion and occupation. Zainab Saleh shares the experiences of Iraqis she met over fourteen years of fieldwork in Iraqi London―offering stories from an aging communist nostalgic for the streets she marched since childhood, a devout Shi'i dreaming of holy cities and family graves, and newly uprooted immigrants with fresh memories of loss, as well as her own. Focusing on debates among Iraqi exiles about what it means to be an Iraqi after years of displacement, Saleh weaves a narrative that draws attention to a once-dominant, vibrant Iraqi cultural landscape and social and political shifts among the diaspora after decades of authoritarianism, war, and occupation in Iraq. Through it all, this book illuminates how Iraqis continue to fashion a sense of belonging and imagine a future, built on the shards of these shattered memories.

280 pages, Paperback

Published September 22, 2020

Reviews

[jessica]

finally losing my battle against going to liberal arts college and refusing to know what an ethnography is......

[aerialxav]

Introduction and conclusion; filled so much rage at this grim present.

[habibtyfunk]

i’m not sure what to rate this book. as i read, i realized a common denominator with the iraqis interviewed is that they initially supported us invasion. an argument could be made that the diaspora did feel the need for us intervention, but it was common knowledge with iraqis that any us intervention surmounts to the continuation of imperialism of iraq. idk mixed feelings about this book, not rating rn

[ervagül · Rating 3 out of 5]

this whole book is very depressing and so important. however, at times, i found it hard to connect with some of the people because of the narratives they perpetuated. its frustrating, but i think thats a good thing