 MESA 2006 Panel Summaries
Citizenship, Gender and Conflict in the Middle East
Submitted by Nicola Pratt
Panel Participants:
Panel Organizer: Nicola Pratt, University of East Anglia and Nadje Al-Ali, University of Exeter
Chair: Nicola Pratt
Discussant: Valentine Moghadam, UNESCO
Paper Presenters: Nadje Al-Ali, Anita Fabos, University of East London and Nicola Pratt
The aim of the panel “Citizenship, Gender and Conflict in the Middle East” was to understand the negotiation of citizenship within the Middle East with a special reference to gender and conflict. This panel focused on two themes. First, it examined the official policies that impact upon the relationship of the individual/group to the state in the context of ongoing conflict in the region, particularly in relation to Iraq and Sudan. Second, the panel examined the ways in which different refugee/diaspora communities participate in political, civil, social and economic spheres and, in turn, influence the renegotiation of citizenship within both their countries of residence and their countries of origin. In both these cases, these themes were examined in terms of their gendered dimensions.
The papers on this panel were based on fieldwork conducted amongst women refugee and migrant communities within the Middle East (Jordan and Egypt) as well as amongst diasporic communities in the UK and the US. In addition, fieldwork was conducted amongst groups and individuals engaged in policy-making towards reconstruction in Iraq. In all cases, the papers emphasized the ways in which gender and other social differences are constituted through and help to shape notions of citizenship within the Middle East and communities of Middle Eastern origin and how the context of ongoing conflict impacts upon these processes.
Anita Fabos’ paper, “Between Citizenship and Belonging: Transnational Ethnic Strategies of Arab Muslim Sudanese Refugees,” analysed ethnographic data from research with both Sudanese in the UK and the virtual diaspora of Sudanese who participate in dedicated internet sites. One emerging strategy of maintaining a Sudanese identity where women’s behavior is a central marker of ethnicity is for Sudanese men with citizenship in the ‘West’ to send their wives and children to the Middle East. Sudanese resistance to what they consider to be unacceptable gender patterns in asylum countries despite policies which promote multi-cultural integration and full citizenship—in contrast to Middle Eastern nations—raises critical questions about the nature of citizenship and belonging.
Nadje Al-Ali’s paper, “Contesting the Nation and Citizenship from Diasporic Spaces: Iraqi Women’s Activism in the UK, US and Jordan,“ examined the ways in which Iraqi diaspora women participate in political transition and reconstruction processes in three different countries (UK, US and Jordan) as well as transnationally. Based on informal interviews and participant observation, the paper discussed the degree to which different political, economic and legal conditions in different countries shape women’s activism.
Finally, Nicola Pratt’s paper entitled, “Reconstructing Citizenship in Post-invasion Iraq,” presented a gendered reading of the drafting of the new Iraqi constitution in 2005. The paper stressed that the constitution should be viewed as a mechanism for dismantling the Ba‘thist state and empowering communal leaders. Central to this process was a restructuring of gender relations through amendments to the personal status code.
The panel discussant was Valentine Moghadam, chief of the Gender Equality and Development Section at UNESCO. Based on the findings of the different papers presented, she asked the question, “What role is there for a transnational women’s movement?”. The papers provoked a range of questions and points from the audience, including the impact of the US occupation of Iraq on women’s rights and the economic factors involved in the gendered citizenship strategies of Sudanese refugees.
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