From a community wedding in sanctions-era Baghdad to a London dance floor, Sajda Obaid’s music keeps finding new company, and new ways to belong.
Tishreen, the October 2019 uprising transformed central Baghdad into a space of protest, mourning and collective life. The murals, memorials and damaged buildings left behind form a living archive of Tishreen, preserving how women, the poor and the powerless challenged Iraq’s militarised political order and…
A musical inheritance can be familiar long before it becomes a language of one’s own. Raised in a musical household, violinist Layth Sidiq found in maqam an education that would reshape his…
A year before Iraq’s Personal Status Law was enacted, Naziha al-Dulaimi called for equality in marriage, divorce, property ownership, and children’s rights. We revisit her 1958 article, alongside Maria Talal, to explore…
What did going to the cinema mean in twentieth-century Iraq? It could mean chasing film flyers through the streets, saving for a 40-fils ticket, dressing in the latest fashion, memorising a song…
It is almost seven years since the Tishreen uprising. Recent protests by graduates in Baghdad recall some of the grievances that drove it. These graduate protests are reminiscent of the beginnings of Tishreen itself.…
A musical inheritance can be familiar long before it becomes a language of one’s own. Raised in a musical household, violinist Layth Sidiq found in maqam an education that would reshape his…
A year before Iraq’s Personal Status Law was enacted, Naziha al-Dulaimi called for equality in marriage, divorce, property ownership, and children’s rights. We revisit her 1958 article, alongside Maria Talal, to explore…
What did going to the cinema mean in twentieth-century Iraq? It could mean chasing film flyers through the streets, saving for a 40-fils ticket, dressing in the latest fashion, memorising a song…
It is almost seven years since the Tishreen uprising. Recent protests by graduates in Baghdad recall some of the grievances that drove it. These graduate protests are reminiscent of the beginnings of Tishreen itself.…
Five people of different ages and backgrounds take us through their working days in Jummar’s newsroom. Writing, designing and publishing, and answering their families’ question, ‘What do you do?’ For older relatives, a job done from home, on a computer, can be difficult to understand. From their small rooms, they reach the wider world, reflecting on what it means to write about sensitive issues within and about their society.
One woman went into labour while harvesting crops. Another gave birth on a tractor, halfway through a three-hour journey to hospital. A third nearly died after an unlicensed midwife injected her three times to induce labour. Across rural Iraq, women face pregnancy and childbirth amid gruelling work, distant hospitals and fears of al-tabi‘a, a female jinn blamed in folklore for infertility, miscarriage and harm to newborns.
Ahmed spent more than four and a half years in unlawful detention, where he was subjected to torture in Iraq. Fifteen years after his release, he still plans his commute around the buildings and cars that could take him back. A story about what outlives torture and detention, and what accountability still owes the people left to carry its burden
After the euphoria of World Cup qualification has faded, some difficult questions began to surface, reflecting on the flawed logic that Iraqi football keeps rehashing: who really gets to represent the national team, and why the debate keeps pitting local players against those raised abroad.
Through one cat’s journey between veterinary clinics in Iraq, this article exposes a troubled sector marked by weak oversight, neglectful clinics and a lack of accountability. A system meant to protect animals is instead compounding their suffering.
Five people of different ages and backgrounds take us through their working days in Jummar’s newsroom. Writing, designing and publishing,…
Five people of different ages and backgrounds take us through their working days in Jummar’s newsroom. Writing, designing and publishing, and answering their families’ question, ‘What do you do?’ For older relatives, a job done from home, on a computer, can be difficult to understand. From their small rooms, they…
One woman went into labour while harvesting crops. Another gave birth on a tractor, halfway through a three-hour journey to…
One woman went into labour while harvesting crops. Another gave birth on a tractor, halfway through a three-hour journey to hospital. A third nearly died after an unlicensed midwife injected her three times to induce labour. Across rural Iraq, women face pregnancy and childbirth amid gruelling work, distant hospitals and…
Ahmed spent more than four and a half years in unlawful detention, where he was subjected to torture in Iraq.…
Ahmed spent more than four and a half years in unlawful detention, where he was subjected to torture in Iraq. Fifteen years after his release, he still plans his commute around the buildings and cars that could take him back. A story about what outlives torture and detention, and what…
After the euphoria of World Cup qualification has faded, some difficult questions began to surface, reflecting on the flawed logic…
After the euphoria of World Cup qualification has faded, some difficult questions began to surface, reflecting on the flawed logic that Iraqi football keeps rehashing: who really gets to represent the national team, and why the debate keeps pitting local players against those raised abroad.
Through one cat’s journey between veterinary clinics in Iraq, this article exposes a troubled sector marked by weak oversight, neglectful…
Through one cat’s journey between veterinary clinics in Iraq, this article exposes a troubled sector marked by weak oversight, neglectful clinics and a lack of accountability. A system meant to protect animals is instead compounding their suffering.
Across Canada, the Gulf and hip-hop, Yassin al-Salman knew what it meant to be a visitor. Music gave him somewhere to speak, carrying Iraq into rooms where its people were too often spoken for. More than two decades later, he...
In this article, the author examines how Iraq’s Personal Status Code has weakened legal safeguards for women and girls, particularly by facilitating child marriage and creating a parallel religious legal regime. Drawing on...
