Sectarianism in Iraq--Antagonistic Visions of Unity.

• Author: Can, Serra
• Position: Book review

Sectarianism in Iraq--Antagonistic Visions of Unity

Fanar HADDAD

Oxford University Press, New York, 2011, 295 pages. ISBN 978-0-19-932-738-6

Much of recent policy analyses on Iraq seem overwhelmed by simple but insufficient explanatory patterns vis-a-vis the sectarianism problematique between the Shi'as and the Sunnis of Iraq. Haddad's work thus targets superficial approaches that portray Iraqi society as a fixed sectarian body. Whilst promoting a more sensitized perception of the sectarianism problem in Iraq, the author emphasizes how certain historical shifts, in particular the 1990-1991 and the post-2003 periods, have impacted sectarian sentiment within Iraqi society. In doing so, Haddad applies some constructivist analytical concepts such as the "myth-symbol complex" (1) which, he argues, explain the salience of sectarianism in given socio-political contexts.

The first of 8 chapters in total inducts the reader into the theoretical orientation of Haddad's study. Beyond, it highlights an often neglected nexus, the "interdependent relationship between Iraqi sectarian and national identities" (p.2), and cautions against misleading oversimplifications and generalizations that accompany public discourses on Iraqi politics, more so after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. "Iraqi sectarianism" as a politically conditioned determinant sedimented in a dominant discourse is, one could argue, Haddad's body of deconstruction. However, he does not pursue a critical discourse analysis here, he rather embeds the phenomenon of sectarianism into a wider web of socio-political circumstances that enhance its existence and salience.

Applying case to theory in the second chapter, one of Haddad's central claims is that being politically or economically discriminated or feeling less included creates a special thrust towards "sectarianized victimhood," what might be a repeatable pattern (p.16). What the author also sheds light on is the "competition for cultural ownership" in order to embody the "Iraqi Staatsvolk" that takes place when sectarian identities are politically activated against each other (p.21 and p.22). An interesting premise Haddad puts forth is the "inseparability of the divine from the temporal in Shi'a and Sunni historical narratives" (p.24), however, the former has a quite different career. More precisely, the Shi'a belief was systematized quite late compared to the Sunni belief. While the roots of the Shi'a sect are to be traced in the 7th century, its systematization in form of the Twelwer School (Ithna ashariyyah) took place from the 10th...