Displacement, Identity, and Belonging: Iraqi Communities in Amman

Abstract

Based on a small-scale qualitative research project with Iraqis living in Jordan, this paper aims to shed light on how ethnic identity and social class intersect to shape Iraqi experience of displacement. It focuses on two major themes. First, it discusses the relationship between the shifting social and political landscape in Iraq and ethnoreligious identity of Iraqis in Jordan. Second, it explores the ways in which ethnicity and class intersect to affect the dynamics of Iraqis’ integration into their host society.

Keywords:

• Iraq
• displacement
• migration
• social class
• ethnic identity
• Jordan
• refugees

Notes

Notes

1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/17/AR2006111701024.html?noredirect=on

2 Taqiyya means dissimulation, according to which Shiites are permitted to hide their religious identity to avert danger.

3 http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/iraqi-christians-return-school-jordan-after-year-limbo