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Political awakenings in an artificial state: Iraq, 1914-20
- Source: International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies, Volume 6, Issue 1, Apr 2012, p. 3 - 25
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- 30 Apr 2012
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Abstract
Rather than addressing the dated debate of Iraq's 'artificiality', this article analyses the evolution of the term 'Iraq' and by extension the evolution in frames of self-definition in the years 1914-20. I use three key events (the anti-British jihad of 1914, the Najaf rebellion of 1918 and the rebellion of 1920) and examine the discourse that accompanied the events to analyse the changing categories of self-identification on the mid-Euphrates. A clearly discernible ontological evolution of 'Iraq' in the popular imagination is revealed thereby clarifying and explaining the rapid rise and adoption of Iraqi nationalism in the early twentieth century.
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