Jews & Others in Iraq

Abstract

The current image of Iraq in the media and public discourse is of a country sharply divided by communal boundaries and conflicts of religion, ethnicity, and community. This image goes right against any notion of “cosmopolitanism.” Yet, research into the history of the country in the twentieth century would show that, while communal boundaries and conflicts did exist, these were socially permeable, allowing much close interaction between individuals, families, and neighbourhoods across the boundaries.