Abstract

Recent protest movements around the world have reignited questions about the connections between freedom and the ways in which digital spaces can be used to communicate ideas and stories. Before the Arab Spring uprisings and the global Occupy movements, Iraqi women used the blogosphere to call for change, to expose the activities of foreign forces in their country, and to discuss everyday politics. Through digital figures and transnational relationships this book explores the implications of women’s stories written online during a time of war and occupation. The weblogs of Aunt Najma, HNK, Faiza, Neurotic Iraqi Wife and Riverbend introduce us to digital selves: online practices of the self which engage with and challenge the limitations of everyday life. When the streets are transformed and regulated by militant gangs or foreign troops, weblogs become a place to connect with others, write a future, and write a self. Forging what Judith Butler refers to as ‘recognisable lives’ online, the bloggers dare international readers to see beyond dominant ‘frames of war’ and share in the cost of military intervention.