Imagining Iraq

Episode 385

with Ahmed Ragab

hosted by Shireen Hamza

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What will Iraq be like, 100 years in the future? And how are Muslim women imagined to exist in that future? In this episode, Professor Ahmed Ragab explores literary imaginaries of the future of the Middle East. He starts by discussing the story, Kahramana, from the recent short-story collection edited by Hassan Blasim, Iraq +100. He compares the story of Kahramana to the superhero, Dust from Marvel comics, to demonstrate how writers based in Iraq navigate and subvert the expectations of Western audiences.


The Ottoman History Podcast is featuring this episode from season one of Ventricles, a new podcast about interesting topics in science and technology, past and present. Ventricles is produced by OHP contributor Shireen Hamza for the Science, Religion and Culture Program at Harvard Divinity School, and also features past episodes of OHP. Check out past episodes, for more in the series on time.

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Contributor Bios

	Ahmed Ragab is Richard T. Watson Assistant Professor of Science and Religion at Harvard Divinity School. He is the author of "The Medieval Islamic Hospital: Medicine, Religion, and Charity," and "Piety and Patienthood in Medieval Islam."
	Shireen Hamza is a doctoral student in the History of Science department at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the history of medical exchange in the medieval Indian Ocean world.

Credits

Episode No. 385
Release Date: 13 October 2018
Recording Location: Harvard Divinity School
Audio editing by Shireen Hamza
Music: Special thanks to The Overseas Ensemble, a collaboration between composer Paed Conca and Sarigama, for use of their music
Image courtesy of Sara Alfaqeeh and bibliography courtesy of Ahmed Ragab

Select Bibliography

Ragab, Ahmed. Eliminate the Muslim: Timeplay in the making of postcolonial future ethnoreligious identities” Harvard Divinity School Bulletin, Spring 2018

Blasim, Hassan. "Iraq + 100." Tom Doherty Associates (Tor), 2016

Appiah, Kwame Anthony. "Is the Post-in Postmodernism the Post-in Postcolonial?" Critical Inquiry, vol. 17, no. 2, 1991, pp. 336-357.

Arjana, Sophia Rose. Veiled Superheroes : Islam, Feminism, and Popular Culture. 2018

Csicsery-Ronay Jr, Istvan. "Dis-Imagined Communities: Science Fiction and the Future of Nations." Science fiction, vol. 215, 2002, p. 37.

Dar, Jehanzeb. "Holy Islamophobia, Batman! Demonization of Muslims and Arabs in Mainstream American Comic Books." Counterpoints, vol. 346, 2010, pp. 99-110.

Davis, Julie and Robert Westerfelhaus. "Finding a Place for a Muslimah Heroine in the Post-9/11 Marvel Universe: New X-Men's Dust." Feminist Media Studies, vol. 13, no. 5, 2013, pp. 800-809.