British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies· 2026Q1
Voices of exile: dialect, identity, and memory in the works of Samir Naqqash and Hassan Blasim
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Short summary
Iraqi Jewish writer Samir Naqqash used his endangered Judeo-Iraqi dialect to preserve the memory of Baghdad's lost Jewish community, while Hassan Blasim employs Iraqi colloquial Arabic for social and political critique, subverting Standard Arabic.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Dialect in modern Iraqi literature serves as a medium for identity, memory, and resistance.
- Samir Naqqash utilized Judeo-Iraqi Arabic to preserve the memory of Baghdad's Jewish community.
- Hassan Blasim employs Iraqi colloquial Arabic for social and political critique, challenging Standard Arabic.
- Dialect acts as a tool for negotiating belonging and expressing dissent in diasporic contexts.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This article explores the sociolinguistic and literary functions of dialect in modern Iraqi literature through a comparative study of Samir Naqqash and Hassan Blasim. It argues that dialect operates not merely as a linguistic choice but as a medium of identity, memory, and resistance. Naqqash, an Iraqi Jewish novelist writing in Judeo-Iraqi Arabic, employs his endangered dialect as an act of preservation, transforming it into a living archive of Baghdad’s lost Jewish community. In contrast, Blasim’s use of Iraqi colloquial Arabic in Bulbul al-Sayyid (2020) subverts the dominance of Standard Arabic, asserting the vitality and legitimacy of spoken language as a vehicle for social and political critique. By juxtaposing these two writers, the study highlights how dialect becomes a tool for negotiating belonging and expressing dissent across different historical and diasporic contexts.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Language and Linguistics
Language and LinguisticsArts and Humanities