"How do ordinary people survive wartime violence when it arrives in their neighborhood? When confronted with the threat of violence, how do individuals decide whether to stay in their homes or flee? For those who stay, what factors determine whether individuals cooperate or contend with insurgent governance? Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 up to the formation of the Islamic State, Iraqis from different walks of life have confronted existential decisions about how to survive political violence. Despite facing similar threats and limited resources, some people fled their homes while others remained. Among those who stayed, most hid, others resisted, some remained nonaligned, and a select few collaborated. In this book, Austin J. Knuppe draws on fieldwork in Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan, along with UN migration data, to illustrate how individuals drew upon a combination of routines, tools, and rhetorical strategies to navigate violent situations. Knuppe finds that Iraqis belonging to communities with limited cohesion and capacity survived by fleeing to safer areas under the protection of rival security providers. For those who stayed, the ability of communities to pursue cooperation, contention, or neutrality depended not only on the cohesion and capacity of the community, but also the resolve and combat effectiveness of the anti-IS coalitions. This account gives voice to ordinary Iraqis who were forced to make hard choices during times of intense danger and uncertainty, and sheds new light on the repertoires civilians employ when faced with war"--
Based on an original survey from Baghdad alongside key interviews in the field, this book offers an insightful account of how Iraqis in different areas of the country responded to the rise and fall of the Islamic State.
How did ordinary Iraqis survive the occupation of their communities by the Islamic State? How did they decide whether to stay or flee, to cooperate or resist? Based on an original survey from Baghdad alongside key interviews in the field, this book offers an insightful account of how Iraqis in different areas of the country responded to the rise and fall of the Islamic State.
Austin J. Knuppe argues that people adopt survival repertoiresa variety of social practices, tools, organized routines, symbols, and rhetorical strategiesto navigate wartime violence and detect threats. He traces how repertoires varied among different communities over the course of the conflict. In areas insulated from insurgent control, such as cosmopolitan Baghdad, local residents had the flexibility to support coalition forces while also voicing opposition to government policies. For Iraqis in rural communities confronting insurgent control, collaboration and resistance entailed significant risks. In Sunni-majority communities in the western desert, passive acquiescence and active cooperation temporarily insulated Iraqis from insurgent victimization. For ethnic and religious minorities in the north, however, flight or resistance proved the only viable options. In many communities, local residents mobilized neighborhood self-defense groups and militias loosely aligned with coalition forces once the tides turned against the Islamic State.
Beyond contributing to academic and policy debates about civilian protection during wartime, Surviving the Islamic State foregrounds everyday peoples experiences while modeling an ethical approach for conducting field research in conflict-affected communities.
