Collective (Non-)Memory of the Iran-Iraq War and Sectarian Thinking among Veterans-Turned-Shi'i Militia Fighters

Abstract

This article redefines sectarianism as sectarian thinking via an ethnography of Shi'i militia fighters in Iraq and their relationships with the past. I explain this redefinition by tracing memories and histories that motivated Iraqi Shi'i veterans of the IranIraq War to join the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). Accordingly, I argue that everyday sectarian thinking in Iraq is less ideologically grounded than commonly presumed and rather feeds on memories, histories, and socialization in violence. I highlight how acts of non-remembrance and a lack of engagement with memories of the Iran-Iraq War fuel sectarian thinking and justify sectarian inhumanities.