ABSTRACT
In the wake of the Arab Spring, there has been increased interest in female athleticism in the Middle East. In part, this stems from the fact that women have participated in the uprisings in unprecedented numbers. It is also tied to larger socio-economic changes that have occurred in the Middle East, both before and after the rebellions. Based on fieldwork and in-depth interviews, the present study offers an ethnographic account of an all-female soccer team in Sulaimani, a somewhat culturally progressive city located in north-east Iraqi Kurdistan. A growing body of academic research considers the impact of female Muslim athleticism in the Middle East, but the Kurdish region of Iraq remains virtually unexamined. As Kurdish female Muslim athletes, the women in this study, experience a complex set of interwoven social forces that include family, religion, gender, identity and the pro-democracy movements sweeping through the Middle East. In exploring these themes, I demonstrate how the culture of Iraqi Kurdistan shapes – and is shaped by – its young female athletes.
